When
I first heard that the essence of meditation is in the breath I was puzzled.
What does that mean to me? How can it be that something as basic as breathing could
have anything to do with "training the mind" or conscious contact
with a "Higher Power"? I had no idea of the relationship the mind has
with the breath. But, as I sat, and became more aware of breathing… inspiring
and expiring… I got it. My answer to my quandary is right there in our
language. Breathing in… to inspire… to breathe out… to expire. We use one term
for an awakening… a birth of sorts… and the other term for letting go to death.
In between the breaths is where we live. This sweet life I live is connected to
a universal breathing… inspiration and expiration bracketing respiration. Or,
in the words of Bob Dylan, we are either "busy being born, are busy
dying."
The
process brought the workings… the busy-ness of my brain… the journey of my mind
down to the chest and belly where the pulse,… the center, where the Heart of
Compassion lives and breathes with me. I can control the breath to some extent
but not completely. My body has built in mechanisms that insure I breathe no
matter how hard I try to hold it. But any singer knows that controlling the
breath is as important as a good set of vocal chords or a good ear for their
craft.
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