You Can Exhale
I tried it and it worked.
Dear Beautiful Soul,
I will not lie, I’ve been holding my breath a bit too much lately. I didn’t realize it until I watched an excerpt from All Things Considered in which host Scott Detrow was interviewing Ken Burns. As part of a response to a question, Mr Burns said, “And so I think what you have to do is exhale a little bit . . . “
When I heard that, I exhaled and felt something slip away that I’d been carrying for a while. A deep bow to both Scott Detrow and Ken Burns, I appreciate the magic. I appreciate the exhale.
I Googled “What happens when you don’t exhale fully?” The response: When you don't exhale fully, carbon dioxide builds up in your body, which can lead to feelings of fatigue, decreased mental clarity, increased stress, and can even contribute to shallow breathing.
So that was eye opening! Now my new practice is to remind myself to breathe both in and out. Out is as important as in. Try it right now, you’ll be amazed: deep breath in through your nose and then out through your mouth until your lungs are empty, until you’ve got no more in you. This is a powerful stress reliever and a powerful affirmation of life. You’re still here, you’re still breathing.
One tip on this breathing business: deep breathing helps reduce stress. Reducing stress is good. Reducing stress allows you to put down the thing you’ve been carrying. The exhale is as important as the inhale.
I feel like many of us are carrying things right now. Things that are getting heavier. We might not be able to name them but we feel the weight of them. You might feel the weight at the base of your skull, or in your jaw or behind your eyes or in your gut. We’re carrying a lot and at some point (probably sooner than later) we’re going to need to deal with it. As in wrestle it up and into our conscious thinking, name it and look at it and decide on what to do with it/about it/to it etc. The best time to do that is when you have reduced stress such that you can respond vs react. Exhaling helps.
So that’s it for today, I invite you to exhale. We’ll deal with what we’re carrying, that day isn’t long off but for today, I invite you to exhale. Exhaling is good.
Let’s keep the good going and growing . . .
XO Laura
