Weaving breath & yoga shapes through the day

I was listening to a podcast this past week when I heard someone say that a relaxed body is the most powerful body we have. It sent chills down my spine because I know this to be true. Truth. I had to stop to write it down. Such a simple thought. So profound. This. This is how we show up in the collective. We gather ourselves, and somehow, in some way, we access our calm. We figure out how to do that with the myriad of demands, distractions, and doings and move out into the collective from that place. From our centre.

So many of us are at capacity. I was recently in a van full of women returning from a trailhead near Mt. Si when we were merging onto a highway. A trucker disagreed with our merging and pushed his semi into our lane so aggressively while leaning on his horn, totally disregarding the fact that we were forced into the lane of oncoming head-on traffic. Thankfully, those in the opposite oncoming lane made room for us, and the dysregulated professional driver got ahead by exactly one vehicle by risking the lives of six souls on board.

Two days later, on the long weekend, I arrived at the ferry terminal at 4 a.m. to travel to Vancouver Island. The lineup was crazy. Tempers were already flaring in the dark morning. Folks bypassed the lineup by racing down the shoulder to budge. There was a police cruiser right where we had to merge to pay for passage, with lights on because this kind of behaviour is now expected.

Every health professional and enthusiast advises us to focus on the things that help us calm down and keep patience and good vibes high. We have yoga classes, meditation techniques, float tanks, and breathwork choices, to name but a few.

What we are super short on is time.

And if we can’t do the 60—or 90-minute class, we don’t bother to practice at all. That’s for another season in life. Maybe we will have time then. I get it. This is me so many days. Even with the best of intentions, I somehow don’t get to the things that will support me the most. Those practices that keep me operating from my center, from my calm rather than from frazzle. So many times, the day simply slips away. I look up, and it is 10 pm and time for sleep - if sleep will even come in my adrenalized state.

One of my favourite teachers* shares that the practices that usher in calm and well-being do not only come to us by attending a whole class. We can reap ALL the benefits by simply weaving in yoga shapes and conscious breathing throughout the day. While waiting for coffee, a mindful forward bend. While weeding the garden, a downward dog. While chatting on the phone putting our legs up the wall. While waiting for the bathtub to be ready some cyclic sighing.

This teacher also argues that while it might seem counterintuitive, if you must choose between yoga shapes and some deep belly breaths or other breath work, always choose the breath. The breath has the biggest and most immediate impact on our nervous system, by a long shot.

Simply pausing while you are in a lineup waiting to pay for your groceries and imagining there is a balloon in your belly, and you take a big breath in through your nose to try to slowly fill up the balloon so that your belly puffs up. No holding the belly in anymore. Let it move fully. Then, breathe out through your mouth, like blowing out through a straw to slowly let all of the air out of the balloon. This can and will transform your experience while waiting in line, at the doctor’s office, or pausing between emails. Suddenly, life will seem to sparkle or, at the very least, will be less activating.

It makes sense, really. Life begins on an inhale and ends on an exhale. We can go weeks without food or days without water but only a few moments without breath. The breath is clearly very powerful…

In this fast-paced and sometimes bewildering world, couldn’t we all use less activation and more calm? Less rushing and more presence. A few breaths can get us there.

How simple can we make it? Can we let go of the need to use these practices in the traditional ways (e.g., making our way to a studio and taking a class) and make them a part of our lives as we move through our days? Pauses to stretch. Pauses to breathe with intention. This will have an incredible effect on your body, mind, and mood. Life will become more friendly on the inside when nothing has changed on the outside. That is a powerful way to access our calm and move through the world from our centre.

“Our breath and mind are closely linked. When we concentrate on breathing practices, we tether the wild horse of the mind, which produces relaxed awareness. Like two sides of the same coin, how we breathe is an indicator of our mood, and our mood is an indicator of our breath. Changing how we breathe is one of the quickest ways to alter our mood.”

If you can’t make the whole class, that is okay. No throwing babies out with bathwater. The ancient practices are meant to be carried throughout our day-to-day, not only in a formal class setting. One conscious belly breath or down dog is most certainly better than none.

Whenever we find ourselves waiting, let’s try to access some good chemicals in the brain. Let’s access our calm. And maybe we won’t witness police presence while loading onto a busy ferry anymore.

Also, come practice yoga with me when you can;)

And when you can’t, do what you can, with what you have, from exactly where you are.

*Yoga teacher is Brett Larkin & quote author is Gabrielle Harris