What do they mean by "follow your breath?"

Breath is a powerful thing.

Our first breath and our last breath are so important, their moment in time is legally documented.

Breath fuels our bodies with the oxygen it needs to function and release stress.

In meditation, we are taught and guided to "follow our breath".

It is this very breath technique that can calm us and help us to focus when our mind wanders into misguided anxiety and fear.

Breath offers us control.

It is the only thing we can control... really.

We can't control others as much as we might like to sometimes.
We can't control worldly events as much as we pray for them to change.

With meditation and mindfulness work, we can control some of our thoughts...sometimes... but we must train to learn how to redirect our ANTS- automatic negative thoughts and teach our mind how to seek out the positive in our lives.

Breath offers us an escape from our thoughts and allows us to focus on "our being" instead of the who, what, when, where, why and how of life.

I spent hours in the Zen Meditation hall listening to the Abbot tell me to "follow your breath."

"Follow it to where?," I'd always think to myself.

"Follow it caressing the meditator's neck sitting in front of me?
Follow it out my nose? Follow it through my nose? Into my lungs?
I feel like I'm more on a scavenger hunt than a serene quiet space."

Sound familiar?

I struggled with this "follow your breath" thing for a long time....until I didn't.

Until I understood what he meant.

In meditation, you follow the energy of the breath. You become the breath just like you become all things. As you follow this breath, you lose yourself and become one with all that is around you.

You are your breath.
You are your neighboring meditator's neck.
You are the treasure hunt.
You are one.

This breath of ours is often the only thing we can control.

If you have followed any meditation teachers or have taken any formal training, you have undoubtedly heard "follow your breath."

Within meditation, we must give our mind a focal point to help us quiet the chatter and calm the ANTS. It is when we become this breath that we truly feel the magnificence of meditation and the love of the Universe all within your grasp.

Join me for today's meditation, "How to follow your breath" and tap into this profound healing space within you. See you in meditation!

Much love,
Erin