Its been a while since I’ve posted anything, life has been busy; book published, audiobook recorded, another round of UPLIFT, and so on… ….
If you’re like me when bored or not sure what to do, you grab your phone, check emails and Facebook, play games, scroll through apps, swiping this way and that, eventually finding yourself skimming news items and ads.
I have a number of interests and pages I follow ranging from the obvious, writing and books, to psychology, and neurology.
Today was one of those days. A Google search for today’s election led to confirming the start of the Vegas/Stars playoff game, to bits and bobs of news items and articles.
What I found was a psychology research article about the benefits of breathing on memory.
Breathing is what we all do every moment of every day. We do it without realizing it, our bodies on automatic pilot as we move throughout our days.
Breathing is natural, a necessity with benefits that go beyond keeping us alive.
Focusing on our breath can calm us, relaxing our tense bodies and freeing our minds. But do we really?
Being aware and being in the moment are two different places.
Awareness of your surroundings is not the same as the awareness of self. To know what day it is, where you are, and what you’re doing does not mean you’re conscious of the moment. All it says is you’ve traveled from space to space physically, not emotionally.
To be truly in the moment, yours, is a state of self awareness. A joining of all the senses. How you feel; the sensation of your body on a seat, feet on the floor, how the air moves around you, touches your skin, the texture of clothing on limbs, torso, head.
It’s the state of being within as it greets the outside and the experience of that union.
And it all starts with a breath…