Trust Yourself
There are times when everything in your life aligns so well that you cannot ignore what the universe is trying to tell you. This was how breathwork became one of my passions. I first learned conscious breathwork, although I had no idea that was what it was called at the time. I learned these new methods of breathing to help my, then three, middle child. It was a rousing success at helping him manage his feelings and reactions and brought our whole family a new level of peace.
Much later, about three years, my husband and I went on a weekend long marriage retreat for our anniversary. I know that sounds like asking for trouble to take a really well functioning marriage and discuss all the things going on between you and independant of one another. However, we saw it as an opportunity to learn to connect in new ways. To be honest it never occurred to either my husband or myself that we’d deal with “hard” stuff. I like to image the whole of the universe laughing at our naivete as we embarked on that experience. It was a truly beautiful experience I wouldn’t trade for all the world. One especially amazing aspect of our retreat was the hour and a halr we spent with a breathwork facilitator who held a private lesson for my husband and myself. For me especially it was a paradign shifting moment. I had an out of body experience that touched every part of my being, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, everything! I knew leaving that breathwork session that I was going to make that a permante part of my life.
That amazing alignment happened again earlier this year, 2023, when a friend sent me a link to learn about this breathwork teacher who has a huge online following and was holding a free information and breathwork session to learn about being a facilitator. This year marks the first time in nearly 15 years that I don’t have children at home all day. All three of my kiddos are schoolage now. So, given that I had free time I signed up for the class and went to not only that class but a follow up the next day. The follow up was where I decided I was going to learn to teach people breathwork but it wasn’t going to be with this instructor. She made every aspect of her practice and business sound like she was trying to make as much money as fast as possible. That is a culture I have no desire to emerse myself in. However, I was sure about the breathwork. I asked in a wellness Facebook group I belong to for personal recommedations for a breathwork teacher. Someone I don’t know responded and recommeded “Ben from Breathing Space.” So I googled her suggestion and loved absolutely EVERYTHING I read about Ben and about the way Breathingspace teaches their classes the more sure I was I’d found the right place for me. Almost immediately I was able to connect with Ben over Facetime and learn that his next class started the following week. It was all to serendipitous to ignore and I signed up right then and there.
It was after I was enrolled and already working on the lessons that I had a “light bulb” moment. I was reflecting on how I went from doing nothing in the world of wellness to being literally on my way to accomplishing my dream. Then other times I have really followed my gut, even when it was scary, and had the best outcome. Meeting and marrying my husband was one of the best decisions I have ever made but getting there was never a linear process. We moved our family to New Mexico going on five years ago. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but it has proven over and over to have been exactly the right answer. Heck, that aforementioned marriage retreat, WAY harder than I expected but has yeilded some of the most unexpected and beautiful results.
When we can turn off the static and really tune into the voice that is our best and highest self, the opportunities are endless. I’ve always taken issue with the concept of manifesting. It’s not that I don’t understand but as a person living with chronic illness it can make me feel like I somehow manifested my disabilities. That obvioulsy isn’t the intent but our brains are incedious little buggers. So rather than tell you to manifest all that you desire I am instead going to tell you to tune in more often. Take whatever time you can cobble together in the middle of the insanity of living, and sit with yourself, feel your breath come in and out of your body, close your eyes, ask for the guidence you need, and listen closely to what comes up. We have amazing capacity as humans to change course, adapt to our enviornment, and best of all, we can create the space we want to occupy.