How To Heal Your Heart And Find New Love
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Step 4: Awaken Your Breath Of Life
Breathing is at the absolute core of life. When you are born, you take your very first breath. When you die, you release your final breath.
Great practitioners from traditions around the world were aware that your breath is a direct link to health, longevity, and different states of consciousness.
How you breathe alters how you feel, think and experience your life.
The video below will present you with a breathing practice that can help your nervous system grow strong enough to let go of the old, and welcome in the new.
Breathing in this way may seem simple. But you are opening up important channels of energy, and sculpting your nervous system in such a way that old emotions can be digested and let go of.
Please practice this breathing method once a day, along with the initial video. It can be of great benefit to sit silently after the video, and allow yourself to just be.
Once again, please take your time after practicing this breath. You might feel lightheaded, or spiritually and energetically open in ways you may not have experienced before.
If you feel ungrounded, put your hands on the ground, walk around outside barefoot, and move slowly.
You are beginning to activate a very powerful transformational energy in your body, so be gentle with yourself, and pay attention to how you feel.
In the next section we will take a closer look at what you just did in the breathing practice.
Breath Is The Gateway To Transformation
As you have read above, the way in which you breathe is directly related to how you are feeling and how your body is functioning.
However, beyond the physical benefits, mystical traditions around the world have known for centuries that the breath is also connected to your energy and the vital force behind your body.
As you may know, energy flows where attention goes. So the combination of full breathing, awareness, and your attention, can have a powerful transformational effect.
In the video you are asked to bring your hands and your awareness to different points of the body while you breathe.
Each breath should be long and slow, filling first the belly, then the mid torso, and finally the chest. Each exhale should be equally as long.
If deep breathing is something new for you, then be aware that it takes time to train the body to be able to breathe slowly and smoothly. Do your best, but don’t get overly worried or focused on it.
Back Of The Head
The first point you place your hands is on the back of the head. This is the region where the oldest part of your brain resides. It is directly connected with your survival instincts, fight or flight, and your deepest most core sense of safety.
The Face
Next you place your hands on your face. Outside of the biological importance of the face – including the powerful pituitary gland, eyes, etc – the face is directly connected to your ego and the mask one wears in the world. Learning to soften and heal the habitual patterns we show to the world can allow for a more authentic self to arise.
The Heart
On an energetic level the heart can be considered one of the most direct points of contact with the eternal, with the sacred. Biologically, the thymus gland resides in this area which is pivotal for the endocrine system. The physical heart and cardiac plexus resides in this area as well, which is crucial both on an energetic and biological level.
Solar Plexus
The Solar Plexus on an energetic level has a lot to do with processing and feeling emotions. When you are afraid to feel, the solar plexus becomes tense in its attempt to control your life and feelings. On a biological level, the solar plexus – or celiac plexus – plays an enormously important role in regulating the organ systems, and the nerves throughout your body.
The Belly
The belly is directly related to your sense of safety, nourishment, and belonging. The belly, or more specifically the Hara or Low Dantien can be considered the battery, or energy source of your body. When this area is overly tense, or undernourished with your awareness, it can disrupt the entire system.
Sunlight and Starlight
You may have noticed the imagery you are guided to pay attention to in the video. The imagery used in this practice is sunlight or starlight.
Recently, researchers have theorized certain nerve networks that connect visual and sensory systems with other functions throughout our bodies. The polyvagal theory looks at a nerve complex that connects the many different organ systems with higher functions of the brain.
When you bring powerful imagery, sense, and feeling into the breathing practice, you are connecting many different elements of your being at once. This creates a powerful transformational effect.
You don’t need to imagine sunlight or starlight, and if you like you can imagine your own type of light or substance if that is helpful.
Whatever you choose, remember to take your time with this video. Be kind to yourself, and be willing to get curious about what you experience as you start this new portion of the process.
You don’t need to get it perfect, rather, this is an opportunity to get to know yourself through the healing of your heart, body, and energy.