Strength, self-empowerment, faith, courage, commitment, willingness, and desire to live the life you deserve. If these words resonate with you, if you’re ready to change your life for the better, I would be honored to work with you and support you on your journey.
We have the power to change our thoughts, beliefs and our actions but we often feel overwhelmed or trapped by our past, our history. Let go of the emotional, mental and physical baggage that keeps you from pursuing your dreams. Life is now... take a nice full deep inhale, feeling your body expand...and as you exhale, feel your shoulders drop, jaw relax, belly soften, and your mind feel the relief of letting go.
So, close your eyes and check within you to see if you are truly ready to really step into your life, your authentic self, connecting with your inner wisdom and embracing your power to change your life. Taking advantage of the wonderful techniques of Breathing Room Therapies will make a profound difference in your life. Start now. Contact me today.
A wealth of healing power lives within you. Stop now and take a deep breath, exhale fully and feel your shoulders drop as you relax into the power of just one breath. It is your fuel. It is your core source and strength. Merging the connection of your breath with a variety of body/mind-centered techniques serve as "power tools" for helping you move through your life, weeding out what doesn't serve you, strengthening what does, releasing the past and energizing the present to build your future. Are you ready to give yourself the opportunity to live the richest life possible . . and create space and solutions for you and the life you desire and deserve?
It is the mission of Breathing Room Living to reduce and release self-doubts, fears, and mixed messages and replace them with self-empowering beliefs, pro-active motivating behavior, self-love, self-compassion and patience along with a greater desire to find and achieve success in every area of life. To do this we must address your mind, your body and your spirit. All work in tandem. To ignore one part of ourselves is to sabotage our efforts overall. Just as you can’t drive a car with only 3 wheels, you can’t create a full, rich, balanced life only partially nurtured.
But, what about our past? How do we get rid of those beliefs and experiences that have formed and shaped us? It’s easy but not simple. With Breathing Room Living, we explore new ways of seeing, believing and being. Take the risk to live your best life.
The solution is as simple and as close as your breath. It’s “conscious breathing.” By paying attention to your breath throughout the day and taking conscious, intentional breaks to breathe with purpose and in a mindful way, you change the way you experience stressors and life’s challenges, whether they be professional or personal, mental or physical.
Liking it to exercising your body daily, scheduling time to breath consciously takes commitment, time, patience and attention. Introducing conscious breathing is like introducing exercise into your life….it takes a while, through regular repetition, for you to adjust to a new behavior and to strengthen the breathing “muscle.” So, it may be necessary devise ways to make sure you begin to breathe consciously.
ScheduleBreathBreaksinto your day. If you have a cell phone, tablet or appointment book that you rely on to keep you on track, then schedule at least 6 times throughout the day. Just write “breathe” at 10:15am (for example) and if your phone/calendar can be set to “ring” for each appointment, then use that feature to keep you on course.
Change something up– put your watch on the other wrist and each time you notice the watch, take a breath. Another option is move one thing around on your desk (maybe move your phone to the other side of the desk) and each time you notice the change, take a deep breath.
Meditate– take 5 minutes a day (working yourself up to 20 minutes or more) and sit in stillness and breathe, feeling your chest and belly rise and fall, feeling stress fall away with each exhale. Make sure you create a comfortable space and that you’re dressed comfortably. Also, make sure all of your electronic devices are turned OFF (- includes land line phones). While first thing in the morning is preferable (before your mind gets cluttered with the thoughts and stresses of the day), evenings are good too. (Make sure to not be in bed as you’ll probably end up falling asleep.) Use a gentle timer (i.e., a soft beeping sound, or music) to time your meditation. 5 minutes can seem like 5 seconds or 5 hours. If you’re constantly thinking about when 5 minutes will be up, you won’t be focusing on your breath or your body.
Pay attention throughout your day – when you become aware that you’re feeling stressed, stop and take a breath. If you need to step away from a situation or leave the office/environment, do so. Identify one place in your home and/or office where you can go to get 5 minutes of quiet time. Bring your ipod with you if you’d like and listen to wordless, relaxing music and breathe in ease, feeling your body soften and relax with each exhale.
BREATHBREAKSare 60 – 90 seconds when you pause and take 3-5 conscious, deep, relaxing breaths, paying attention to the sound of each breath and the feeling that comes over your body as you let the exhale take away tensions in your body while the inhale fills your lungs with nourishing oxygen. Inhale through your nose to engage the Nitric Oxide that helps wake the body up (in a healthy way); and exhale slowly through pursed yet relaxed lips.
Take notes: Keep track of how you respond to the “waves” that come upon you throughout the day. Keep a WAVE NOTEBOOKwith you and just jot down how you handled the waves as they came upon you. Were you successful – able to “ride” the wave? Were you pulled under by the wave? It may seem silly, but getting what’s in your head onto paper can be a crucial step in helping to alleviate the negative body responses….i.e., preventing you from getting pulled under by the wave.
IMPORTANT:NO JUDGEMENTS. This is a process that takes time, conscious attention and repetition. The more you follow the above steps, the better the ride! What will eventually happen is that your body will automatically breathe when it comes upon stressors, the opposite of what is happening now (not breathing at all). Your body will KNOW that it needs a breath, craves a breath, and it will breathe for you, unconsciously. This is the ultimate goal, that your body is so tuned in to your rhythms and knows when you need more oxygen…and provides it.
