Your Year of Miracles

Tag: miracles

  • Melting In Love With Yourself

    Melting In Love With Yourself


    Welcome to today’s Miracle Moment.

    Do you really, deeply, truly love yourself? Do you love yourself unconditionally—not just because you’re good at something, or because you look a particular way—but without reasons or conditions?

    Imagine how it would feel to love yourself unconditionally. You wouldn’t wait for permission to do what your heart calls you to do. Your relationships would feel different. You wouldn’t need anyone to tell you that you’re good enough. You’d show up like the superstar you are, AND you’d feel that deeply. This is living in the Miracle Zone.

    How do you learn to love yourself like that? You start with simply becoming aware of the love that’s already inside of you.

    I (Sue) spent the first part of my life thinking that my value had to do with what I accomplished. I focused on what I could accomplish in order to feel worthy of love or to fit in.

    During a particularly challenging and stressful time, my relationship was ending and my mother had just passed away. I was being asked to speak in a number of places, and while I was drawn to do that, I was maxed out from the pressure of trying to “perform” to get other’s approval.

    One day, as I was going to work, I forgot something and went back home to get it. As I went towards the closet, I walked past my bed and just collapsed onto it. I felt like I was falling into a deep dark well, where I was overwhelmed. As I was falling deeper, spinning and turning, I gave myself permission to just let it happen, to just let go, and an amazing sense of joy I’d never felt before rose up in me.

    It was the most extraordinary experience of a deep and centered sensation of self-love. It didn’t matter if nothing that I’d been working on worked out. The only one that mattered, even if everything else fell away, was that at least I have me. In that moment, my mind found the real me—the radiant soul I am and that each of us are.

    In that space, self-love is a byproduct. It’s not something that we try to do. It’s something that we relax and release into, and then self-love arises.

    The experience of self-love is a result of acceptance and surrender. Instead of rejecting circumstances or any parts of ourselves, allow and surrender…come what may.

    Our invitation to you is to try an experiment in the upcoming days: Instead of rejecting or criticizing any aspects of yourself, welcome whatever you feel with compassion and love. Accept every part of yourself as the divine being you truly are.

    As you welcome the parts of you that you feel are not very acceptable, the feelings will actually start to melt into love. And love is really all there is.

    If you want love to be present, choose to melt, to soften yourself, even just for moment. In that instant, your true, loving, soulful self is revealed.

    We end today’s Miracle Moment with a quote from Louise Hay who said…

    “I find that when we really love and accept and approve of ourselves exactly as we are, then everything in life works.”

    We send you many wishes for a life that’s full of unconditional self-love!

    Please share your experience of accepting and loving all of yourself in the comments section below and on our Facebook page. We love hearing from you!

  • Keeping Bright Over the Holidays

    Keeping Bright Over the Holidays


    Welcome to today’s Miracle Moment.

    It’s the holidays and maybe you’re feeling a little stressed, overwhelmed, stretched a bit too thin, or even feeling a little blue. Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

    The rate of depression goes up over the holidays for many reasons. Maybe it’s the thought of dealing with that cranky aunt of yours at the family dinner. Or, maybe it’s the stress of finding the right gift for someone in your life.

    Maybe it’s the financial burden of all of those gifts you feel that you have to purchase. Or, maybe it’s all of the sugar that’s popping up everywhere that you end up eating. For multiple reasons, many people don’t feel happy during the holidays. In fact, December can be a month of burnout.

    Today we’re sharing with you a simple way to get yourself back into the Miracle Zone; a way to keep your energy bright and steady, even when the holiday craziness is all around you.

    I (Dr. Sue) have been working with patients for more than 30 years, and I’ve witnessed how many people experience depression, overwhelm, and stress during the holidays.

    During this time, the breath work I’ve developed is especially helpful as it anchors us in our bodies and hearts and brings us into the present moment. Instead of being in our heads thinking of all we have to do, this breath work allows us to heal,and can remind us that this is a time of miracles on earth– a time to remember that we are made of high frequency energy and light.

