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I am open to receive with every breath I breathe.
- Michael Sun

Your breath is keeping you alive right now. It is essential to life, and yet so easy to take for granted. Shamans use their breath to transport themselves to other dimensions. Yogis see breath as a fundamental force of the universe, the pranayama (prana “vital energy” + yama “self-control”). When we are mindful of our breath we speak and move more gracefully, we are less ignited by life’s struggles, we are more present to what is really going on in ourselves and around us.

THIS WEEK: Create three deep-breath habits. Because it’s so easy to tune out our breathing, it’s really useful to create breathing triggers that can become behaviors. So choose three moments or situations this week that will be your deep-breath moments. The moment before you answer the phone, the moment you open the door to leave, before you take a sip of water, whenever you press send on an email… take one deep breath.

Before you click to close this email message… breathe in and out to let go, breathe in and out to feel what remains, and breathe in and out to flow forward.

One deep breath can soothe pain, annoyances, and hot tempers.
One deep breath can bring a flash of genius or the answer you’ve been searching for.
One deep breath can change your course completely and rightly.

P.S.
A few noteworthy breath-work guides from some of our favorite teachers:

• Breathing: The Master Key to Self Healing, by Andrew Weil
• Meditation for Optimum Health: How to Use Mindfulness and Breathing to Heal Your Body and Refresh Your Mind, by Andrew Weil and Jon Kabat-Zinn
• The Breathing Box: 4 Weeks to Healthy Breathing, by Gay Hendricks, with cards, supplement, CD (audio), and DVD