I know just enough about yoga to be dangerous.  I’ve learned that by patient effort, I can find myself stretched into a pose I never could have acheived in one movement.  But more importantly, I’ve learned the value of breathing.

Through breath practice, I’ve discovered that when I am anxious, all my breathing is in my upper chest, spreading tension through my shoulders, arms, neck, and jaw.  The breaths are panting and shallow.                                                                                                The condition of my mind affects my body.  There is no peace.

I have learned to “belly breathe”–to consiously move the breath into the belly.  To relax the jaw, the shoulders, the chest; to breathe deeply and slowly.  

To breathe . . . ebb and flow, receive and release. To be aware that all of life is coming and going, arriving and departing, holding and letting go. And breathing through the whole process.

Nothing stays.  Ultimately, all things must be released.  And I must breathe through it all.

And the God who has set into being the automatic breathing in and breathing out of my body, is soverign over my life as well.

Breathe.