The Next Big Craze

I want to start a new health craze. I want it to take off the way kale has made it onto covers of books or the way Pilates became a household name. This new craze is... breathing. No, I'm not joking and yes, I know you could argue that yoga has been around a long time and has already taken off. But, this would be simpler. No classes needed. No money spent. The instructions are already built in. We'd simply need to push the activate button. Like toggling a switch on your phone to "on." My personal guarantee, like you might see on an infomercial, is that it will improve everything from tension, to ailments, to productivity, to world peace. And, it's free. No purchase required.

Let me tell you where all of this is coming from. I've been hearing some internal criticism for writing weekly blog posts and not yet talking much about the body. I'm realizing it might seem odd since most of my life's focus evolves around how we are in our bodies. Partly, I take it for granted. I don't know how to be other than in my body. I've also been blessed with an extremely healthy one. But, in my work and in all my relations, I see a fair amount of physical struggle. So I thought about what I could write. I could write about how we need to shift our thinking away from our bodies being like cars that we need to bring to the mechanic to get fixed. I could write about how we need to stop thinking of our bodies as separate from everything else that goes on in our minds, hearts, emotions. I could write about why when something goes "wrong" in our bodies, we could stop looking for some immediate medical quick fix and instead ask some deeper questions and open our awareness. Instead, I'll tell you what struck me tonight as I walked on 32nd Street toward Penn Station.  

I got out of the subway and walked with a crowd. It was earlier than my usual time going home and there were more people everywhere. I wanted to practice being in a crowd, needing to be at the station to make a train departure, and doing it without that subtle, but underlying tensing up, shrinking in, or putting on of some armor. I wanted to enjoy the walk. I sensed that the one place in me that felt crowded was around my shoulder blades, chest, and heart. In that moment, I took a very conscious, full breath. I felt a sudden sense of room around my heart and length through my entire spine. I felt tall and powerfully alive. This power isn't a kind of aggressive power, but a feeling of fullness and a knowing that there's nothing to protect or armor against. It is an understanding that I have everything I need in that very moment of breathing into all of me. I can actually let go, do less, ease up. And, even better, I can keep doing it. I can stay in that amazing space and open myself to take in the energy of the city, the beauty of the buildings and the lights, the way the fabric of the flags waves in elegant ripples in the wind, the eyes of people passing. In that moment, I am free and no matter how much I open myself, nothing can be taken from me, but rather by opening up, I can have even more. The fact that I can do this whenever I want is so exciting. It makes me want to make an infomercial.  

After I consciously breathed, I walked on and thought, my gosh, there is so much we can do for ourselves, to help ourselves feel good in our bodies. And, this one is easier than pie. I'm not sure what is easy about making pie, but any way you slice it, breathing life into ourselves is ours to do anytime we want. No one else can do it for us. Why do I think this simple act of conscious breathing can make such a difference? In order to do it, we need to slow down our thoughts, we need to pause and not react, we need to pay attention. Imagine if we all did those things. If we, in that moment when we are being asked to do one more thing on top of an already enormous list of things to do, if in that moment when our child is pushing our limits, in that moment when too many people are pulling out of Trader Joe's parking lot too fast, in that moment in a relationship where a disconnect is happening, if we paused and took a conscious, softening breath. Yes, the world would be a different place. Charitable acts are beautiful and important, but I think the greatest charitable act we can do is on this much simpler level. If we can tend to how we are in ourselves, so many problems would be eliminated from the start. If we slow down and breathe, we can see how we speak to ourselves, to our kids, our employees, our co-workers, our friends. We can react less and be gentler, kinder, more grateful. We can sense when we're taxing our bodies and make a different choice. We can recognize that we are actually feeling really anxious, sad or lonely and tend to that place before it morphs into some physical ailment, which it will if it's neglected over time. We can also take in the moments of joy, ease, beauty and let ourselves be full of gratefulness. We can donate our time and money to good causes, but the greatest cause might be right in our own homes. We should start there. Our very first home, is in our body. It is no one's responsibility, but ours to make it a warm place to live. Let's make this the next big craze.