Rhythm of Breath

The breath is a wonderful tool for practicing regularity. As we develop a routine in Yogic practice we must find ways of working with what we have. A busy life. A job or two. The pressures of making things work for ourselves and our family, whoever we consider them to be. These things are are true for all of us. It’s impractical to think that we can switch it all up one day and have a perfect routine of self care and personal development.

Big changes disrupt and can be hard to sustain, but small changes add up to a momentous (as in momentum) change when we look back at a sustained effort to create regularity.

For example if you decide to practice for 5 minutes a day, the commitment seems small. Each day you take 5. You watch the breath coming and going. You breath slowly and carefully watching each breath come and go. You deepen the breath, create a pattern of inhalation and exhalation that induces a mild feeling of calm and wellbeing.

If you manage to do this once, there’s the invitation created from simply making a start to make a new habit by doing it a second time. A habit comprising now comprising only 0.347% of any given day.

If you kept this habit up for 5 days, 10 days, a whole year. Where might it get you?

You might do the math and see that something like this could represent just 1.2 days of your year. You might even imagine what it might bring or learn the theory behind how regular breathing practices can alter the state of mind and body, but no one will ever be able to give you the experience that comes about from the creation of a positive routine of yogic practice once you have made it a reality.

A 5 minute breathing practice is such a small building block but it can make a huge difference when you add it up. Unfortunately getting to the end of the year and cramming it all in a couple of days just won’t cut it.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, For all we need to do to generate the momentum we need for a regular yogic practice is to practice now.