A Breathexperience Conversation with Valerie
As we live through this period of ‘sheltering at home’, we are each confronted with the reality of meeting ourselves as we are … the parts we like and the parts we don’t, the parts that are coping and the parts that aren’t.
There are moments when I feel completely caught up in it all. There are others when I remember that I have choice. And so, I choose to let my breath come and go on its own. I notice my feet, and that I am in them.
I notice that under my feet is the earth. It is real, and I let myself be carried by it. I notice the chair I am sitting on, because my butt is in contact with it. I place my hand on the middle of my torso… that soft place where my ribs curve up. I sense movement – that simple sensation of my breath moving in me. I notice that movement is in the front, in the sides, in the back of me. It is three dimensional – I am in the middle of me. I see what’s around me and realize that not only am I in the middle of me, I am in the middle of everything. In this moment, I am offering myself the generosity of being with myself exactly the way I am … and sensing the movement of my breath too. I notice the anxiety ease and the irritation dissipate. I notice calm show up … and lightness … and trust. I notice that I can also be with what is around me, with a new ease.
I am here, sensing movement … of breath… of emotion… of thoughts. For me, this simple awareness is my mindfulness practice. It doesn’t require anything except making the choice, for a few moments, or for longer if I have the luxury of time, to notice that I live in a body, that body is my home, and breath is moving within me, and in fact, moving me. Stress, anxiety, pain, uncertainty become part of something bigger within me, that also contains trust, ease, well-being, confidence, joy and the urge to create. And I can move with it all.
Then I make myself a cup of tea and continue the day, bringing my breath with me.
With breath,
Valerie
Valerie Galvin is a co-director of Breathexperience Canada