Each and every one of you has a super power. Yet it often lies dormant within us because we forget about it - it's a survival mechanism but one we don't use consciously, though if we did, we might be surprised at how much it benefits us.
In the seemingly more relaxed yoga poses is where we can test our boundaries and limits and find this superpower. We can safely play with our edges, easing into discomfort, and watch what the mind does. It chatters and groans, reacts by asking us what the hell are we doing? Why are you subjecting me to this? Shift, move, avoid this feeling, the voice in our head cries. You can't do this, you aren't good enough, flexible enough, you don't have the right bones, the right muscles, the right shape. And those thoughts that are arising - memories, regrets, doubts, worries, concerns. Oh goddess let me do anything but endure this.
And then, we remember our superpower, and breath kicks in.
Breathe.
The breath is our superpower, allowing us to communicate with our nervous system. As we exhale, we switch on the relax response, telling our bodies that we are okay. You can do this now - put your fingers on your pulse and breathe in. Now breathe out. Do you feel that oh so subtle shift? The pulse slows on the exhale, quickness on the inhale. The vagus nerve that runs from the base of our skull to pur heart and throat and gut sends messages to speed up and slow down. That is the superpower we all have.
Breathe.
And as we practice this over and over we test our limits in a safe space so that when we are threatened we know exactly what to do because we are storing that superpower reaction in our nervous system, our muscles, our minds. Oh, so this is as far as I can go, I think, without breaking. And let me test this a little more - rather than running, hiding, shutting down, checking out, lashing out with arms flying and tears wailing, can I just call upon my superpower?
Can I breathe?
Try this now.
Sit on the floor, the soles of your feet coming to kiss. Fold forward, elbows in front of shins, forearms where they land, palms up, palms down, doesn't matter. You might even stack your hands to rest your brow upon them, or place a pillow or a block there for support. It doesn't matter how far you go - your body, your choice, your breath.
Now inhale, and as you exhale, allow the gates to open - lips part, the breath let's go what doesn't serve you. As you continue this, watch the body settle. With each exhalation, let the body sink into the earth that will hold you, if you let it.
Now continue to breath through the nose, maybe every now and then opening the gate of the lips to let go a little more. As you do so, bring attention to your toes. Soften the muscles there, that have spent all day holding onto bones. Soften the edges of your feet. Experience the felt sense of skin on the floor, temperature, texture. Move your attention to your shins, calves, knees, thighs and pelvis. Soften the pelvic floor. Soften. Surrender.
Breathe.
Now feel the breath in the torso. Notice the side waist lengthen. The belly expands, the rib cage as the lungs too are an asana, a shape. All the muscles of breathing move with your breath and the spine ripples with it. It's almost jellyfish in its action, a big bellows that expands, contracts, expands, contracts. How beautiful. How blessed we are with the fullness of breath.
Notice now any thoughts that arise with the breath. That's okay. You don't need to change anything. Just watch them arise, and pass, just like the waves of the breath. There's no need to resist them, or hide, or suppress. Meet any discomfort with the breath, your fabulous superpower in your fabulous breathing jellyfish body, opening and closing, blossoming and softening.
Where are your limits, in this moment? Where are your boundaries? Is it in the body? In your thoughts? Both? Investigate, be curious and gentle and kind with what's going on.
Breathe.
And by doing so, we hold space for ourselves and become something other than what we were. Maybe we are a bit softer. A bit kinder. A bit more open.
If we can do that, then we can hold space for others too, as they reach out to us in their need. Our limits have shifted, the superpower of our breath allowing for space in our hearts, minds, and spirits for both ourselves as others.
So if you are feeling as if all your boundaries have been tested, all your resolve weakened, the lines you have drawn reducing you in some way, just fold into a shape.
And breathe.
Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again. THICH NAT HANH
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