    To get back into the Miracle Zone, here’s a simple, but powerful practice…

    1. Begin by breathing down low in your belly. As you inhale, make your belly big.
    2. Exhale, pulling your belly back to your spine.
    3. Inhale making your belly big like Santa’s belly or like a big Buddha belly, and exhale making the belly smaller on the exhale.
    4. Breath in and imagine that a ray of light, a bundle of Holy light, is pouring down into your body.
    5. As you exhale, infuse that light into the cells of your body.
    6. Take another deep breath in from overhead and experience it coming down through the center of your brain, the center of your throat, the center of your chest, the center of your belly.
    7. Exhale into the earth and open the jaw making the sound of haah.

    This vibrational tone allows you to anchor and center yourself at the same time. It pulls you out of the hubbub that’s happening in the world and allows you to drop down into your body to feel an entirely different vibrational frequency moving through you.

    As simple as it seems, this practice can change everything in an instant. It can change your entire experience during the holidays.

    This is the season of lights—there are lights on the trees, candles are lit, you see light everywhere on the outside. Let’s also experience the light within ourselves with this simple practice.

    The holidays are Holy days. Rather than being stressed out and not experiencing the holiness of the season, let’s truly make the holidays Holy days filled with light and love.

    Happy Holy Days with all our love.

    Please share your experience of this breath work practice in the comments section below and on our Facebook page. We love hearing from you!

  • The Power of the Fourth Chakra

    The Power of the Fourth Chakra


    Today’s Miracle Moment is about the fourth chakra, the heart center.

    The fourth chakra, in the area of the heart, is the energy center most associated with giving and receiving love. When we feel open-hearted, when our hearts feel full and expanded rather than contracted or in fear, when we feel gratitude, forgiveness and loving-kindness, then we’re in the energetic state of flow we call the Miracle Zone, where we’re more open to the miraculous.

    While we can’t “create” miracles, we can create the conditions for miracles to show up more in our lives. As Webster’s dictionary says, “Miracles are a surprise and welcome event that cannot be predicted by science and that are often attributed to Divine Grace.”

    One of the fastest ways to create the conditions that invite miracles is to open the fourth chakra more and to live with greater love and a more open heart.

    Love is what we’re made of; it’s not something we’re supposed to be finding or looking for. It’s inherently who we are. When we drop into that knowing, we start to breathe in a different way — a way that’s associated with recognizing that we belong, that there’s only oneness here. Then we’ll develop more of the consciousness of that state.

    So, you can approach opening the fourth chakra by breathing in a particular way that wakes you up to the parts of you that know you belong, your essence.

    To expand the fourth chakra, here’s a simple, but powerful practice…

    • Begin by breathing in your belly, which activates a part of your nervous system that says all is well.
    • Keep breathing in until you fill the upper lobes of your lungs as well. Then, breathe even bigger. Imagine that you’re bigger than the body.
    • Then exhale out in every direction—above you, below you, to the left, to the right, to the front, and to the back in a big sphere.
    • Then, inhale from every direction right back into your belly.
    • Continue inhaling into the upper lobes of the lungs, and then inhale bigger than the body.
    • Exhale in every direction.
    • Again, inhale from every direction right back into your belly. Inhale into your lungs, upper lobes, and then bigger than the body.
    • Exhale in every direction.
    • Practice this sequence six to eight times, several times a day.

    This spherical breathing puts you in the quantum field, which also happens to be the field where miracles occur.

    The quantum field is beyond logic, and we can access this field by breathing this spherical breath. Practice this several times a day, and you will start to feel very different in the world.

    Notice how it feels for you — we imagine you’ll feel more open in your heart and able to more easily access the love that’s your essence.

    We end this Miracle Moment with a quote from the Upanishads that says…

    “There is a light which shines beyond the world, beyond everything, beyond all, beyond
    the highest heaven. This is the light which shines within your heart.”

    We wish you lots of access to the essence of love that you truly are!

    Please share your experience of this spherical breath in the comments section below and on our Facebook page. What has it elicited in you? We love hearing from you!

