Breath & Community as a Quiet Revolution
In April 2022, I began the 1st Community Breathwork Circle at the Good Medicine Collective. Hard to believe this was almost 4 years ago!
There have been times I wondered if the class has run its course, but always there has been a tug/a pull to return- and always people showing up who are so grateful for the space to deepen into their breath for healing and self transformation.
The other night- we gathered again- some new to the class, and others returning after a few years or months and some after just a few weeks.
Under the candlelit flame of sharing at the end of the Breathwork Session there was such a deep sense of peace, gratitude, and vibrant strength that shown forth from us all.
This reminded me how much we all need these circles, this deep breathing at this time, and also these moments of collective remembering not only of who we are at the core, but also who we are at the core as people.
Yesterday, I was listening to a podcast by Tara Brach, long-time mindfulness teacher, who shared about expeditioner Karl Bushby, who set out on a course to walk around the world unmotorized in as best of a contiguous line as possible close to 28 years ago.
When recently interviewed, apparently one of his biggest takeaways about his epic journey (which he is about 2,000 miles from finishing) was that what he’s gleamed from his travels is that about 99.9 percent of the people in the world are kind and good people.
How true it is that we often forget this- the goodness and kindness of others in the world- and in ourselves even. There is ample literature about our own negativity bias, brought about even by being genetic survivors throughout lifetimes having traveled this heroic human epic journey- trained to be on the lookout for dangers lurking.
Of course, today, we don’t have to go far to see the challenges we face as humans. The streets, the news, the concerns we can all see can feel so overwhelming and confusing. But when was the last time that you genuinely saw/felt the good around and in you?
The other night, as we finished the Breathwork Journey, someone came up afterwards and spoke of an almost palatable sense of our Breathwork Session being like its own quiet revolution - like an uprising of hope from our own deep breathing together- lifting, rising, elevating.
I believe, after sitting in that candlelit room with everyone at the end and feeling my own and others breath opening, bodies easing, energy growing that this is genuinely true.
When we open our lungs and invite our hearts to start beating fully, we can feel the inner resilience of our spirit awakening. Further, when we reflect and share honestly in a circle of strangers about the beauty in our lives- we can notice that these choices we are making in this moment to lift our gaze towards goodness and hope helps us to grow the world we wish to see.
And so perhaps, even in the midst of a cold winter night in Portland, Maine with a backdrop of political and communal unrest- everyone really was there awakening and tapping into a form of hope that is its own quiet revolution.
I do believe in the good of humanity and see it day in and day out with my clients- but I also believe it takes effort for us to see this and to grow it- just like it takes effort to expand our breath.
Through my work each day with amazing people, I see the sheer willingness to look at hard truths, find reconciliation, uncover blocked memories of pain and shame, and come away to live and breathe a more fully aligned and honest brighter life than before. Bringing this energy of spaciousness back into their homes, communities, families again and again and again- this is what brings me hope!
I’m blessed to see this inner resiliency of spirit and breath each day- and I see how the power of taking back our breath in the body is a revolution in of itself!
I’ve felt this shift in my own body after my own epic (gulp!) almost 32 year journey with Breathwork- of which I am continually grateful…. And I remain committed to clearing out this space in myself and make space for others to do the same for as long as I can no matter the chaos around us.
During the class, I read a poem by Martha Posthwaite called Clearing which touches on some of this message-
Clearing- by Martha Postlethwaite
Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is your life
falls into your own cupped hands
and you recognize and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself to this world
so worthy of rescue.
And so, what if for today- you lift your gaze from the news stream and for just this moment, tap into the inherent nature of your own aliveness with breath.
Take the time to give a breath hug to someone you love- taking 3 deep breaths in the arms of a loved one.
Get a felt sense and see the hope that is around and within you.
Step outside and breathe with the raven, the deer, the trees.
Or schedule a time to join others in a candlelit-filled room for an upcoming Community Breathwork Circle or one of the other many Spiraldance Breathwork Group Breathwork offerings to breathe deeply. We’ll be waiting for you!
And in the meantime, may this quiet revolution of breath awakening, of creating a clearing in your own dense forest bring you peace and help you know just where to go, who to serve, how to live and show up on this day. In light- Tania Zuckerman, Spiraldance Breathwork