For this next exercise, if you are willing to play along, at first you will repeat back everything I say, and do your best to imitate my tone of voice, my inflection, everything. Then as we go along, the first time you have a thought that might fit into the pattern, call it out. Ready?
Ha!… Ha Ha! Hee hee hee! Ho ho, ho! Ah ha! Huh huh huh…
Do you believe how fun it is just to breath and laugh?! Now some might say that was fake laughter. I call in laughter that has been artificially inseminated with breath!
How many of you have ever lost your breath? I bet that every one of you found it again, and pretty quickly at that
They say that laughter is the best medicine. I’ll buy that but I intend to nourish it with breath.
MMM air. Today will be one of those days when we look at something we might take for granted. Maybe we can find there, grace, wonder and mystery!
Here are some breathing affirmations. Although simple, every time we repeat any if these phrases our breath will change our physiology for the better:
1- Every Breath I take brings me closer to happiness.
Take a deep breath, its going to be ok.
Sigh of relief
Breathing life into my day
Blow me away
breathe, laugh repeat
Every breath I take, I might just break out in song.
Breathe in the fun. Exhale the boredom.
I breath deep and let joy flow!
Laughter makes my breath sweeter.
Every breath is proof of my vitality and creativity. My breath rejuvenates me!
My breath is like a gentle breeze on a hot day
I breath easier knowing you are with me!
A rabbi, a priest and a minister were all asked the same question: “what do you want people to say about you when after you die? The priest said: “I hope that people say that I helped them to understand the absolute love that God, the father, son and holy spirit offers them through the church.
The minister said: “when I die, I hope that people will say that I have saved many souls by bringing them to Christ.” Finally, the rabbi was asked “Rabbi, what do you hope people will say about you after you have died?” Without pausing the rabbi answered “look he’s breathing!”
Today’s sermon is titled “The power of Breath; exploration and practice of transformational breathing.” Our shared UU Ministry is all about transformation. We aspire to transform society by dismantling systems of oppression. To do this we are going to have to breath new life into this world.
The book of genesis, the Jewish creation story tells that G*d breathed life into Adam. The word Adam means clay. So it’s also said that G*d took clay and breathed life into it. She took the inanimate and animated it.
The word spirit comes from the word for breath. When we say that we have been inspired, we are echoing this story. And we are stating that something has caused us to become animated. This is same word use to speak of cartoons. First there is the creation of a series of drawings. We say that light and motion bring these to life.
Breath really does bring life to our bodies. In a very real sense, every breath is transformative. UU religious life asks us what we want to breath life into? And it asks us to become aware of what we are breathing life into.
I’ve practiced the Buteyko method and other forms of breathwork that encourage me to become aware of my breathing. I find this congruent with UU religion with our emphasis on conscience and inner guidance. Our tradition cautions us against accepting things in totem on blind faith. Our ultimate authority isn’t necessary outside of ourselves. Revelation may come from on high, but for it to be useful we must try it. We can look at breath, what we tend to call our breath, as divine source. When we pay attention to our breath much will be revealed to us. Breath could be a place we meet our soul, Great Mystery, ..the divine.
In keeping with UU tradition, it’s important to me to make clear that I don’t claim to present THE way to do breathwork. Sherri Curry, today’s service associate, is very enthusiastic about breathwork and by author James Nestor. I did a cursory examination of Nestor’s work. I found significant similarities as well as differences to what I’ve studied. I hope you will encourage her to lead another service on breathwork. Our tradition encourages us to examine religious and spiritual topics from different perspectives.
Different schools of Breathwork have different goals, philosophies and approaches.
Some of the different goals for working with breath include peace, enlightenment, altered states, expanded capacities- like the people whose deep sea diving for a living. Many work with their breathing to increase performance in a competitive sport. Others do it to promote health, healing or recovery.
I had the privilege of having Rober Littman as my teacher. Littman is the author of “The Breathable Body; Transforming your world and your life one breath at a time. He teaches Buteyko Breath Retraining. He also draws on his life experiences including Emily Conrad’s “Continuum Movement Theory and Practice.” Before I tell you about my learning from him, I’m going to share a bit more about my journey that led me to him.
For many years I summarized my journey by saying that I crashed at an early age, and have spent the rest of my life seeking to learn everything I could about what supports healing.
As a teen I had in me a great hunger to understand violence; the Holacaust, the Ethiopian famine, the American War in Vietnam, the warzone that was my family of origin and my lack of skill dealing with a multitude of abusive people and social traditions. How to thrive in such a world?