  • The Power of the Third Chakra

    The Power of the Third Chakra


    Today’s Miracle Moment is about the third chakra located in the solar plexus area—the energy center of personal power and self-esteem.

    The third chakra relates to the mental body and is energetically associated with your personal power and self-esteem. This third chakra, rotating as a vortex of energy, is in your solar plexus, about three inches above the navel, at the base of the sternum. You can experience your personal power by breathing into and through your solar plexus.

    When we can’t feel and connect with our vital life force in our solar plexus, we have a tendency to jump into our head and start over-thinking, creating “stories” about what’s happening, and getting caught up in those stories and external circumstances.

    The moment you find yourself starting to do that, bring your attention to where your ribs splay apart above your navel and below the sternum.

    To activate the third chakra in your solar plexus, stretch and open this area. You can do this with the following practice…

    • Reach your arms up high and then reach behind you as if you are putting your hands in your back pocket.
    • When you inhale into your belly, stretch this area of your body wide open, extending the spine.
    • Exhale and come back to neutral.

    By doing this simple practice, you’re squeezing the solar plexus area as if it were a sponge. This opens and flushes the tissues in the area and brings life force into the cellular structure, where the cells start to vibrate. This activates the level of consciousness associated with the third chakra, which allows you to still your mind and be open to greater self-love.

    We’ve noticed that a lot of women have issues around self-empowerment—of being in their power. Often, they may not feel as confident to move out into the world, to express their power, to express their ideas, to feel like they have some sovereignty. They may not feel okay to take up space in the world.

    If you have any issues with self-empowerment, with feeling your own sense of power in the world, then doing this practice will help you open up to your inherent power.

    When we have access to our true power–not our fake power, but the authentic power that’s the true essence of who we are–then we’re much more able to live in the Miracle Zone. This is the place where life flows, where we are in tune with the energy of life, where we’re bringing our authentic Self forward and meeting life in miraculous ways.

    We invite you to do this practice for even a minute or two each day–it can make a huge difference in your life. It will open you up to authentic self-esteem and self-love, where you truly feel like you belong and that you are okay.

    We end this Miracle Moment with a beautiful excerpt from a poem called Love After Love by Derek Walcott, a Nobel laureate and writer.

    “The day will come when, with elation, you will greet yourself arriving at your
    own door, in your own mirror…You will love again the stranger who was yourself.”

    May you feel your own power, and may that open you up to the experience of love that you deserve.

    Please share with us on our Facebook page and in the comments section below how you’re feeling as you do this practice.

  • The Power of the Second Chakra

    The Power of the Second Chakra


    Today’s Miracle Moment is about the second chakra—the center of vitality and creativity–which is a major opening to the Miracle Zone.

    Our seven main chakras are vortices of energy, each with a different vibrational frequency that relates to a particular organ and affects associated parts of the body. Since your chakras represent various states of consciousness, as you open and strengthen the chakras, you develop a greater capacity for living in the Miracle Zone.

    The second chakra is associated with your innate creativity and vitality. When it’s open and flowing, you feel very alive and connected to your creativity. When it’s not functioning well, you might have a tightness in the gut or other gut issues and life doesn’t feel as though it’s in the flow.

    The second chakra is in the area of the womb, an area of deep wisdom and creativity, from which we birth children and birth new ideas.

    Bring your consciousness to the area of the second chakra, just below your navel and above the pubic bone. Focus on and allow yourself to breathe into this area, which enlivens your tissues. The energy in that area may begin to vibrate as your wisdom and creativity are activated.

    Wherever breath is, life is. Where your consciousness goes, the energy flows.

    Follow these simple steps to activate your second chakra …

    • Bring your attention to your forehead, the space between your eyes, and inward to the center of the brain.
    • Move your focus of attention down the center of your body as if you’re going down an elevator shaft.
    • Bring your awareness to your belly and breathe in making your belly big.
    • Exhale, pulling your belly back to your spine.
    • Inhale, making your belly big. (Let your belly hang over your belt and pants.)
    • Again, exhale, pulling your belly back to your spine.
    • Continue inhaling, making your belly big and then exhaling, pulling the belly back to your spine.

