Even if you don’t believe in global warming (which I do) you don’t have to be a climatologist to see that something wacky is happening with the weather–tornadoes in the midwest? Snow in the Joshua Tree desert? I was doing a lecture in Connecticut last week in the middle of a snowstorm–and a huge thunderclap scared us all out of our wits.
In the Arizona-Phoenix area, the drought there has gone so long that animals have stopped reproducing. And why? STRESS.
I hope this sweet picture of my son wading in the Atlantic will help instill a nice sense of calm and illustrate the idea of Ujjayi breathing.
One of the most simple, yet effective things I learned in Monica Morell’s Fertility Yoga is Ujjayi, or “ocean” breathing in Sanskrit. In yoga, the breath is the center of life, and being attentive to your breathing is an integral part of yoga practice.
And it’s simple: in a seated position, you keep your back straight, then contentrate on breathing through your nose, filling your lungs, and making a sort of snorey dragony sound at the back of your throat. If you do it right, you’ll start to feel a wave–like an ocean wave–as you aerate yourself.
Even better, you don’t have to save it just for yoga practice. You can trot out the Ujjayi breathing any time you feel a stress episode come on. This morning I broke my beloved French press coffee pot as I was hurrying to get ready to work (haste = waste). Unfortunately, instead of concentrating on my breathing, I expelled all sorts of )(%*#$ and )(%*#)$(!!! which started my day off with a lot of negative energy.
This afternoon I went for a walk and purchased another pot, made sure to do my Ujjayi breathing and enjoyed the warm spring day and all its delightful smells. Much better…
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