Breath & Breathing 
June 2005 
I recently returned from my second visit to Mexico, and the experience was nothing short of wondrous! Next stop on the path is Lithuania. More on that in a moment, but first some rather dramatic news from home: 
On May 14th at around 1pm, our home for the past eight years, and the former Growth Center office in New Bedford, went up in smoke! A candle I lit in preparation for the Saturday afternoon breathing group started the fire. It seems that life is not only an adventure, it is also a mystery. I have performed this ritual in the same place in the same way, almost every day since we moved in; and on this day nothing different or unusual took place, yet within 20 minutes of lighting the candle, I found myself jumping out the window to escape the heat and smoke! 
No one was hurt in any way, and on the bright side (note that the lazy part of me really appreciates this) it made packing for the move to Amarillo much simpler, since so almost everything in the house was destroyed or damaged beyond repair! After two weeks of mucking around in black soot, all that could be saved fit easily into the new Ford minivan we bought for the cross-country trip. 
Cancun was a delightful reprieve from the messy cleanup. I am so grateful to Rebecca, Francisco, Claudia, Carla, Gaby, Alex, Nacho and Alma, and so many others at Mastery of Life and the Harmony Yoga Center! The days and nights in Mexico so full: I coached almost 60 individual sessions in 10 days (a personal record!) In addition, over thirty people took part in the week-long evening program. 
Even I was amazed at the abundance of energy that is available when the Spirit of Breath and the Power of Love conspire to accelerate our growth and healing. (Of course living in the luxury of the Ritz Carlton didn’t hurt either!) 
It seems that the Angel of Breath is calling everyone in Cancun to awaken to love! We have decided to establish a Spiritual Breathing Center and to organize a One Year Practitioner Training there, beginning in the fall. I promised everyone in Cancun that over the next year I would invite my favorite breathers, healers, trainers from around the world to participate in the program, so if you are interested, please contact me. 
I’ve decide not to attend the IBF Conference in St. Petersburg this year. But I will submit a paper, and I will be well represented there. From June 14 to 22, I will be in Lithuania; and from June 23-28, Estonia. July 15-19: Toronto, Canada. July 21-31: Argentina. In August, I will be in the USA, offering a one month advanced/practitioner program. We’ll start on the East Coast and travel westward. September 1-8 it’s back once again to The Hill That Breathes in Italy! September 9-19 a Special Breath Mastery Intensive in Paris; and after that, the UK. (Go to www.breathandbreathing.com for contacts and details. 

I am writing this newsletter on the road to Amarillo. Looking up right now at the clear bright skies of Oklahoma, and thinking back on the events of the last few weeks, I feel strangely light and free. The fire was a great exercise, a powerful lesson in letting go. It was a very stressful time to say the least, but it was also the most amazing adventure! And it confirmed so strongly that when we finally come home to ourselves… to our real true self… the peace and happiness that we find is utterly unshakable. 
No amount of surface tension can overcome the energy of our center. Difficult situations and challenging circumstances cannot break our connection to our center—our Source. It is such a feeling of freedom and safety—of joy—to realize that the promise of Spiritual Breathing is certain. It leads to the peace that passes understanding. But maintaining this connection is our responsibility: keeping this awareness alive is a conscious choice. And once this choice becomes a habit, nothing in the world that can block your love! 
Practice using the breath to open and allow, to relax and let go, to expand and release. These skills will carry over into every area of your life. I invite and encourage you to practice Spiritual Breathing. It is really quite simple. It has two parts: Breath Awareness and Conscious Breathing. 
Breath Awareness means just observing the breath… watching it… sensing it… doing nothing to it or with it… simply letting the breath come and go on its own, while you become more aware of the details, while you meditate on this most basic and natural process. Conscious Breathing means you do it. It means breathing a conscious intention; it means actively bringing a certain quality, rhythm, or pattern to the breath. You see, whenever consciousness and energy come together, something is always created. Ask yourself: “What’s important?” What’s the most important thing in life? What’s the most important thing for you at this point in your life? And then begin to live it and breathe it! 
Here’s a process we’ve been practicing recently: Focus on what’s important while you bring as many levels and aspects of yourself to the breathing as possible… the level of thought, feeling, emotion, imagery, sound, movement… With each breath you repeat a word or phrase, you visualize, you generate a feeling, you make a sound, you move… When every cell in your body and every level of your being expresses and reflects the same high intention, the universe opens up to you in the most remarkable way! 
I invite you to discover, explore and develop the “Power and Potential of Spiritual Breathing.” There are good coaches and facilitators in almost every corner of the world now, and more being trained every day. Are willing to do whatever it takes to move your life forward? Are you ready to dig deeper and reach higher? Then I invite you to find one of them, or meet me somewhere along the path! 
In truth, simplicity and love, 
Dan