    Breathing deeply in your belly triggers your nervous system to recognize that all is well, and you can more easefully tap into your creativity. On the other hand, breathing shallowly in the upper lobes of your lungs will trigger the fight or flight stress response, which freezes our creativity, vitality and flow.

    When you tap into your creativity and are connected to vital energy in your life, it’s much easier to feel that you’re in the Miracle Zone. You are feeling your own connection to the flow of the Universe–your vitality is connecting with the vitality of the Universe.

    We invite you to experiment with this practice and let us know what’s happening in your life as you do the practice.

    We end this Miracle Moment with a quote by José Ortega y Gasset, a 20th century Spanish philosopher who said…

    “Love is that splendid triggering of human vitality, the supreme activity
    which nature affords anyone for going out of himself toward someone else.”

    May you feel vital energy and creativity triggered in your life.

    Please share your experiences of this practice in the comments section below. We love hearing from you!

  • The Power of the First Chakra

    The Power of the First Chakra


    Over the next few months, we’ll be sharing with you in these Miracle Moments how to open through the seven main chakras to live more in the Miracle Zone.

    Today’s Miracle Moment is about how we can connect with and open the first or root chakra.

    The root chakra is at the base of your spine, around the tailbone. It’s your access to feelings of safety, connectedness to mother earth, and groundedness. And when you feel safe, connected to earth, and grounded, it’s much easier to live in the Miracle Zone.

    The root chakra is about having the feeling of…This is my gig. I’m not here to fit into everybody else’s world. This is my life experience. I created it, and it’s mine.

    Here is one way to relax into that experience of safety and groundedness by opening your root chakra:

    Lean back against your spine (this doesn’t mean to lean back against your chair). From the inside of your body, lean back inside and relax; with your attention, slide down your spine and sit down inside of yourself.

    From there you can access the root chakra energy, which creates a sense of relaxation that allows your nervous system to experience…All is well!

    You know the peace you feel when you’re in nature and your feet are connected to the ground? Or, when you’re sitting on the ground and your body just relaxes? That’s what happens when you do this practice regularly.

    We invite you to do this practice over the next few weeks and notice how it feels.

    Connect in more deeply to that feeling of…Aaah, all is well. I am safe in the Universe. I feel more grounded.

    As you experience this feeling more, notice what’s shifting in your life? Are you opening to experiencing more miracles?

    Make this your “go-to” practice until you have a continual sense of well-being and belonging. As we connect with the root chakra, we feel greater trust in all of life.

    We end this Miracle Moment with a quote from Jack Kornfield, a great author and meditation teacher:

    ”Love is based on our capacity to trust in a reality beyond fear;
    to trust a timeless truth that’s bigger than all of our difficulties.”

    Please share your experiences of this practice in the comments section below. We love hearing from you!

  • Following Your Intuition

    Following Your Intuition

    Today’s Miracle Moment is about cultivating our intuition.

    We view Intuition as the phenomenon where we gain insight without the use of reason. Intuition is knowledge that comes to us spontaneously before we have a chance to analyze it with our intellects.

    The word “intuition” is thought to come from the Latin verb intuaire or from the middle English word intuit, both of which mean to “look upon” or “to gain knowledge without using the process of rational thinking.” We all have intuitive potential – as a matter of fact, when you were a child you lived by your intuition, just following it freely long before you even had the ability to reason.

    In fact, I (Debra) remember a day when my daughter was a little baby like it was yesterday even though it was almost 28 years ago. Since Deanna was our first and my husband and I both worked from home, it took awhile to have the courage to leave her with a babysitter. We were probably a little over cautious and must have interviewed about a dozen potential sitters.

    There was one girl who we loved. She was charming and funny and seemed very responsible but when we handed Deanna to her – who was maybe 7 or 8 months old at the time – she would just start to scream her little head off. We were miffed but obviously couldn’t hire this girl because it happened every single time.

