Run Rabbit Run

Breath, breath in the air

Don't be afraid to care

Leave but don't leave me

Look around, choose your own ground

For long you live and high you fly

And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry

And all your touch and all you see

Is all your life will ever be

-Pink Floyd

          I have been meditateing on the breath and the life it gives to us.  What is this thing called breath and do we really understand it importance?  There is much infomration out there on breathing and the "breath of life".  If you Christian then it refers to Geneisi 2:7, "the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."  Breath has countless music lyrics attached to it, many medical theories, and hypothesis.  What I find interesting, however, is that they all have a common thread.   They basically, in many different words anf forms, explain how breathing is life giving and crucial to not only our wellbeing, but the wellbeing of the earth.   Even Genesis, if you read between the lines, implys that man is of the earth and so is the breath. So here we go, time for the world as I see it.  :)
          There is a tool that I, and other Social Workers use, to help people deal with anxiety, addiction, abuse, depression, anger, any kind of recovery, and a multitude of other challanges out there.  I have used it to help parents deal with their teenagers, kids, spouses, and all the agency's that will give even the most petient, tolerant person out there a headache, and heartburn.   It is deep breathing.  
          Deep breathing is different from meditation, but it is the beginnings of meditation.  In order to learn to meditate you first must learn to pay attention to your breath.   When we are in crises mode our breathing speeds up, our heart rate increases, adrenaline kicks in, etc. etc.   All thos natural response help us to deal with what is happening, or what might happen.   Heres the thing though.  It is a fac,t now, that many people, of all ages, who live in constant fear, or survival mode have their body, and mind, exposed to this constant on slaught of responses just mentioned.  This does a few things; first it causes constant stress on the body, and makes the majority of people who deal with this on a regular basis sick either mentally and/or physically. 
          At some point after dealing with this stress for so long the mind shuts down.  I think I have mentioned before the studies done on kids who are raised in some of the worse gang neighborhoods in the country.   They become immune to things that many of us can't even fathom living with.  (And trust me seeing it in real life is much different then seeing it on tv.) 
          A woman who deals with long term domestic abuse, someone dealing with long term addiction, anyone dealing with some kind of terminal illness, or one that takes its toll on the immune system.   All of these, and more, will change someones outlook on life due to the mental, emotional and physical stress.
         Anyways, the idea behind deap breathing is, when anyone starts to feel the intense feelings that are difficult to deal with they immediateley take a very deep cleansing breath.   Yeah, many of us think we are doing it, but heres the trick.  You take the deep breath in very slowly, fill up your lungs, hold it for about 3 to 5 seconds and then let it out as slowly as possible.  It is the very slow process of this that makes the difference.   You are consciously slowing down your breathing, and heart rate.  You can berath in through the nose, out of the mouth, or through the mouth out of the nose, or both on the nose, or both on the mouth; what ever works for you.   The point is that all the while you are listening to your breath.  You rinse and repeat until you feel calm enough to cope.  If you can accompany this with, "I need to take some calm down time, I will return when Im feeling calmer" you should. 
         I have had many people look at me in disbelief and say, "This doenst work when you have someone screaming and yelling in your face."   In my head I am throwing up my hands and saying really; in acutality this is what I have to say to that.  I cannot count the amount of times I have been in someone house (including my own) and have had someone screaming, yelling, swearing, hurling insults and spitting on my face.   I have become so good at deep breathing I can now do it with little to no notice from someone else.  I can sit there calmly, use my listening skills, and wait for the storm to pass while deep breathing.  It just takes practice, which I have had.
          Now lets take this deep breathing thing a step farther.   When you get use to this first step it is time to move to concentrative meditation, or tranquility meditation, which is the form most people are familiar with.   This is where you find a quiet place and breath, concentrating on your breath, until your mind emptys and you have succeeded in giving your brain at leat 20 minutes of peace.  This takes alot of practice.  Your brain will want to keep on going back to a multitude of thoughts.  (The monkey on the brain.)  Many find this practice frustrateing.  A few hints to make it easier; music, and guided meditation tapes are good for this.  Then your mind has to focus on listening it is hard for it to wander; so what ever you choose as background should support the tranquility meditative process.
