Conscious Breathing

Breathing has been important to me for several years now. Well, all my life, I guess. It’s such a simple thing. Air goes into your lungs. Oxygen is extracted into the bloodstream. Blood circulates through your body to feed cells (like the brain). You exhale the waste product air. And it all happens automatically. It is an involuntary response.

Except when it isn’t.

I’m learning to deal with COPD and occasional panic attacks when I think I can’t get enough air. They are lessening, I think. But this post isn’t about that. It’s about meditation.

Back in the 70s and early 80s I participated in several meditation exercises and ultimately developed my own creative visualization meditation that I am trying to get back to. I called it 21 Breaths and it was/is focused on consciously breathing and letting that act release the mind and enter a healing state. It has gotten me through countless crises in my life. The toughest part is remembering to do it and let it work its magic.

And now, I’ve found that consciously controlling twenty-one consecutive breaths is a real challenge that I have yet to succeed in. I’m hoping that entering this meditative state will help me control my COPD, but also that it will return a contemplative state that I have lately been missing.

If you are interested in following the creative visualization of 21 Breaths, I’ve included it below.

I went to Art on the Green in Coeur d'Alene yesterday. Had to stop and rest half an hour as I walked around, but all told, the exercise did me good. I loved watching the couple in this photo create a sand castle. He had a picture of what it would look like and the finished product is remarkably like it.

It got me thinking, though. When you watch a building being built, you see a foundation laid and walls rise to the height intended. Three stories? Ten? A hundred? You see the building grow from the ground up, almost as though it was organic with deep roots and a living body.

The sand castle started from a big mountain of sand and the artists have slowly scraped away the part that wasn't a castle, starting from the top and working down. The castle doesn't grow, it emerges as the surrounding material is eroded away. It's more like the great stone formations of the Utah desert. Monument Valley. Rainbow Bridge.

I think in my life, I see the effects of both processes. I started small and grew larger. But I also started a rough and unpolished lump from which has eroded the things that aren't essentially me.

I'll meditate on that.

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21 Breaths

Inhale as you imagine the scene in the step description. When it is firmly in your mind, exhale slowly.
Breath 1: You come to a park where a juggler is entertaining. The juggler has three red balls and you watch them as each rises into the air and falls back to the juggler’s hand.
Breath 2: Beyond the juggler are two green trees. They grow from a joined root and you place a hand on each tree to feel it’s life and how much it gives to the world in terms of oxygen and beauty.
Breath 3: You step between the trees and discover a rustic stair between their roots leading down. You place your right foot on the first step and determine to take the journey.
4-9: You consciously visualize each step in this rustic stair as you place your foot on it and descend into the darkness. Is it rough? Smooth? Creak? Have a scrap of carpet on it? Each step is different. Don’t forget to switch feet! You started on the right foot. You will end on the right (seven total steps/breaths). Right, left, right, left, right, left, right.
10: You step out and off the bottom step onto a wooden deck. You can see here but there is no apparent source of light.
11: Before you is a door carved with mystical creatures of all description. But it has no apparent doorknob or handle. You place your left hand on the horn of the unicorn and your right on the wing of Pegasus and the door swings open.
12: You step through the entry into a pool room. The water in this pool is magical. You could breathe it. You approach the steps into the pool and grasp the handrail preparing to back into the water.
13-19: Like the steps between the trees, you visualize each step down into the water. Starting on your right foot, you go down seven steps until the water completely covers you. The water fills your mind and body.
20: Turning to float on your back, you see a string dangling. When you pull the string, light floods the pool and your mind. It illuminates the subject you are contemplating. Is it a problem in need of a solution? Poor health? A relationship? Whatever the problem or subject of your meditation, it has now been illuminated.
21: Surrounding you in the pool and in the air above it are tools. They may look like your normal toolbox but they all have unique properties. A wrench might be needed that tightens a loose knee joint. A spoon might measure the appropriate amount of sympathy for a friend. A pump might extract the phlegm from your lungs. Whatever your problem or issue, visualize a tool you can use to fix it or understand it. When you release this breath, let the tool do its work and accept the solution.
Relax in the pool as long as you wish. It is your sacred space and will always welcome you. Go there to heal.