Breathe

"To breathe" - such a simple and yet complex act! Each and everyday we breathe in and out, without thought, without reason to bring focus to the act. But what happens if we do bring focus to it?

I remember many years ago, while under the instruction from my vocal teacher, she taught me at a very early age that our breath plays a more important role in our lives then we realize; especially for that in singing, we need to breathe deeply into our bellies first and then into our chests so that we have control over the notes that we are singing, and as well as be able to sustain the notes for a long period of time. If we chest breathe and try to sing, it's not so easy, trust me I know! lol.

In life though, taking deep breaths first into our bellies and then filling our chests will not only give us a deeper air consumption, but it also helps to calm the nervous system down. Have you ever noticed that while going to sleep at night, that your breathing slows down? Now if you consciously thought about how you breathed while going to sleep, if you took deeper, slower breaths, a few things happen: you start to calm down your entire body, your mind starts to slow down as well if its' racing, and this also triggers your body to realize that it's time to rest. Now I'm well aware that not everyone reacts this way, other conditions may counter-act this but in general this usually takes place.

Breathing is an important part of our every day life and sometimes we take it for granted; among other things. A few months back, just after my birthday, I got sick and developed bronchial pneumonia and it was bad. I was given 2 sets of steroids to calm my lungs down, puffers out the wazhoo and cough syrup and other things that didn't quite help. AT the time I was still smoking cigarettes. Now let me tell you, I enjoyed smoking, it was a vice I looked forward to - well up until I couldn't breathe. I remember waking up one morning gasping for air and thinking to myself, this is how I go and it scared me. It was a bit of a struggle but I haven't touched a cigarette lets just say since sometime in October 2024.

All in all, breathing is an inherent part of our everyday life and we really do take advantage of it, until the universe takes it away and then we realize "oh..."

It also helps with the changing of the tides, as the saying goes....but that's for another story, in a few days.

Be safe, your beautiful, and know that your loved.....smile.