Holding Your Breath?

Holding Your Breath?

My relationship with quiet has been fraught. 

My relationship with my breath is complex. 

My relationship with meditation is messy.

I know I'm not alone. 

We live in a world that encourages numbing by scrolling, eating, drinking, or [insert your preferred numbing method]. 

Numbing keeps us from being present. Being present and awake in this world brings pain, fear, anxiety, and stress.

Numbing can separate us from joy, love, expansiveness, creativity, and our inner wisdom.

I truly hoped we'd come back from the COVID pandemic creating more space between meetings, openness, curiosity, and space to think. 

I don't find this to be true. 

We're slammed in back to back to back meetings, without time to think, breathe, pause, question, listen, or discern.

We are running on empty.

Holding our breath short-circuits our creativity, curiosity, openness, and love, blocking our capacity to work for equity.  

I offer you this simple, imperfect, four-minute sit designed to connect us to our breath.

My leadership practice has changed, not by reading fancy books on meditation, but by focusing on my breath. 

What grounding practices work for you?

Be curious and playful. Try something and see how it feels. 

• Stare out the window for five minutes.
• Walk around the block. Connect to yourself.
• Hold curiosity about what you experience.
• Embrace the experience with openness.
• Take a few deep breaths before you enter a difficult conversation.
• Explore how you feel if you sit quietly for five minutes instead of scrolling on your phone. 

Start your next team meeting with a short meditation.

See what happens. See what it feels like. 

May we all connect even more to our BEing in a world that values DOing. (Tici'ess, 2024)

Fellow leaders and learners, I wish you courage, rest, and beloved community along the journey.