Maria Arpa
Maria’s Midweek Mindfulness Moments
Dear All,
As Maria and her family spend some time together, I’ve stepped in to write a short guest blog.
Life is Just a Breath Away, by Bev Porrino
“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away.”
I adore this quote. For me, the true sense of living comes from those simple and unexpected moments that make me feel like the lens through which I view my life has been polished. Those precious moments when I notice something as if it’s the very first time I’m seeing it.
The quality and depth of our breath is vital to our wellbeing, but we often become so busy being busy that we default to autopilot and drop into a shallow breath; a state which is neither good for man nor beast. That said, you would never catch a healthy beast breathing from their chest.
I’m a yoga teacher and a therapist. I’ve studied the science of breath and I understand its impact on our nervous system and vitality, but I hadn’t realised that I was going through the motions of my life until a chance meeting with a therapist who observed that I was short of breath. I thought that my breathlessness was allergy related but no, I’d become disconnected from myself.
I was taught how to release my diaphragm so that I could breathe better. It was powerful.
In that instant it was as if the entire world had come into focus. There was more light, more sound. Colours become brighter, sharper. Smells became intense, my body felt light and free. The sharp inhalation that I took somehow recalibrated my senses and gave me the incredible gift of gratitude, and in that moment my breath was truly taken away.
Be strong, stretched and centred.
Bev Porrino
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