03 Sep Breathing Meditation
Bob Silverstein, is a therapist in New York City that I’ve known for many years. In the last couple of years he has been using breathing meditation as a form of healing and connection. He’s had some terrific results. As we talked about it I invited him to write something that I could post for you all as inspiration and encouragement.
Recently I completed a week long instructor training in breathing meditation with Richard Brown, M.D. at Kripalu. It was a great experience which deepened a process I had begun when I took a one day workshop with Dr. Brown in March.
The amazing things about breathing meditation for me are: (1) I do it every day for 25 minutes, (2) it always makes me feel calmer, quieter and better able to let go of my worries, and (3) it gets me in touch with “the river” that flows beneath my surface.
Previously, I had conceptually liked the idea of meditation, but could never actually get myself to do it. With Dr. Brown’s technique I got it right away, felt better right away (emotionally and physically) and I didn’t want to miss a day once I began. I gently breathe in and out at a steady pace to the sound of resonating chimes as I watch my breath move through various pathways in my body.
The process of focusing on my breath lets me both notice and dismiss anxious thoughts and everyday worries. Even more than that, it allows me to get in touch, without really trying, with my calmer, more empowered self. Before I meditated it was far harder to actualize these better feeling and knowing parts of myself, and despite what “I knew”, I would get overwhelmed by the internalized story of who I was and the stressful chatter of everyday life.
This river of me that flows beneath my surface, is more confident, loving and healthy than my normally reactive self. The practice of breathing meditation gives me a tool to constantly rediscover that part of myself, that I suppose, has always been at my core, but which I couldn’t always access in a sustainable way.
I’m excited to have made breathing meditation a part of my life and to have begun to include it in my work with my clients. With my psychotherapy clients, it’s use is starting to help them quiet their anxieties and reduce the physical manifestations of their stress, so they can “hear” themselves think and better regulate their body and emotions.
With my executive coaching clients it is becoming a powerful risk management aid, as a calmer body and a quieter thought process heightens intuition and reduces careless mistakes. When I do crisis management work, breathing is a powerful tool that assists clients to slow down the reactive firing of the their body-brain so that they can better process and heal from the crisis they have just been exposed to.
If any of you would like to discuss any of this with me or if I can assist you in any way, don’t hesitate to contact me.