Breathing Away Fear

Greetings Yogis and Yoginis,

This week in class we are considering the topic “Mindful Breathing.”

Breathing Away Fear

Let us observe…the way a nervous or anxious man breathes. Such a man does not venture to breathe out fully, he does not dare to empty his lungs and remain at peace until the moment when the in-breathing phase comes of itself. This is a symptom of deep fear and anxiety. When the lungs are empty an anxious man is in dread of the void, and he gives himself over to the moment of breathing in so as to recover his habitual feeling of life and a state of passing relief.

But in the case of a healthy man, that is, a man who is perfectly harmonized, in agreement with himself and the cosmos, breathing has a metaphysical significance, it is the symbol of the rhythm of exchange between the individual and his principle. Each breathing out expresses an entire surrendering of the creature to God and each inspiration signifies the return of the divine influx.

Between the two moments, at the moment when the lungs are empty, the unmanifested divine is approached. Thus we can see how fear hinders us from being and experiencing the formless.

- Jean Klein

The homework is to pay more attention to your exhalations in your Yoga practice and off of the mat. In Yoga Sutra I:34 Patanjali says you can attain a quiet mind by “maintaining the pensive state felt at the time of the soft and steady exhalation and during positive retention after exhalation.” (BKS Iyengar’s translation from Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) When you are in a quiet place practice pausing briefly after your exhalations and notice the quality of mind during the pause.

Blessings,

paul cheek
Rushing Water Yoga
The BKS Iyengar Yoga School of Southwest Washington
417 NE Birch St., Camas, WA 98607
360.834.5994

www.rushingwateryoga.com
info@rushingwateryoga.com

Serving Yoga to Camas, Washougal, and Vancouver Washington since 2003