breath

Peace in uncertainty

Kenetha Stanton Quotes , ,

Peace in uncertainty

“Peace is an invitation in daily life to breathe deep, right here, in the uncertainty.” ~Morgan Harper Nichols

Peace is always available within me, but I easily lose touch with it when I’m stressed, overwhelmed, or anxious. Deep breathing helps me re-find that still point of peace within me and shed the outer stress, uncertainty, and tension. I just have to remember that peace is always offering me an invitation to breathe deep and find my way back to it. I forget that way too easily!

 

Image created with a stock photo from a Canva subscription package.

The power of now

Kenetha Stanton Coaching , , ,

I start all of my yoga classes with a brief meditation on the breath. The reason I do that is to help my students become aware of the present moment—the eternal now. Our bodies are always present in the current moment and in our current location. Our minds, however, spend most of the time in the past or in the future or somewhere else other than here and now. The practice of focusing the mind on the breath brings the mind back to be present in current moment and the current space with our bodies. For this reason, yoga refers the breath the link between the mind and the body.

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Just focus on the breath, and it will bring you back to the present moment, the here and now. And it really is that simple. It’s also that difficult. Anyone who has tried meditation knows just how challenging this practice really is. And yet, everything we will ever do or accomplish in our lives must be done with our bodies. All of our actions, all of our communication, all of our work in this world happens via our bodies, which are always present in the here and now. It makes sense, therefore, to spend more time with our minds joining our bodies in the now to maximize our accomplishments.

This doesn’t mean that there is no value in thinking on the past or the future, however. The past can be a rich source of learning as we uncover lessons we have learned, patterns we keep recreating in our lives, or practices that we can make use of now. Thoughts of the future and the goals we hope to achieve can be very important in keeping us on track to continue growing and learning and becoming the people we wish to be. The problem comes when we want to live in some place and time other than the here and now.

My personal measure for determining whether I am consulting the past or the future for useful information or whether I am trying to live in the past or the future is to check my emotional barometer. When I am checking the past for lessons that might be useful to me today or envisioning future possibilities to help me make decisions or set goals, my emotions are those of curiosity and detachment. I am in a place of learning and inquiry. When I am living in the past by obsessing over things that have happened to me or dwelling in the future by worrying over things that I cannot do anything about in this moment, my emotions tend to be anxious, sad, angry, or discouraged. Most importantly, though, I am not learning. I am not detached. I am not curious.

When I find myself in those  spaces (and I often do), I find it helpful to start with a deep breath to bring me back to my body in this moment in this place. Then I can acknowledge the emotions that have come up and inquire about what I can learn from my sojourn in that other place and time that can inform my actions in this moment. By being curious about what it can do for me now, I don’t invalidate my feelings or my concerns, but it reminds me that I can only act in the here and now where my body is.

Here and now is all I have. It’s all you have too. What strategies do you use to bring yourself back to the here and now when your mind has gone off to another place and time?

This post is part of a blog hop series sponsored by students and graduate Coaches of ICA. Please hop on over to their posts and see what else you can learn about ”The Power of Now.”

Esme Gosling – Money Coach  http://bit.ly/xu0bLi

Sandra Seibert – Joyful Growth Coach  http://joyfulgrowthcoach.com/2012/02/the-power-of-now-a-moment-of-stillness/

 Renee Vos de Wael – Intuitive Coach   http://reneevosdewael.com/2012/02/20/is-the-power-now/

 Namrata Arora – Life and Career Coach for women in transitions  http://aboutcoaching.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/the-power-of-now/

Tracy Coan – Bodacious Possibilities  http://bodaciouspossibilities.com/2012/02/choose-you-choose-now/

Jayde Gilmore – Wings LifeCoaching  http://wingslifecoaching.tumblr.com/

Brandy Morris-Chaudhry – Illuminated Perspective  http://www.illuminatingpotential.com/

Nuria Lencina – Coachinu  http://coachinublog.com/2012/02/20/the-power-of-now/

Pamela Rudisill – In Sight Life Coaching  http://insightlifecoaching.co/2012/02/20/the-power-of-now/

Louise Gray – Communication Coach, Learner Focused Coaching  http://learnerfocusedcoaching.com/2012/02/20/what-was-i-saying/ ‎

Jenn Brockman – Kick Ass Website Coach  http://kickasswebsitecoach.com/the-power-of-now

Rebecca Macfarlane – Turning Stones Coaching (Business Start Up and Career Coach)  http://wp.me/p1xmJl-dZ

Energizing a yoga class

Kenetha Stanton Yoga , ,

I had the privilege to be the substitute teacher for an undergraduate level yoga class at IUPUI yesterday afternoon. This is a half-semester class, and yesterday was the second time the class had met. The surprise of having a substitute teacher seemed to disorient many of the students as we started the class time by moving all of the desks and chairs out of the way to make space on the floor for our yoga class.

