Breathing

When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady.  But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life.  Therefore, one should learn to control the breath.  

Conscious breathing is an obvious part of yoga, but in my daily life I have found it to be almost vital to my being.  Not only because (duh) we all need to breathe, but when I stop and mindfully take a deep breathe, it is amazing how it can transform and even transport me.

Lately I've had these crazy flashback feelings of so many different times in my life.  They come about from what I see, certain smells, what someone says, or even just how I feel at the time of a deep breath.  When it rained/thundered yesterday and I was stuck under an awning for a few minutes, I was suddenly brought back to my parents porch in Hibbing.  I used to run out there when the rain and thunder started to just watch, listen, and even smell the storm.  This was of course after I got over the fear of thunderstorms where I would hide in my Dad's arms and cry, but that's beside the point.
  
Then I saw this pan today when I was walking by a store, and I was suddenly brought to the Boundary Waters, using the same sort of pan and lighting up the little propane stove to make some warm soup in the cold air, the lake in front of me, my tent behind, the sounds and smells of the earth and the land.

Even playing soccer here in Italy brings me back to those feelings and days as a kid and throughout high school on the field, always working hard but having so much fun.  When I walk and just open my mind, I am brought back to different times in my life and different feelings I've had.  When I go for runs, its as if I am with all the people I've ran with.  When I bike I am able to recall all the bike rides and people I have gone with in the past.  When I hear songs, see old movies, talk about memories of the past, I am really and truly present in that moment, filled with such strong senses.  Recalling my sensitivities and experiences has always been something really easy for me to do, but for some reason there is this strong influence on this impression now, and it starts when I take really deep and long breaths.

I wonder if it is because I am away, and the idea of channeling people and memories is in much more demand than usual.  I am just much more connected via wavelengths now more so than I had to be or consciously tried to be.  Even lately I think about someone and they will somehow get ahold of me, or I will find out later that we were both thinking or doing the same thing.  All I have to do now to in a sense channel people is to just look at a picture or close my eyes, and I know I am somehow with them or they are with me.  Sometimes a feeling comes to my heart and I just know who or what I am in connection with.  Maybe it is that I am just much more open to the reality now because I have to be, because there is no other choice but to be.

I am sorry if this all sounds really out there or strange.  This idea is really the way that I am able to be abroad and away from all those who I love and who I am connected to on some level because it means we are never truly disconnected.  This is my way of being with people when I can't be directly alongside them.

It is also my way of recalling on my past, helping me realize that it is part of me and with me always.  I would not have the feelings I do unless, as well all know, I had these previous experiences and understandings.

What is amazing is that the people and our past is just the beginning of what defines us.  We are also so much part of the universe, but usually very unaware in our current states of mind.   We are so far from this notion I think that we somehow can't even comprehend all of the influence.

All I know is when I breathe, I am where I need to be.

Focusing on the act of breathing clears the mind of all daily distractions and clears our energy enabling us to better connect with the Spirit within.