    A few weeks later, we read in the local paper that this girl been arrested for selling narcotics and was part of a drug operation that spanned 3 states. How did Deanna know??!?!

    Unfortunately, over time we begin to doubt our intuitive voice and shut down that channel of information. The good news is that it’s still there waiting patiently for us to open it up for business again! Just like a muscle that hasn’t been exercised, it’s still exists and if you want to build it up, you need to exercise it consciously.

    The first and most important thing that you can do to develop your intuition is to acknowledge and honor the messages you receive.

    Start noticing simple gut feelings throughout the day. Trust those gut feelings and act on them even if they might seem counter-intuitive. You’ll be amazed at the positive results that show up.

    Although the mind is sometimes a useful provider of knowledge it often throws us off course as our intuition bumps up against the mind’s storehouse of old imprints and fears.

    And if you think, “But I don’t get many gut feelings,” then you’re looking for the wrong thing.

    Intuition may not be a big booming voice. It’s more often a subtle impulse that tends to come back again and again until it gets our attention.

    Intuitive flashes often come to both of us in the bath or shower or during our meditations or when we’re driving with some quiet music playing or talking a walk in nature. And if you feel you don’t get intuitive messages, then you may simply be moving too quickly or doing too much multi-tasking. When there are 3 or 4 things going on in your head, there’s no space for that inner guidance to speak to you. Intuition is most readily available when we have silence or spaciousness in our heads. It also comes when we’re relaxed, enjoying and thinking about something else. Even Einstein said that his greatest ideas came to him when he was out for a walk or relaxing.

    So, here’s what we recommend…

    First, slow down. Intuitive knowledge cannot come to an agitated mind. When you’re running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, stop, take a few breaths and ask for an intuitive answer. When we’re moving so fast that we’re “spinning,” we stop, take a breath and ask our higher self, “What do you want me to know right now?” 9 times out of 10, we get a profound answer because the contrast between the spinning and the silence allows a portal to open and your intuition to speak. Your intuition is a muscle that needs to be exercised or it can degenerate and then it takes longer to get it back up and running. As they say (whoever they is), “use it or lose it!!”

    And we’ll end with a quote from one of our favorite actors, directors and authors, Alan Alda who said:

    How has your intuition served you? Please share a comment below…

  • Moving From Medium To Slow

    Moving From Medium To Slow

    Today’s Miracle Moment is about the miraculous power of moving at a pace of medium to slow.

    We believe that a truly spiritual life is one where you feel deeply connected to the energy of the universe – to a power and intelligence greater than yourself – it doesn’t matter whether you call that power God, the Divine, Nature, the universe. You might experience true spirituality through your own traditional religious practices perhaps while you’re in church or temple, or maybe you experience it during rituals or chants or meditation practices.

    Or perhaps through being in the present moment…or maybe you experience spirituality during those times where you remind yourself to see the good, the God, the perfection in everyone and everything around you. Spirituality is something that can be ignited and once it is, the goal or aspiration is that it’s not something you turn off and on but rather something you live every moment of every day.

    A great teacher of ours was the renowned cultural anthropologist Angeles Arrien, who sadly passed away in 2014. A cornerstone of her teaching was that in order to live a meaningful and peaceful life, one of deep and profound spirituality, we need to look at and emulate nature and nature’s rhythm, which is medium to slow. The only time nature moves fast is when it’s in danger or when it’s pursuing its prey to survive…and then it will move fast for fifteen to twenty minutes and once again return to medium to slow.

    Since we’re creatures of nature, we’re affected by this rhythm as well.

    Angeles goes on to say that when we’re always moving fast, we’re out of sync with our nature and the result is that we don’t have the time to integrate our experience, to deepen our character, to live true spirituality – as this requires silence and reflection.

    When we’re always moving fast there’s no time to be fully present, to really listen to our hearts, to really see the God in others. Angeles suggests that we need to be aware of our addiction to those energies that have begun to dominate our lives and nullify the energy of medium to slow such as obsessively checking our e-mails or our smart phones, or cramming our calendars so there is no space to breathe, or needing outside stimulation to feel alive.

    She also asks that we take a look at the high we get from over-achieving because if we continue at this fast pace we’ll most likely be forced to slow down through business disasters, illness or accidents, and there is no reason for this to happen—or at least it is much less likely if we move medium to slow.

    Last year I (Debra) was on a safari in South Africa…and I know this will sound odd but when I was watching as the rhinos were ambling across the plains at a speed of about a few hundred yards an hour…maybe, or observing the elephant families lumbering along seemingly not going anywhere in particular, or saw the giraffes doing nothing other than munching on the treetops, or when I sat near the hippos as they just stood in the water looking at us for endless hours moving only to get out of the water and then turn around and get back in…

    On the first few days I was actually in pain and wanted to say to them, “How can you be content just standing there? Get a life! Read a book! Get a job! Go do some volunteer work if you have so much time on your hands!”

    Then as I unplugged more and more from the “real” world and surrendered to the present moment, to moving medium to slow, I looked into the eyes of these creatures and I knew that they were the ones that had the knowledge of the perfection of all that is. I felt that they wanted to convey to me the message of “just chill and see what happens. Move medium to slow and be here now and all will unfold in perfection.”

    I felt like that wanted to tell us all, “Don’t try so hard people. Everything is in divine order. We are all part of the circle of life. There is no need to try and control everything.” They had no judgement, they just had a simple message to communicate.

    So we invite you to join us in moving medium to slow, to be present in the moment and see what miracles unfold in your life.

    And we’d like to end this Miracle Moment with a quote from Angeles Arrien:

    Have a miraculous week tuning into the rhythms of nature. And please share a comment below about what today’s message means to you…

  • Reversal of Fortune from the Tithe

    Reversal of Fortune from the Tithe

    Have you ever wanted to experience more flow of abundance into your life? If the answer is yes, this Miracle Moment is for you!

    Tithing is something that I (Marci) started practicing in 1982, and I think of it as one of the greatest things that I’ve ever done to create more financial abundance.

    As a matter of fact, I remember a time when I was feeling that I didn’t have enough money to tithe, so I stopped tithing for a period of time. And you know what happened? My finances dried up even more! And when I saw that there was a direct correspondence between my break from tithing and my financial downturn, I started the practice again and I almost immediately had a dramatic reversal of fortune, which showed me the power of this practice. I’ve practiced it religiously since then.

    So, exactly what is a tithe?

    The definition of the tithe is giving the first one-tenth of your income to the source of your spiritual inspiration. And by this definition, you would tithe to a spiritual teacher, or to an organization like a church, or a temple, or an ashram. Giving charitable gifts wasn’t considered tithing. But we have a different take on it, and we like to listen to our own hearts. So, in addition to giving to the sources of our spiritual inspiration which we do, we also consider the donations that we give to organizations that we believe are doing a lot of good in the world as part of our tithe.

    We look at tithing like sending a thank you note to the universe—as an expression of gratitude to the true source of abundance which is the universe, the creator, the God of your understanding. Just like you wouldn’t expect your doctor, your accountant or your gardener to give their services to you without some demonstration of your gratitude back, why wouldn’t you also want to give gratitude or a demonstration of thanks back to that force in the universe that gives you everything day after day after day?

    And if you think you can’t afford to tithe, that’s when you can’t afford not to tithe.

    I know it may seem like the hardest time, if you feel like you don’t have that 10% to tithe. But that act of trust and surrender is what’s going to connect you in even more deeply to the source of infinite abundance. The most powerful element of the tithe is that you’re demonstrating your trust in the Universe.

    We suggest that you just give it a try, maybe just for 6 months, and see what happens in your life. We think you’ll be surprised! What we’ve witnessed happen for so many is that they feel more in the Miracle Zone and more abundance begins to flow to them in many unexpected ways. If you choose to do a 6-month trial, let us know what happens and share a comment below.

