Breathing itself is an act of surrender.
Holding the breath, whether full or empty, is an attempt to freeze. It is when we refuse what is in front of us. We don’t accept what is happening around us.
We aren’t breathing anyway; the atmosphere breaths us. It is a constant pressure, which fills all spaces. Meaning that even for us to take a breath, we surrender to a force over which we have no control. When we are born, the atmosphere rips our airway open and surges through our lungs. At this instant, the left and right sides of the heart separate into two pumps. Doctors often try to make a newborn cry to ensure it can breathe and check if the heart has done its part. The breath gradually moves from the most rapid and erratic movement to a harmonized pace. The body finds a balance between resisting and surrendering to the pressure.
Secondly, when you are born, you experience gravity for the first time and feel the weight of your body in space. You must immediately do something to nourish yourself (breathing, swallowing, sucking) to build postural strength (supporting your body).
Perhaps it starts as shallow, effortful gasps, but each spurt becomes longer. Gradually, the breath deepens and becomes steady. Fluid movement, air flows from the depths of the belly, through the windpipes, and out of the nose. Long and slow breathes, the body has a natural rhythm that precipitates as a symphony with the atmosphere.
After all of this, one of the most fundamental and natural abilities you are a master of - is surrendering to pressure, flowing in balance, and supporting yourself. We call this breathing. *Sometimes, the best way to achieve this is to cry. It is the first thing you learned after birth.
Rx Script >
Simply by breathing, I release the need to control that which is beyond my grasp.
I surrender to the universal flow, that is.
With each breath, I ease myself into rest and digest.
I calm my nervous system and reset my flight and fight response.
I am where I need to be.
I accept that which I do not understand.
I flow through life with ease and comfort.
I am safe.
And so it is, and so it is.
- Laurën Blūm -