Find relief in an instant, right here, right now, from whatever it is that
you’d like some relief from.
Completely in your control: the key to feeling wonderfully better right now,
is in your BREATHING.
Here’s the key principle
We breathe the way we feel, and...
We feel the way we breathe.
How does that work?
We breathe the way we feel, in that each of us has a characteristic way of
breathing for each different feeling, a different pattern of breathing for
when we are glad, for when we are sad, for when we are bad, or for when we
are having an a-ha, or for when we are feeling wonderfully GOOD!
It works both ways. Breathing is a two-way street in this regard, going
beyond simple
inhale-exhale. It is two-way in that we not only breathe the way we
feel, but we feel the way we breathe. We can control or change the way we
are feeling simply by controlling or changing the way we are breathing.
For example, feeling relief and feeling good. One way to experience feeling
relief and feeling good, is to breathe the way we breathe WHEN we are
experiencing profound relief. Let’s set that up by imagining something to
experience relief from, then imagine being relieved from it, breathing
luxuriously a number of times in the way we WOULD breathe when being
relieved from it, a slow deep succession of sighs of relief.
Let’s set that up further. Please imagine you’ve been carrying a h-e-a-v-y bag of
groceries a little too far. Not only that, but that heavy bag of groceries
is just starting to tear, you don’t want it to spill out before you can set
it down...
At last! Imagine finally reaching the table upon which you can safely set
that heavy bag of groceries down. AS you set it safely down, imagine or
experience the sheer relief of that. Breathe a great wonderful sigh_____ of
relief at finally having been able to set that heavy load safely down.
Make your next breath as if IT were that first wonderful sigh of relief at
having set that heavy load safely down. Nice and slow.... And deep: when you
get around to your NEXT breath, make THAT also your very first breath and
wonderful sigh of relief at having set that heavy load safely down....
Nice and slow....and deep, when you get around to your next breath, make
THAT also your very first breath and sigh of relief at setting that heavy
load safely down.
Nice and slow....and deep - EACH next breath over the next minute or so,
make each next breath also to be that first deep wonderful sigh of PROFOUND
relief at setting that heavy load safely down....
At least two more deep wonderful slow sighs of relief over the next
minute...
(–)
Now from the luxurious depths of that relief, check how you are
feeling. Compare how you are feeling NOW, to how
you were feeling before you did this Relief-Breathing.
Just as easily as that!
Whatever you might have needed some relief from, you have just
in fact given yourself some welcome relief from. Whenever you
need relief from any condition or any situation,
remember to Relief-Breathe.
Relief-Breathing is only one of forty-seven especially good types of
breathing which we call the “Calm-Breathing Patterns,” out of
hundreds of different types. Each type of breathing reflects your
state and condition. Each type of breathing in turn affects your
state and condition.
The breathing builds the associated
state. Continuing that and maintaining or building that state while focusing
on a situation, re-conditions that situation to fit that felt state. A third
thing that breathing does is to enable you to redirect the autonomic
processes of your system, an interesting point of leverage from which to
clear away obstacles to clear and vivid perception, understanding, or
optimal health or optimal outcomes - by the physical metaphors I've
suggested for such purpose, and the physical metaphor of setting down that
heavy and tearing bag of groceries to find relief.
The basic set of Calm-Breathing Patterns, and their introduction,
are found in these relevant articles: