A windy day...

It’s a windy day out there today, blowing not just leaves off trees but small branches as well. Seeing as spring is just around the corner that wind has come at the right time to give trees and head start in getting ready for a new season. Knowing that change is on the way is one thing, actually doing something to get ready for that change and embrace it is another thing entirely. Trees are losing a lot of old dried up leaves due to that wind out there, leaves that have served their purpose and don’t have any job to do anymore for the trees they’re attached to. In a way you could say the trees are letting go, letting go of unhelpful attachments, and they are letting go earlier than expected with the help of that wind.

If we choose to let go of things that no longer serve a purpose in our lives, how do we do it? We could be like the trees and wait for Spring or take advantage of unseasonal strong winds to get it done earlier than would normally happen, assuming it would ever get around to happening at all. The winds of change could come from the outside like that wind out there and can come as a shock, forcing change on us if we’re ready or not. Or we can choose to crate change ourselves, at a time and place of our choosing.

Just thinking about change can be enough to get the heart beating faster and panic starting to rise in the stomach which is kind of weird, as if we want things to change for the better, what is there to be afraid of? The fear is real though, even when it doesn’t make sense to be afraid. It helps to be able to breathe through it, to create your own winds that prepare you for change, winds that you control and bring calm to your body and mind.

In this case the wind I’m talking about is the way you breath and how you harness your breath is key. There must be so many different ways to breath in ways that are supposed to help with fear, tension, anxiety, stress, worry and so on. From simple methods like breathing in to the count of four, holding for a count of two, then breathing out to the count of four, or any one of many different numbers. Then there are more involved ways of breathing, like breathing in “the good” and releasing “the bad”, or breathing in “healing” colours and exhaling “bad” colours like black. There are even methods that combine these ideas and claim to be thousands of years old and cost money to learn!

Sometimes the best, and cheapest, ways to breath through the winds of unsettling changes can be the most simple. Such as a slow intake of breath, a momentarily holding, then a release of breath through pursed or pressed lips, so it fills your cheeks and takes a bit of effort which slows down the exhale and also brings a sense of engagement into the lungs and chest. If you do this while focussing your attention on a neutral part of your body, you can observe what is going on in other parts of your body. This can be calming and helpful in identifying what parts of your body are unsettled as well as slowing things down, which is so good for getting through fear and panic. Trying different ways to centre and ground yourself while concentrating on your breathing is a very good way to remind yourself that after a life time of breathing in a certain way, just by doing it a little bit differently, helpful things can begin to come into your awareness. Just like a tree that has rid itself of once green, now brown, leaves can devote itself to new growth and new beginnings.