    And we’ll end with a quote from Sir John Templeton, the founder and chairman of The Templeton Funds:

    Wishing you overflowing abundance and a miraculous experience with the magic of the tithe.

  • Miraculous Power of Breath

    Miraculous Power of Breath

    You’d think something as basic to our existence as breathing would be natural and we’d automatically do it correctly, but not so. There are thousands of studies, including some done at Harvard Medical School, that show the great benefits of proper breathing.

    Research has shown that proper breathing can slow down our heartbeat, stabilize our blood pressure, and even do wonderful things for us emotionally.

    The yogic tradition of India has known for thousands of years that proper breathing can give us more energy and bring us very deep relaxation. In fact, according to the yogic tradition there are ways to use your breath so that you can powerfully increase your prana, which is the Sanskrit word for life force. And, not only that, there are ways that we can exhale to release toxins from your system.

    Correct breathing can improve all our body systems, from our digestion to our elimination, from our clarity of mind to our emotional balance and everything in between!

    When you feel clearer, and more balanced, you’re living more in the Miracle Zone.

    Today we want to share with you three specific breathing practices that we love.

    You don’t have to do all three but give at least one of them a try and see what happens.

    #1: Most of us breathe from our upper chest. When you breathe from your upper chest, it puts you in the fight or flight mode and will create more anxiety for you. But breathing diaphragmatically creates greater ease, it can calm down your anxiety, and will relax and revitalize you. You want to breathe from your diaphragm.

    Here’s what you do…put your hand on your diaphragm, or your solar plexus area. And take a nice deep breath in through your nose, as you do this, feel your diaphragm and your solar plexus area expanding. You might even feel the expansion out the sides of your ribs. Your hands should move out with the inhale. Then as you exhale, also through your nose, feel your diaphragm empty. When you do this, your hand’s going to be moving in. That’s proper breathing, breathing through the diaphragm. If it doesn’t come to you naturally, just practice it, and over time it will become natural.

    #2: The second breath that we recommend is called breath awareness. This involves just spending a few minutes during your day with your eyes closed, noticing your breathing. It’s that simple. What you want to do is to put your attention on your breath and follow its natural rhythm as you breathe in and out through your nose. Doing this will quiet and relax your mind. Anytime you’re feeling particularly worried or anxious you can simply close your eyes and do a minute or two of breath awareness and you’ll notice how much your mind settles down.

    #3: The third technique is called alternate nostril breathing or “nadi shodhana” in Sanskrit. We both do this for 5 or 10 minutes a day before our daily meditation practice. The first thing you do is you take your right hand and with the thumb of your right hand you close off your right nostril. Then very gently you inhale through your left nostril. Then you close off your left nostril, that means just press against that nostril and close it off with your ring finger of your right hand, and you exhale through your right nostril. And then you inhale through your right nostril. Just continue in this way and what this does is it not only slows down and deepens your breath but it also harmonizes the right and left hemispheres of the brain, which ends up giving you more balance both physically and emotionally. It also activates the parasympathetic nervous system and some studies have shown that it can lower your blood pressure.

    Another great benefit of breathing in these three ways, is that you’ll breathe in more negative ions. Negative ions are the good ions. We know it sounds weird because you think the negative ions are going to be the bad guys, but the negative ions are what you want more of. They are the invisible molecules that you find in places like the beach or near waterfalls, or even in the shower. Whenever there’s water flowing or crashing down, it releases negative ions.

    When you breathe them in they make you feel alive. They increase your serotonin and the flow of oxygen to your brain, and this will also reduce anxiety and even depression. That’s why you may notice how great and clear you feel in the shower, or when you’re walking on the beach, or sitting near a waterfall. When there’s a lot of negative ions, you will feel happier, clearer and more at ease.

     

    Until we’re together again, we wish you many miraculous moments of deep peacefulness, great vitality, and the strength, wisdom and courage of ten tigers.

    Please share a comment below about what you think about breath work, prana, or negative ions…