I was on a breathing call with Tony Robbins recently and he reminded me of a talk by Jim Rohn called “Five Steps to Go From Average To Fortune.” It got me thinking about how his advice applies to the journey of Breath Mastery. So this month, I’d like to share some of those thoughts.
I’m now well into my 70’s, and it probably would have been easier and quicker if I had thought about this stuff earlier in my life. But I have learned that you can definitely teach an old dog new tricks. And over the past few years I have proven it to be so.
No matter what level of knowledge, skill, experience, or success you currently enjoy, please know that there is always something higher, something deeper, available and waiting for you.
If, like me, you are interested in your ultimate or maximum potential, then maybe these steps could help you on your journey toward breath mastery, self-mastery, or life mastery.
1. Get serious
Get serious about your art, your work, your life, your mission, your purpose. Not in a rigid, grim, or grave way, because as you know, I believe that seriousness is a disease! By serious I mean get real, sincere, wholehearted, focused, deliberate, determined, and far reaching. I believe that breathwork is sacred, not serious!
2. Get smart
Do your homework. Read and research. Dig up everything you can find on the topic. Join discussion groups. Take classes, courses, workshops, and seminars. Attend summits and conferences. Develop a broad and solid body of knowledge on the anatomical, mechanical, physiological, chemical, biological, emotional, psychological, social, energetic, and the spiritual aspects of breathing.
3. Get going
You must act, or as Tony would say, you must take massive action! Walk your talk. Nothing is worse than a Breathworker who doesn’t breathe! Practice. Experiment. Try everything (at least twice!). Journal. Apply what you learn. Regular daily practice is essential. Integrate the exercises, techniques, and meditations you learn into your everyday routines, activities, and interactions.
4. Get excited.
Without passion, without enthusiasm, no one has ever created anything truly significant, remarkable, or extraordinary. You must be juiced up, on fire, even obsessed! Breathwork must be uppermost in your mind, and all consuming. That is, if you really mean business!
5. Get help
There is an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Find a coach, a mentor—several of them. Join a breathing community—several of them! Form breathing circles and breathwork support groups. Reach out to fellow Breathworkers.
6. Get away
Carve out some time for yourself in nature, or lock yourself in a hotel room away from all distractions! (Join Breathworkers from around the world at my 18th Annual Cabo Breathwork Gathering, Jan. 17-27. (thebreathfest.com)
I am fortunate because my habit of constantly traveling involves meeting and working with many people and many groups, while doing lots of sessions, mixed with lots of alone time.
My lifestyle allows me to have my cake and eat it too! Actually, if I don’t schedule recovery loops and personal time, then life, nature, or forces beyond my control ensure it.
In fact, I am writing this article from a hotel room in Istanbul, where my travel and teaching schedule got interrupted because of a glitch with my Russian visa. An unexpected vacation! And an opportunity to practice what I preach.
By the way, I have written at least one report or an article on Breathing every single month since June of 1976, and have never missed a month!
This month, I have two Breathwork exercises/techniques/meditations for you to practice.
The Recapitulation Breath
The Recapitulation Breath is a Toltec practice I got from Don Juan and Carlos Castaneda. It is about clearing any unexpressed communications or unresolved emotional issues or energetic blockages associated with significant people or important events in your life.
The idea is to sweep or scan through the course of your life with each breath. Start with your head looking over your left shoulder. Inhale as you slowly turn your head to the right. Imagine beginning at birth, then infancy, early childhood, and then your teen years. Keep scanning through your life all the way up to the present moment. And then empty your exhale out over your right shoulder.
Then turn your head back to the left and begin inhaling again as you turn your head to the right, sweeping through memories and moments that come to mind.
(Some people like to inhale from left to right, and then exhale from right to left, as if erasing or clearing or blowing away all the memories.)
Do this for a dozen or so breaths, or for at least five minutes, or until you land on something that deserves contemplation, or requires forgiveness, restoration, rewiring, healing, or motivates you to visit a place or communicate with someone.
The “Ooo Aah Hah” Breath.
On our recent tour of India, we gathered at Babaji’s Ashram in Haidakhan under what the locals call the Divine Mother Tree. And while there, the “2-Part Inhale and sigh of Relief” practice took on a new form and more sacred significance.
Begin the first part of your inhale by breathing through your mouth and into your belly. Use an “ooh” shaped sound. Bring the second half of the inhale up into your chest (into your heart) and turn it into an “ahh” sound. Then, lift your head back, look up, and make a “hah” sound on the exhale.
When you are breathing into your belly, imagine a churning, a digging. Imagine awakening and gathering energy from deep in your body or your past. Draw the breath up into your chest, to open and expand or awaken heart-felt energies.
Then with the exhale, look to the sky and offer or surrender yourself up to the Divine Mother, to something higher. I see the Divine Mother as the Intelligence behind all matter, as the source of our being, as a womb, in which we all live and breathe, and in which everything exists.
Be expressive. Be total. Be creative. Be sincere with your intentions. Be innocent. Be childlike with your imagination! And let me know how it goes.
That’s it for this month. Good luck in your practice, and many blessings on your path.
Dan Brulé (GuchuRamSingh)