           I cannot express enough the benefits of this. Expecially if you are dealing with alot of stress, of anykind.  Being able to not think about your (or someone elses) health, your kids, your alcoholic husband, your job, the lack of money, paying bills, etc. etc. is great.  Your brain will thiank you and you will be surprised how refreshed and strong you feel after wards.
          The final step in meditation is learning to meditate on thoughts.   In Buddhism, especially TIbetan, the idea of metitateing on anything from loving kindness, compassion, healing and many other meditations, teaches you to not only value the power of the breath and the life it gives but also grounds you.  You realize that there is more and greater things beyond you, and your problems, in comparisson, become smaller and therefore easier to deal with.  
          When you have reached this point or meditation you actually send a question out into the void and apply all the practices of meditation that you ahve already been using.  It is truley amazeing how, when your mind is empty that, the answers that seemed to elude you suddenly become clear.   It is different then "sleeping on it" which I personally dont like to do; doing this keeps me awake.  When you meditate you are awake but you have focused on one particular question.  You cause your brain to stop thinking about all the other crap and deal with it calmly and thoughfully.  
          Interesting thing here though.  Usually when you meditate on something to do with yourself your brain will take you to the, "Its a small issue really" place.  You get the answer on how to deal with it, and the empowerment you feel when you realize that the drama, that you were dealing with, is really not such a big horrible thing after all, and doesnt require the energy you have been giving it.   When you handle your life with this tool on a regular basis you begin to look at life differently.  Your life questions suddenly become more thoughtfull and less self centered.   Which brings me to the big question about breathing and the Pith of the Matter.
          There is much information out there about how the human race are the caretakers of the earth.   What we put into the earth ultimately effects us also.   So lets look at this in relation to what we put into the air.  The obvious first look, of course, is how many factorys, etc. pollute the air with waste.  How some of the products we use effect the ozone layer and how the cutting down of the trees subtracts from the natural defenses that the earth needs to fight all of this off.   All of this is pretty obvious and if it isn't then ecologists and scientists make it so.  But I am going to add something else to this.
          In our day to day world the majority of us race from one ting to another.  We wake, we rush through breakfast, rush our kids to school, rush to work, rush through work, rush through our lunch hour (if we even take one) rush home, rush through dinner, rush through our interactions with people, half pay attention to our friends and loved ones, watch a variety of sitcomes on tv, sit our selves in front of computers where we loose track of time, sleep fitfully, if at all and wake the next day to start it all over again.  In between all of this we seldom, if ever, take time to listen to birds, listen to the laugh of children, feel the rain, smell a flower, and enjoy the conversation of a stranger.   We complain about things we cannot change, we complain about things we can change but choose not to.  Will fill the world with negative feelings.
         I quarentee that with in this whole scenario your brain is functioning thoughlessly, your heart has had no down time and is pumping faster, both are operateing at a faster rate then they need to, and therefore your breathing is fast.  We are putting out into the air through our choosen breath of life, the feelings of  complacency, disregard, neglect, thoughtlessness and disrespect; not only for yourself but others too.   Harsh?  Perhaps, but the bottom line is how many of us truley, and consciouly take the time to slow down?  I wonder what the air would feel ike if we all took more time to just sit for at least 20 minutes a day and enjoy the sound and feeling of our own breath.    There is more to making the earth go round then adding to the economic status of it.  We don't make the earth turn faster by moving faster on it; and honestly if that was the case wouldn't that just move us faster to the end?  In the end I think we will find that that is really not what it is all about.  
          I challange everyone to stop what you are doing once a day, find a quiet place, and breath.  Send your happy thoughts, your quiet thoughts, your love, your compassion, your breath out into the world around you, slow the world down for a bit and see if anyone notices.  I bet they do.

Run rabbit run

Dig that hole, forget the sun

And when at last the work is done

Don't sit down, its time to dig another one

-Pink Floyd