Take the weight off your mind by spending an hour with your breath. The mind presents us with the problems of the world, but it doesn’t itself have the means of resolving them. It depends on the strength of our bodies and the resources of the world around us.
We tend to experience the world from the mind’s point of view. What if we were to experience the world from the point of view of our breathing?
What is the significance of our breathing, moment to moment, for us? What conditions are necessary for breathing? What arises from breathing? What is made possible?
How can we best facilitate our breathing to get the most of its benefits and the possibilities that it offers of comfort, pleasure, and contentment?
Becoming sensitive to the pattern of your breathing, and allowing your attention to rest on it for a period of time, is a wonderfully effective de-stresser, even if you only have five seconds to notice your breath.
If you can hold the contact for 15 or 20 minutes, the effect is significant, for this is the length of time that it takes the adrenalin to leave your system, and restore the body to what is called the relaxed or ‘parasympathetic’ state.
Spending an hour in the company of your breath is the basis of ‘mindful meditation practice’, ie mindful of your breathing. The experience may prove to be fun, satisfying, relaxing, and inspiring. After all, what is the origin of the word ‘inspiration’? It’s from the Latin, ‘to breathe in’.
Mindful meditation practice takes place every Wednesday evening at 8.30 pm, at Temple Spa, in Horseleap, facilitated by spa director, Declan Fagan.
Declan is also available to facilitate mindful meditation practice and other relaxation methods in the workplace for companies and businesses, and also for community and voluntary groups.
Declan may be contacted at [email protected], or call (057 ) 9335118. Declan’s blog may be followed on http://templespa.ie/blog. Your feedback is welcome.
