Take a Deep Breath Here and Now- Remarkable Eclipse Moment

Taking time to view the eclipse with my family in Carrabassett Valley (picture from the summit) reminded me of early days of my own backpacking adventures in the quiet wilderness. While we were surrounded by many other skiers who had taken the chair lift to the summit to get a good view, sitting amongst the alpine trees and over 4 feet of snow with mountain views and surrounding landscape was humbling.

Nature is humbling- as the recent Maine winter storm revealed to us- and the eclipse was another example of how immense and magnificent this planet is that we live on. I asked my family, mid-eclipse- “Man, who would we be without the sun?” The same can be true about the breath. Who would we be without the breath?

I delight in deep breathing because it helps me to feel immensely connected and fully alive. In college, when I was struggling with depression, I remember how sunken-in I felt and how disconnected from myself and the world I was (I was also a smoker at the time- a double-whammy of limiting my own deep breath connection).

While living fully in life (alive and open) is not always for the faintest of hearts- as deep breathing leads to deep feeling, deep awareness and full presence to the world around us- I do genuinely feel that the awakening and enlivening of our senses with our deep breathing is actually immensely gratifying. Just think of the potential joy that is inherent in connecting to our life more fully!

In the mornings, I like to take walks on our road while the sun has just risen. Seeing the dew drops on the branches, hearing the birds share their songs, and watching the sky colors change fills me often with immense gratitude and gives me a chance to gather myself for the day ahead. I love how some days I find myself so appreciative of my surroundings and other days more distracted and yet, always at the end, I feel more alive and awake in my day and more in my center than when I started.

Deep breathing offers the same deep expansion of the “here and now”. While life can sometimes feel hard and no one is immune to stress, I do feel like living life with a fuller breath is worth every minute. The joy, deep-hearted connection and presence that my own deep breath allows is remarkable.

My own breathing helps me remember the vastness of being fully alive- beyond my thinking mind.

Breath takes us to the place of who we are without our incessant mental chatter. And can wake us up to the vibrant, interactive, alive nature of our true self- a genuine gift.

Breath, like the sun, is available to us all and is free. A nourishing…life-giving… remarkable energy source.

Sometimes we need the absence of a full breath (like the absence of a full sun as the moon passed over it during the eclipse) to remember how absolutely divine this life really is.

And sometimes this realization wakes us up and motivates us to shake off the slumber of our past or our limiting habits that keep us closed off to living and breathing fully in our lives.

There is no doubt that Breathwork can be a catalyst for this awakening- but so can your own precious intentional practice of taking a deep breath here and now. Taking a deep breath- HERE and NOW.

In light and peace and in celebration of the sun AND our BREATH!