I was and remain appreciative of hippie counter culture and the blooming of liberation movements that arose in the 60s and 70’s. However, I have mourned my participation in some cultural aspects, specifically substance abuse, what we called partying. I imagined that partying, smoking pot made me part of the Who’s “my Generation” part of rebellion against the corrupt establishment. For a while it made me feel alive and connected. Gradually there was a diminishing return of the high. Then an event changed everything. A close friend of mine killed himself. I didn’t know how to grieve. No longer partying, I began getting wasted in isolation. I consider killing myself. An angry teenage prayer, literally yelling at G*d resulted in a religious experience that in time would become the foundation of a new life.
Going off to college rebooted my enthusiasm for partying in a truly fun and social sense. In sophomore year I experienced a horrible traumatic break up with the first love of my life. The guy with hundreds of friendly acquaintances suddenly didn’t want to leave his room. I find no solace or pleasure in the party scene. My heart didn’t seem to be beating correctly, and I wondered if psychedelics had done irreparable damage to me. I didn’t know how to grieve. I didn’t even have names for the emotional pain I was experiencing.
Again a prayer, turning to G*d intimately with all my fear and regret was the moment when something profound shifted. It was a psychic change.
I swore off toxins. Instead of going to the pub nightly, I began going to the pool. I also began a life long pursuit of information about healing. I tried to learn everything I could about what was toxic and what was tonic or healing. I went looking for Jesus. Then Ghandian satyagraha (nonviolence). I entered a graduate program in psychology. I became a huge fan of peer counseling and peer support. I made a living advocating for holistic healing. I studied and practiced massage therapy, conflict mediation, nutrition, fitness and exercise, restorative justice, oppression/liberation and human rights.
I treasure all these forms of education. I share the myriads of sources and paths I’ve gone down in search of healing, and with humility share that something far less romantic, psychic, or socially progressive delivered me profound results.
I was ranting to a friend about the current state of affairs. I had stepped on my soapbox preaching that the sympathetic nervous was created for occasional ignition into fight or flight, and that modern society had ours running constantly. My friend said that I “had to” take Littman’s “Buteyko Breath Retraining Course.” I took the three-day course three times in an 18 month period. I did the exercises and practices.
During my third runthrough of the course, I had one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It really surprised me.
Breathwork brought me a stillness inside that far surpassed anything I experienced from counseling or meditation. How could this be? It wasn’t a drug. There was no religion or spirituality, no psychology, no reenactment of sacred story! This result came from lectures on anatomy and physiology combined with breathing exercises.
I wasn’t a high or a form of elation. For the first time in my memory, I felt what was like to have my sympathetic nervous completely turned off, to have zero sense of danger or threat.
As students of Buteyko method, we learned to turn of the sympathetic nervous response by breathing only through our noses. We learned to restrict our breathing and reduce the number of breaths per minute. Over the 18 months, I observed my habit of breathing through my mouth. I saw how I had used my breath to fuel myself on adrenaline.
What took me to my peak experience was entrainment with the breathing and vibrational frequency of the instructor. There are things communicated through voice that are far greater than word meaning. The quality of someone’s voice can convince us that we are safe, in good company or good hands. I could feel the calm in him created by how he was breathing, and found I could have it too.
This is not entirely different from the way singing together creates uplifting shared experience. Music Educator Stephanie Sepaugh said “every great choir makes an agreement to breath together.”
I don’t have to persuade you of the power of breath. At some level we all know that our journey or at least this leg of it will end one day when we take our last breath. Breath is a vehicle that we ride through this world.
Breath is something we all know. It can show us our connection to each other, to the oneness of everything. It can be a portal to connect with the transcendent, conscious contact with divine source. It can teach us how to extricate ourselves from mental traps and enslaving habits. It can increase our ability to be present to the eternal now.
And this ethereal and formless thing can be found within us. We can experience it as big as our imagination allows. Breath is universal and it is personal. We might think of it as the comforter spoken of by Jesus, what Christianity calls the Holy Spirit.
If we are agitated, frustrated, heartbroken, or afraid, we can choose to become aware of breath, the movement of life inside of us. We can observe it and feel its flow. We can change it up for desired effect. We can let it be our guide, our friend, our teacher.
Robert Littman said: “There are no two breaths that are ever alike. Each breath is based on your experience in the past breath and all the breaths that came before it. All the breaths that came before it are the ancestors of the current breath. So no two breaths are ever alike opens the door to “well then what is this breath like?” it can really ignite your curiosity and your sense of discovery, breath by breath by breath.”
What might we find when we decide to become aware of breath? Could we learn to play in breath? Might we find new power? Power together? Power of creativity? Laughter? Might we find peace? A way to grow from greed to giving, from fear to love?
May breath, the power of wind gently guide our sails from now to eternity.
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