Scripps Sunday #115- part 2

 

Since your word you chose for the year is "breathe," here is another passage to remind you of from this beautiful book: 

"These are important big-picture ideas, but there are also moment to moment practices that can take this from out there to right here. One of my favorite therapeutic practices is to remember the immediacy of the breath. We can make time to breathe together, to synchronize our breaths, teaching others how to breathe to manage stress and anxiety. Breath is the source of so much healing and connectedness, to ourselves and to others.

Remember the staircase of stress response from chapter 3? The neurophysiology of trauma has revealed that breath can be a powerful tool to shift us from going down the staircase to moving back up the staircase toward connection and rest. When we breathe in a specific way, it signals to our nervous system that we are okay. To do this, we breathe in through our nose, down into our belly until our bottom ribs in the front, back, and sides expand, instead of our breath just going into the top of our chest. When we’re in danger, we don’t breathe deeply and slowly, so deep breathing can signal, through communication between nerves running between our belly and brain, that we are safe.

Intentional breathing can also remind us that we are in the present. Our breath is never anywhere else but right here. When we feel stuck- somewhere real or imagined, past or future- we can invite ourselves into our breath. The in-and-out rhythm reminds us that we are always taking in and letting go. When we do notice that we are breathing, we could consider that as we breathe in we are either saying the name of God or sharing in the life force that moves through every living thing around us.

Another option is to place our hands on our belly or chest and breathe deeply and slowly. Through breath, we can begin making peace with our physicality. We are invited to notice and thank our breath for carrying us all the way from life to death, from one moment to the next, across an unbroken chain of holy and mundane ins and outs.”  (page 229- 230)