When you look closely at your daily life, do you see balance? Do you experience all areas in your life getting nearly equal attention? Are you meeting your personal as well as professional needs? Or, do you feel pulled more in one direction than another? Do you feel depleted or exhausted as you move through your day? Do you feel like you never catch up and want a 48 hour day?
So often most of us give and give and give in one primary area of our life and the other areas fall by the wayside. For many, it’s the career that gets the attention or it’s the children that come first with no time for what comes second, third or fourth. For some, it’s health and beauty (how many days do you visit the gym and/or go shopping??) For others, it might be the couch, the TV and a bag of chips.
A client of mine asked me how I have such a balanced life. The truth is - I don’t always. Sure, some days are better than others. I have to pay close attention to my choices and the length of time I commit to each. What am I leaving out? What took up way too much time? What happened that came out of left field that became priority number 1? There’s a line that goes: “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans.” We have to be prepared for the unexpected and re-balance our day or week or month, depending on the unexpected event(s) that took place.
My mom recently went into the hospital, putting most everything on hold. It took a few weeks to get back into the swing of things once she was well and back home. After all, I had to recover too. My equilibrium, my rhythm had been thrown off. That’s what happens when we’re pulled out of our automated zone of functioning, our version of “normal.” But our flexibility and resilience is what is important. Do what you have to do to bring yourself back to center. I find I must go to spirit first. Take quiet time to calm my body and mind down. Then I can refocus and begin to see – with clarity and ease – what are those things that need to be addressed first. I have created a “launch point.”
DAILY BALANCING ACTS
Life is about balls constantly dropping, picking them up and trying the juggling act again. Everyday is another opportunity to try again. The best bet is to only pick up a few balls at a time. Don’t try to do everything everyday or focus exclusively on one area of your life. In order to do more than survive, in order to thrive we must create a healthy balance, make nourishing choices, learn to say “no,” and pace ourselves. There are no superwomen or supermen. Sure, you may be an “alpha” woman and able to multi-task from morning to night. Or, you may have enough money to pay others to take care of many of the “tasks” that we’d usually do ourselves. Or you may be the type that finds it difficulty to organize your thoughts or your life, only getting a few tasks done a day and wondering why you couldn’t do more.
So, what’s the secret? What is the solution?
·Part of the answer is being honest with ourselves….really looking with true clarity at what our lives entail and how we can best serve ourselves so that we can have healthy, happy and successful lives. How do we do this? Some of it requires a paper and pencil (or the computer) and creating a list of all of our responsibilities, wants and needs; deciding how much time is designated for each; eliminating excessive tasks; creating “down time” for rejuvenation. Balance means just that…giving equal time to all of our needs – emotional, physical, mental, spiritual, familial, professional. Where are we giving too much (and why)? What is getting ignored? (Hint: we usually sacrifice times of silence or relaxation or play in lieu of the cyclonic actions of taking care of the rest of the world.) By taking our “to do” lists out of our heads and putting these things on paper, we gain greater clarity and can more easily prioritize our to do’s.
·Another part of the answer is to IGNORE what others are doing. Stop comparing yourself to others. Many of us have a tendency to see an “alpha” friend zipping through their life and assuming we should be able to do as they do. They’re NOT doing it all…there is definitely imbalance somewhere in their lives – after all, they are human. They have their own rhythm. If you’re an alpha male or female, you too need balance, and the understanding that slowing down or pacing yourself, does not mean stopping. For those of us that aren’t, we need to stop seeing the alpha-way as the only way or the better way.
·Assuming you’ve identified all the major needs you have in your life (see item 1), be realistic and also be your own parent. By this I mean, with a detached but loving eye, look at your life and see where you’re not getting enough and where you’re giving too much. What area(s) of your life get ignored, postponed, procrastinated about. What area(s) of your life seem to be the focal point(s)? If you could parent yourself, what would you tell yourself? What would you immediately change? What would you do so that you were as healthy as you could be, as happy as you could be, create as much space for growth, for nurturing, for healing, for playing? Remember, if you’re running on fumes you’re no good to anyone else, let alone yourself. It is imperative that you take care of yourself FIRST. I’m sure you’ve heard flight attendants tell you that if you are in an emergency situation and the oxygen masks drop down, put your mask on first before you tend to your child(ren). If you can’t breathe, you’ll be no help to anyone else. This is also true in your daily life.
·So, whether you have children, a career, or just a very busy life, make sure to take care of your personal needs first, taking care to nourish the body (with food, exercise, silent time and sleep), the mind (fun and stimulating conversations with friends, reading, etc.), and the spirit (meditation, breathwork, yoga, journaling, workshops, service). Create space for a balanced life. It is more possible than you know…and it’s essential for your health and wellbeing. You’re worth it.
We have the power to change our thoughts, beliefs and our actions but we often feel overwhelmed or trapped by our past, our history. Let go of the emotional, mental and physical baggage that keeps you from pursuing your dreams. Life is now... take a nice full deep inhale, feeling your body expand...and as you exhale, feel your shoulders drop, jaw relax, belly soften, and your mind feel the relief of letting go.
