Living the Process

Most of us have so much happening in our lives and it can often take tremendous effort to keep up from day to day. And we don’t always have the resources or time to address the issues affecting us. Much of the stress and internal conflict stays trapped in our body and mind. That often disconnects us from our source and sense of purpose. The spark dies within us and our light grows dim. We stop growing and our bodies and minds become stagnant.

Tremendous emotional pain is what initially motivated me to begin doing the breathing practice. But I made my way though the abyss and then there were all kinds of other issues and stresses to address in my life. So I began to experimenting with the breathing practice and developed other applications.

The breathing practice makes it much easier for me to resolve issues. Sometimes I can just allow the stress to flow through me. Working with this practice causes me to grow as a person. I find myself maturing and becoming stronger and that allows me to meet the challenges I encounter in life. I bounce back from setbacks more readily and it keeps me moving forward in life.

The practice becomes much more powerful when you combine it with other healing resources or processes. I get deep tissues massages, receive healing sessions and go through the vision quest where I fast alone in the mountains for four days and nights without food or water.

This practice is essential because everything we experience in life and all of our corresponding internal responses need to be digested. By working with this breathing practice you are consciously engaging the body-mind’s own natural process of digesting thoughts, feelings, emotions and life experiences. These same processes operate within everyone.

These processes can become impaired to varying degrees as a result of sickness, trauma, medications and many other things that interfere with the natural processes of the body and mind. Much of the purpose of consciously working with this practice is to restore the body-mind’s own natural healing and growth processes.

I work with this practice to help me to cope with stresses of daily life and address the issues affecting me. I usually begin by bringing a situation or issue concerning me into my awareness. I often do that by just asking myself: What’s happening? Then I begin to notice what I’m feeling in response to the person, issues or situation concerning me. The next step is for me to notice where the feelings are strongest in my body. I then begin to breathe softly and deeply as I focus my attention inside the feelings.

Feelings and emotions emerge from different parts of the body. For most people the majority of feelings are experienced in the throat, heart, solar plexus, and abdomen. Other feelings emerge from our backs and shoulders. Most feelings will have their source somewhere in our torso. And there are some feelings that generalize throughout our bodies. People often experience feelings in their faces, arms and legs. Some people who have shut down much of their emotions experience the vast majority of their feeling awareness in their face and head.

While doing the practice, focus your attention to the best of your ability in the middle of what ever feelings you can access in the present moment. And then you want to breathe very softly and deeply as you continue to keep your awareness focused inside of any feelings or emotions that are present. Feelings and emotions often go through a progression where they intensify or become diffused. Or a whole series of different feelings may emerge. For instance, you may initially experience a feeling such as anger and that could lead to an underlying fear or insecurity. The thoughts and underlying beliefs associated with these feelings will often emerge along with the memories of past events related to these issues. That’s all a natural part of our body-mind’s inner healing process. Just go with the process and let nature take its course.

Do not try to change the feelings by sending light to them or trying to breathe the pain out of your body. That will only sabotage the process. There’s a greater intelligence residing deep within your body and mind. Allow the process to work without any interference on your part.

How you breathe can make a big difference. Breathe naturally and easily. Allow your lungs to comfortably fill with air without having to force yourself. Then allow the breath to gently release as you exhale. Very subtle and deep breathing makes it easier to access your feelings.

I usually recommend that you sit in a comfortable position. It’s easier for most people to access their feelings while sitting. People are more likely to drift off to sleep if they try to do the practice while lying down. Some people do just fine lying down. So experiment and do what works best for you.

Thoughts will emerge and your mind may want to chatter. To the best of your ability, keep your awareness focused in the feelings. It’s easy to become distracted by your thoughts and go around in circles. You accomplish very little when that happens. Sometimes you will catch yourself wandering off into your thoughts. That’s normal; just refocus your attention on the feelings.

There will be times you will have profound realizations and insights into yourself and what’s happening in your life. That often comes after breathing into the feelings for some time. And these realizations may also emerge hours or days later.

Imagery can help us to access feeling and it can also become a big distraction. Sometimes I imagine a person with whom I have some unresolved issues and that makes it easier for me to connect with the feelings. The feelings provide a doorway so I can gain access to the underlying conflict. Once I find my way inside, I can begin to process the underlying issues to come to some kind of resolution.

Some people experience lots of imagery. Some of the images that surface will have symbolic meaning similar to what you find in your dreams. And that can offer you some real valuable insights. Be careful with imagery though. Some people wander off into all kinds of weird visualizations that have no relevance to what’s going on in their emotions.

It’s fine to be aware of the images as they emerge. Again, keep your mind focused primarily within the feelings. The process becomes dramatically more powerful and you will make much more progress.

So many people have shut down so much of their feelings throughout their lives and will find it difficult to access feelings in the beginning. Feelings and emotions will become more and more accessible as you continue to work with these practices. For some of you it will be like opening a whole new range of sensory awareness. And your whole inner experience of life will become much more vivid. Your sense of perceptions will become heightened allowing you to experience a tremendous increase in self-awareness. Your inner world and outer life experience will become much more vivid and alive.

I work with this practice at various intervals through out the day. It’s restful, stimulates my creativity, makes it easier for me to handle the stress in my life and it’s a nice break from my normal conscious thought process.

I experience more powerful results when I can close my eyes and sit down for thirty minutes or more. In some instances I continue for hours. By that time I often feel my whole body vibrating and the energy starts coming out of my hands and feet. Sometimes I can feel that deeper intelligence I spoke of earlier taking over. You begin to automatically go through these long slow breaths. The deeper mind is breathing you. And you experience waves of feelings, sensation and memory flooding through you.

After working with the practice for some time you get to where you can make it a part of everything else you do in your life. I often do the practice in the midst of stressful situations. It makes me less reactive and allows me to think between the lines so I can come up with more resourceful ways of meeting the challenges facing me. I do the practice as I go about my day to day activities such as riding the commuter train, walking through the city, going for long drives, or even as I interact with other people.