Permeability

We all have times when we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed in response to the events taking place in our lives. Maybe we’ve experienced the death of a loved one, or we lose our job and we’re left wondering how we’re going to survive. We get hit with huge expenses and struggle to keep up financially or find ourselves facing a major crisis such as becoming homeless. Sometimes it feels as if our lives are crumbling around us and it’s more than we can cope with.

These events can evoke overwhelming feelings of anxiety, fear, panic, grief or a sense of helplessness. Such strong emotions often compound the difficulty we’re going through. We feel overwhelmed by the realities confronting us and then we find that we are not able to cope. That’s what causes people to shut down or in some instances go through a nervous breakdown.

The stresses and emotions that we go through in some situations can be so intense. What we need is to find our center and bring some form of stability back to our lives. The most powerful means I’ve found to achieve this is to learn to become permeable.

Overwhelming emotion can flood our body and mind and the feelings can be excruciating at times. Do the best you can to be present with the feelings, emotions and sensations. Breathe softly and deeply. Allow yourself to be permeable as you breathe so that all the feelings and sensations can flow through you. Feel yourself letting down all resistance. You might also say to yourself "…whatever" as you totally let go into all the feelings. Imagine that you are porous as you allow the feelings to all flow through you.

You’re not trying to get rid of the feelings by breathing them out. The intention here is to learn to relax, be present with whatever you feel, breathe into the feelings and just allow them to flow through you.

I recommend that you do this practice sitting or lying down when you can find some time alone. Stress and feelings of overwhelm can sometimes dissipate in just a few minutes. There may be other occasions when you find yourself needing to breathe off and on for hours throughout the course of a day. You will eventually learn to breathe while staying connected to your feelings as you go about whatever you are doing.

Working with this practice will help to diffuse the overwhelming anxiety associated with panic attacks. It will help you to find a place of calm and a source of strength within that will help you to weather the storm. It will help to dissipate much of the stress that you carry in your body and you will find it easier to relax into the flow of life.