"i love the cold"

" I think of the cold as a noble force. It's just helping me. It's training me. It's bringing me back to the inner nature, the way it was meant to be."

-- Wim Hof

This guy is amazing!

Saturday Cartoon

LOVE this!

Exercises in breathing

I.
knowing the rules is not enough. when it snows,
it doesn’t always mean it. when it snows, sometimes
it snows for the museums and sometimes it snows
for the papers and sometimes it snows for only
her majesty, the sea.

II.
following the rules is not enough. when he breathes—
remember this one please—when he breathes he breathes
for himself. when he breathes he doesn’t breathe for her or
for you or for his son or for his future sons, when he breathes,
he breathes for how it feels to be standing
in the public gardens knee-deep in snow, smoking
a cigarette and watching the statues still and cold
and unbreathing and having it mean something.

III.
breaking the rules is not enough. the sea is his mother.
the sea gives back in fish. the sea tells you: this
is what your voice sounds like. the sea reminds you to breathe.
the sea, the sea. she knows the rules are never enough.

-Kimberly Southwick

Breath

"There is no right way to breathe. There is only breathing appropriate for the particular situation an individual finds themselves in. Breathing needs to be responsive to variations in posture, to our emotions , and to our oxygen demands; it can only do this if the entire respiratory system is flexible and reactive."

-- Peter Blackaby Intelligent Yoga

Yoga, if practiced based on feeling and understanding your own body can help!

Only Breath

ONLY BREATH

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu, Buddhist, sufi, or zen. Not any religion or cultural system.

I am not from the East or the West, not out of the ocean or up from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not composed of elements at all.

I do not exist, am not an entity in this world or the next, did not descend from Adam or Eve or any origin story.

My place is placeless, a trace of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one and that one call to and know

first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

 --Rumi

Breath

"There is a rebound - a kind of ripple effect that happens naturally at the end of an exhalation. The problem is we can't DO it.

Instead, look for the precise moment which marks the end of an exhalation. Be completely relaxed and attentive to your spine.
See if you can notice the snake like micro-movements that are your spine's response to your breath.

The Strength of any rebound depends entirely on the strength of the initial impact - the harder something is thrown, the stronger the bounce...

...so the more strongly you concentrate on noticing the exact moment at the very end of an exhalation, the more you'll feel the effect."

From See How Yoga Feels by Su Sareen.

Meditation

If you are feeling a little stressed the best way to control a racing heart is through breath. Shut your eyes, put your hands in your lap and breathe in for two and out for four. Concentrate on the feeling of your inhale breath entering through your nostrils cold and filling your lungs and visualise your exhale breath filling the room. Continue for as long as needed and it will slow your heart rate down and make you feel instantly calmer.

image from here.

There is no right way to Meditate.

Whatever you may have heard, there isn't just one perfect, pure, correct way to meditate.  You just need to experiment and find what is comfortable for you.
Each Friday i am going to share one of the many techniques I've tried and hopefully you might come across something that works for you!

1. If One Can Breathe, One Can Meditate

This is a very simple breathing meditation, taught in many Buddhism classes.

Sit comfortably in a chair or on the floor.

Close the eyes, if its comfortable for you. If you prefer to keep your eyes open then simply keep your gaze soft and not fixed on anything in particular.

Breathe through your nose. See if you can keep your awareness on the feeling of the warm and cold air on the top of the upper lip during inhalation and exhalation.

Once you becomes aware of the feeling of the cold and warm air on the top lip, then do nothing else but concentrate on that specific sensation.

Try not to think of anything else but that sensation for nine breaths in and nine breaths out.

image from Yumi Sakugawa