Our moments are filled with breath. Breathing in, and breathing out. Over and over again, breath in, breath out. It is easy to visualize, to follow and to feel the breath in. It cools our nostrils. The abdomen rises like a balloon, the diaphragm becomes engaged, and then we release the breath in an exhalation. But it is what happens between the breaths that we seldom think about—what happens there is growth and healing.
Inhalation is to take in that which gives us life. We can go for days without food and water, the other substances that sustain us, but to go without air for more than few minutes leads to unconsciousness and soon after, death. Our breath is what links us to our spirits, animates our bodies.
When we exhale, we are releasing what are bodies are finished with, toxins, carbon dioxide, and also emotions. Think about times there has been great stress— like a confrontation with someone who has angered you. We tend to hold our breaths, keeping all that energy and life force bottled up for a time to help us through the moment and when it is over, we give a great sigh of relief. We release it, and begin to let the toxic part of the emotions go.
But what is happening in-between the inhalation and the exhalation? It is the rest cycle, the time when our cells are restored. It is the balance between what comes in and what goes out. It is a time of healing.
If we look at each breath through the entire cycle as a single moment of healing, then think of how much we are restored by a good night’s sleep.
It is those times when we are at rest, at peace, that our bodies heal, our minds become still, our spirits nourished. When we are too busy to sleep, or the busyness of the day winds up the monkey mind so that it keeps us awake all night, we feel the effects almost immediately. It becomes difficult to make decisions, to follow a thought. The brain gets fuzzy, and the body takes on aches and pains. Do it long enough and it seems every aspect of our lives is affected.
A meditation practice is to begin to train the mind to focus, to release its stronghold on our healing energies, and to dwell for longer and longer periods in that between-the-breath place of healing.
When I first started my meditation practice in earnest, though it was a struggle and a million to-do lists would conjure themselves in my mind, I kept with it. Not a month had passed before my husband commented on how much more peaceful I seemed. He had gotten used to the way I allowed myself to get caught up in one drama or another and then feed it to him by the spoonful, creating a whole atmosphere of anxiety in the household. He may not have understood what I was doing during meditation, but he saw immediately that his world was a healthier place. It was good for me, too, to have that validation since meditation can be a subtle way to achieve health, a deeper spiritual life and happiness.
The in-breath is important, as is the out-breath, but it is the rest between, the stillness where the growth and healing reside. So next time you feel the need to sleep for thirteen hours, or to just take a break, allow yourself. There is a lot happening in those moments of stillness.
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