Breathe In, Breathe Out, Repeat
Breathing, such a simple thing, we never even have to pay attention to it for it to happen. However, when we do give it our attention it can literally save our lives.
The pain started at 7:00 Sunday night. I realize I couldn’t handle the intensity of the pain alone. No yoga position helped ease it, no affirmation diminished it and simply allowing it to be wasn’t working either.
It was a 15 on a scale of 1-10 when I asked Randy to take me to the emergency room. This body has had some very unpleasant episodes in the past 10 years but nothing quite like that night.
Sitting in the wheel chair at the hospital I found a position that eased it a bit. Folded over my balled-up sweater, my head on my knees, brought me close to my senses and I remembered to BREATHE.
Slow, heart-centered cohesive breathing, in and out, in and out, in and out. A miracle. Pain was still there, but suffering had stopped. Breathing in, breathing out through the nose, focused intently on the breath.
Breath is an important part of our spiritual practice. Many master teachers spend lots of hours teaching us breathing techniques and that includes the Fillmore’s, Unity’s cofounders.
In the Vedic tradition breath is Prana, the life force. They teach that with each precious breath we are being impregnated by God itself.
In Genesis God breathes humanity into life.
Five hours after our arrival at the hospital the pain was still increasing. I truly believe that watching my breath made me able to stay sane. I noticed that I could keep up the in and out, in and out, of the heart-centered cohesive breathing (called by many names) in the quiet of the little room where Randy and I waited until a helpful someone would walk in. Then my attention was drawn from the breath, and the suffering returned along with my plea to Jesus for God to impregnate my life.
When the helpful someone was gone I could return to my breath, it would take a bit but sure enough the suffering would be gone. And then at about midnight the morphine was injected into the IV and I no longer cared. I gave it no attention but the breath continued to breathe in and breathe out.
Lovenough, katherine