Use Your Breath to Create Space, Connect with Your Heart, and Build Conscious Awareness

Breathwork is a powerful spiritual practice you can use to create space, connect with your heart, and build conscious awareness. You always have access to our breath and it can immediately reduce anxiety and bring us into a state of equanimity. With so much happening in your life, knowing how to shift your energy into a calm and centered state is key to living a life without suffering and with more ease and joy. 

The breath helps us create space within your body and in our lives. We use only ten percent of our lung capacity. For most of us, our default breath is usually shallow and tense residing mostly in our chests. Just by being mindful of our breath, we can begin to breathe more deeply, creating space.   

You come into life on an inhale and you leave on an exhale. Your breath or prana in Sanscrit, not only keeps you alive; but is the vital life force and essence of life. It brings energy into your body which connects you with the divine universe. It is the cosmic bridge between the physical/mind and spiritual/heart.  

The quality of the mind is relative to the quality of the breath. You can use the breath to become consciously aware of your mind. It also puts you in touch with your body and how you’re feeling at any given moment. Next time you are stressed, angry, or anxious, check in with the quality of your breath. Your chaotic, squirrel-like mind often keeps you from being present: however, your breath connects you to your heart, the seat of the soul.  

My breath always shows me where I am and how I am feeling. When I pause and notice my breath, I know whether I am anxious or calm, excited or quiet, or simply content. My default breath used to be shallow and mostly in my chest. Until I started a daily breathwork practice, I often found myself catching or holding my breath. Learning to breathe in a conscious, deep, and expanded way has been life-changing for me. 

The breath itself, is the internal healer. It is important to incorporate breathwork into your daily life because it calms the parasympathetic nervous system (the part of the involuntary nervous system that serves to slow the heart rate), thereby reducing stress and anxiety. It also helps to increase concentration, creativity, and clarity.  

A few of the spiritual practices that can assist you in extending this vital life force throughout your body and mind are: tai chi, meditation, chi gong, and yoga. These practices all provide a sacred space for you to notice, observe, and become aware of your breath.  

1) Use Your Breath to Build Conscious Awareness: Practice using your breath to slow yourself and your thoughts down. This allows you to create space between one breath and another. Be mindful of your breath as you make a transition whether it is between one thought to another, one movement to another, or one choice to another. As you slow down, pay attention to your breath. It provides the pause so you can become aware of what kind of energy you are bringing to the moment.  

2) Practice Mindful Breathing: The breath elevates your vibration by calming the body, specifically the parasympathetic nervous system. Notice your breath and it will tell you where you are. A 4:4:8 count breath exercise recalibrates your energies and brings you back into balance and high vibration. You inhale for 4 counts, pause at the top of the breath for 4 counts and then exhale for 8 counts. Pausing at the top of the breath and lengthening the exhale are important elements in calming the body and recalibrating your energy to a higher frequency.  

3) Practice Ocean Breathing:  Bring your attention to how your body feels. Notice the ebb and flow of your breath as you inhale and exhale. Like the waves going in and out from the shore, your breath goes in and out too. T 

Try to focus your breathing into your belly on each inhale. As the wave of breath comes in, pause at the top of the wave. Then exhale focusing on the wave going out and pause at the end of the exhale. The longer the exhale the more you will calm the energy down. Notice how you feel as you breathe in and out. Let your whole body be filled with this life force energy. Now focus your attention at your heart and drop down into this space. Feel your body relax as you breathe into this space.  

4) A Five-Minute Breath Exercise to Recalibrate Your Energies: Gently close your eyes and focus your attention on your breath. Simply notice the ebb and flow of your breath as you inhale and then exhale. Whatever is going for you, you are ok. You are in a safe space and your body is just letting you know where you are.  

Take a few deep breaths and this time breathe all the way down through your body to the tips of your toes. Now sigh out your fear and any tension in your body. Keep sighing until you feel some space in your chest and diaphragm and some relief of the tension in your body.  

Follow your breath to the center of your chest, to your heart center. Lightly place your hand on your heart and notice your energy here. Take a few more deep cleansing breaths and direct your attention to your heart. Breathe in love and breathe out any fear. Feel the connection here to your divine source, the seat of your soul.   

5) Practice Nadi Shodhana (Cleansing of the Pulse): Choose a comfortable sitting position-either crossed -legged on the floor (with a cushion to support the spine) or in a chair with your feet flat on the floor. Allow the spine to lengthen so that the back, neck, and head are in a straight line throughout the practice. Gently close your eyes. 

Begin by taking a full deep inhalation followed by a slow gentle exhalation. Take several rounds of full but relaxed, natural breaths. 

Fold the tips of the index and middle fingers inward until they touch the palm at the base of the right thumb (Vishnu mudra). You will alternately use the right thumb to close the right nostril and the right ring finger to close the left nostril. 

Use the right thumb to close the right nostril. Exhale gently, but fully through the left nostril. Keeping the right nostril closed, inhale through the left nostril and deep into the belly. As you inhale, allow the breath to travel upward along the left side of the body. Pause briefly at the crown of the head. 

Next, use the ring finger to gently close the left nostril and simultaneously release the right nostril. Exhale through the right nostril, surrendering the breath down the right side of the body. Pause gently at the bottom of the exhalation. 

Keeping the left nostril closed, inhale once again through the right nostril, allowing the breath to travel up the right side of the body. 

Then again, use the right thumb to close the right nostril as you release the left nostril. Exhale through the left nostril, surrendering the breath back down the left side of the body. Pause gently at the bottom of the inhalation. 

Your breath is the foundation and essence of life, the energy and vitality that permeates the entire universe. This energy flows in everything that exists. It is the connecting link between the physical world, consciousness, and the divine.