Breathing and Calming the Mind

Although not a great book, I own an interesting book about working with "dinosaurs" that identifies the reptilian responses behind those difficult people at work. When confronted, a reptile either fights, flees or freezes. Inside our human brain are those reptilian impulses and they are triggered during periods of stress and anxiety.

If you want to read more about the evolution of the human mind in a readable book, I would suggest; Boca's Brain by Dr. Carl Sagan. (Yes, it was written by the "billions of stars" astronomer.)

The reptilian response to freeze, results in us holding our breath when we are stressed or in discomfort. It is not just the breath that is frozen, but rather we have involuntarily contracted most of the muscles of our body. When you are in the midst of a reptilian response, it is difficult to maintain an open perspective, let alone harness your conscience and your values.

Both practioners of yoga and buddist mediation already understand the focus upon and use of breathing in relaxation and meditation. During my training as a yoga teacher, the most difficult work we did was learning and practicing the various types of breathing. It was hard to master and exhausting.

When anxious or upset, taking a breath or two before you speak or act gives you a meaningful pause. You can train yourself to notice when you are holding your breathing. During the next 24 hours, make a mental note whenever you catch yourself holding your breath. When you catch yourself doing this take a handful of slow deep breaths. This will assist you in being responsive to the situation as opposed to being reactive.

The creative stance as I've discussed is a responsive stance. It is driven by vision, passion and values. The creative stance requires taking in the truth whether that truth is pleasant or unpleasant. In the creative stance, what works is more important than being right. So when failures occur and bad news comes in....breathe. As they say in sports, "take a breather".

The impulsive reaction to difficulty or disappointment is reptilian and undermines both creativity and our spirit. When we catch our reaction and add breathing and a pause, we empower ourselves to be responsive. We enable our vision, our passion and our values to shape a response. We can context our action against the desired envisioned result we seek. We can filter our options against the values we wish to affirm.

So have a great day. Take a breath and plunge ahead.