The fact that we were starting at 3:00 pm when everyone seemed to be in their afternoon energy slump probably didn’t help their lack of enthusiasm any. As we went through the centering and warm-up portions of the class, that lack of enthusiasm was almost palpable. So before we headed into our sun salutations, I led through several rounds of the Breath of Joy.

The looks on people’s faces as I explained it were rather comical; they ranged from skeptical to downright disbelieving. Fortunately, everyone gave it try. After several of these breaths, I was no longer leading them through them, they were moving into each new breath on their own. When we stopped, I looked around the room, and every single person was smiling—some with big grins verging on laughter, some with small grins that seemed to be escaping their attempts to suppress them—but they were ALL smiling. I pointed that out to them, and they looked at one another with surprise and not a few laughs.

The energy shift this brought to the class lasted throughout the rest of our practice. As a group, the feeling shifted from lethargy to interest and enthusiasm. And I’ve never been so mobbed with people asking questions and sharing their excitement about a class as I was at the end of our session when we were putting the desks and chairs back in place. In fact, four people came up to tell me (with surprised but sheepish delight) that they’d fallen asleep in savasana!

Yesterday was the first time I’ve ever included that breath in a yoga class, but it definitely will not be my last. What a simple way to energize a group who is having a hard time getting focused!

And if you haven’t yet tried this breath for yourself when you need a bit of energy, I encourage you to give it shot. The instructions are simple, and the energy boost is wonderful. I bet you’ll find yourself smiling after a few rounds too.

Mindfulness, meditation, and the breath

Kenetha Stanton General , , ,

I just returned home from speaking at the 2011 Indiana Music Teachers Association (IMTA) Conference in Bloomington, IN, where I co-presented a session on Mindfulness in motion: connecting the musician’s mind and body with Julianne M. Miranda to a really wonderful group of music teachers. I haven’t seen such an engaged and enthusiastic audience in quite awhile! Thanks to all who attended for making it such a delight.

During our presentation, Julianne and I talked about mindfulness, meditation, and how the breath can support these practices. I arrived home to find that synchronicity had been at work to place a short video talk (3:27 minutes) by Sharon Salzberg, noted Buddhist teacher, on meditation and the breath in my Facebook feed from The Well Daily. It is a delight to listen to her echo the value of the breath in a meditation practice immediately on the heels of our presentation.

To see our handout or read more about our presentation, check out the event page for today’s talk. I’m delighted to say that we’ve already been invited to present on this topic again at another venue. Watch the News & Events page or the Facebook page for more information once it is available.

Breath of joy

Kenetha Stanton Yoga ,

In my last two posts, I talked about ways that we can use the breath as a calming practice by activating the parasympathetic nervous system. Because so many of us spend much of our time with our sympathetic nervous system overstimulated, the introduction of calming practices is something that most of us will find the most beneficial.

However, there are times (like that afternoon slump) when we need something that will perk us up a bit and help us stay more alert. In moments like these, many of us reach for caffeine or sugar to achieve this energy boost, but both of these substances can have problematic side effects.

Fortunately, the breath can be used as a means of perking us up as well as for calming us! We have already explored the way that increasing the exhalation relative to the inhalation can bring a calming effect. The reverse is also true: increasing the inhalation relative to the exhalation brings an energizing effect.

The breath of joy, also known as the conductor breath or mad conductor’s breath, is a great way to do this because it includes this lengthening of the inhale relative to the exhale with physical movement to perk us up.

The breath of joy is performed standing and includes three inhales for each exhale. The steps to performing this breath are as follows:

  1. 1st inhale: sweep arms in front of body to overhead, then lower
  2.  2nd inhale: sweep arms out to sides to level with shoulders, then lower
  3. 3rd inhale: sweep arms in front of body back to overhead
  4. Exhale with a “HAAA” while sweeping arms down and bending over to allow arms to swing by knees
  5. Repeat

The YouTube video below may be helpful in seeing what this looks like. Notice how the expression on the face of the person performing the breath changes over the course of time. There is a reason this is called the Breath of Joy!