How do we have a more profound experience of life?
James Nestor’s new book, Breath, has stocked a multi-year passion that I have with breathwork. In the book, Nestor talks about his journey to more effective breathing, with ancient breathing techniques and modern scientific research. He is clear to state the breathwork is not the silver bullet or the cure-all.
What I loved about Nestor is his willingness to test and try nearly anything himself. This type of experiential learning is what I want to do more of.
So I’m asking myself, what am I learning?
All spiritual traditions, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism all connect the breath to life. The effectiveness of breath determines the quality of life we live. When our breathing is gone, so is our time in this reality. Breath is the life force.
Given my name and my resemblance to Skywalker, people frequently remind me to use the force.
Adding my spin, I remind them…feel the force, don’t force the feel.
While the force is a mysterious thing, energy in the body is not. Scientifically we know our bodies burn calories. And when we are present with our bodies, we feel tension, heat, tingling, numbness, pressure, or tiredness.
Tiredness is an interesting thing.
“You’ve got to keep yourself in prime physical condition, because fatigue makes cowards of us all.”
Vince Lombardi
We all know what it feels like to be tired if we have worked out. But what about mental and emotional exhaustion.
Chess masters burn 6,000 calories at a tournament!
Robert Sapolsky, who studies stress in primates at Stanford University, says a chess player can burn up to 6,000 calories a day while playing in a tournament, three times what an average person consumes in a day. Based on breathing rates (which triple during competition), blood pressure (which elevates) and muscle contractions before, during and after major tournaments, Sapolsky suggests that grandmasters’ stress responses to chess are on par with what elite athletes experience.
Source
And if you don’t know how taxing an emotionally charged conversation can be, let me know because I can connect you with a few folks that can just suck the life right out of you.
The real lesson here for me is that it is possible to harness my energy by control of my breath. We can’t make our heart beat faster, or lower our blood pressure, or change our body temperature. But we can control our breath and in turn control the other functions.
How you live your life has an impact on the fullness of your experience of life.
Putting things into practice is an essential step in learning. Asking, what is a step I can take to embody or live out what I have learned?
I’ve been starting writing sessions with this technique from Wim Hoff.
During the writing session, I find that thought doesn’t escape me while I’m writing. I can keep my attention on one thing, which comes with the ability not to get drawn into distractions. My shoulders feel relaxed and not scrunched.
What is the connection with the breath and the ability to focus?
After getting distracted for so long, the ability to focus almost feels like a superpower. The clear thinking, grounded but imaginative, is the ability to see truth and experience what is real.
Finding the ability to direct my attention to where I want it, and not getting pulled in every direction, is something I wish I could do long ago.
It feels like strength to let go and not get drawn into insignificant things. It is remaining curious but not curious about things that don’t matter for right now. Not worried that something unimportant demands my attention to bring it to resolution.
There might be a problem. It is undoubtedly not up to me to resolve everything.
Psalm One talks about weight and significance as a tree that is rooted in its source and reaching for the sky.
It has significance. Unlike the chaff that is blowing in the wind. Getting blown all over the place. Unsure of myself. Easily manipulated and fooled by anything. Unaware of what’s going on. Maybe even unaware that I’m distracted.
The random thought flowing through my mind is not really thinking at all. How do we recognize the ones that have weight, and allow the others to blow by?
This plays out in my work world. I wonder if finding substance if part of finding meaning? My high energy and propensity to be everywhere and all over the place is celebrated in the sales world. There hasn’t been another salesperson I have work with that I haven’t run rings around with activity level.
But now that my work world is changing, much of that type of activity is clearly just spinning my wheels. I’m on a treadmill. I’m not getting to where I want to be. So should I run harder? Should I try to be more efficient?
So much of the day is filled with meaningless activities. That seems pointless. Unsure of the why behind them.
For about the last 90 days, I’ve started my day with a novel activity, planning my day. Not wanting to make plans has been my typical way of being. Now I make plans I don’t want to tell others what they are. I don’t want to feel like I have to justify my decisions.
Having an explanation behind the choice of upcoming events is part of picking the right activities. Knowing the best next step to take creates decisiveness when the situation presents itself. Decide prior. Choose in advance.
I’m starting to think that this book I’m writing is about making better decisions. When we learn to make better decisions, we can help others make the best decisions. To me, that is what sales is about, assisting others in deciding what is best for them.
To make the best next right choice, you need to have an idea of what the decision point is.
Selfishness and choosing what’s most useful for ourselves. Am I making choices for me just so I can get ahead, or am I making the decision that makes the most good for others? This is the balance of denying myself for the good of others. If I act for the best for others, won’t that lead to the most good of others won’t that lead to the best for myself?
Helping others get what they want is the best way of getting what I want. That has to be a Zig Ziglar quote. The best sales book writer, I know. Thinking about Zig, I need to find a quote about the most significant decision we make is living by God’s principles and not my own.
Photos of The Sunset
Last night about 20 of us were on the patio watching the sunset over Lake Michigan. It didn’t seem like it was going to be much, do to the cloud cover, we started to disperse and go our separate ways.
My wife and I didn’t have much to do, so a walk along the beach became the plan. About ten minutes into the walk, the sunset started to look photo-worthy, so I snapped a few.
The beach started to narrow to maybe ten feet between the water and the dune. For as far as I could see, there was no one else but my wife and me.
As the sunset became more and more vibrant, I couldn’t help to keep trying to snap pictures. They were all disappointing. I couldn’t get the camera to pick up the deep purples and gorgeous pinks.
What’s more, the sunset was reflected on all the ripples and waves on the lake. There was a shaft of light on the water, leading straight from the sun to where Julie and I were standing. It was reaching out to us, pleading for our full attention. The spotlight of the sun was shining right at us.
I put the phone away, and I decided not to bother to record the moment in digital pixels. None of it would suffice.
As we stood there savoring the moment, it occurred to me that it wasn’t just the water and sky filled with gorgeousness, but it was also my wife that dazzled me. She was as much part of the sunset as anything else. So I let her know, and she responded to the effect that it was the same about me as it was for her.
The moment was brief, though it sticks with me. Getting fully caught up in the moment made it more substantial. It was giving it significance, even though it was temporary.
The moment was so quick and gone, what gave it so much significance?
Putting our full attention to it, realizing we are not just observing but actively participating, together is something beautiful.
Powerful revelations from God get our full attention. Moments that might be small in the grand scheme of things, and maybe easily missed, are filled with incredible significance.
The ray of light extending towards us, like a staircase to glory, was God’s invitation to join in what He was orchestrating. God gave us His attention, and it got our attention. He is mindful of us, and we are mindful of Him.
This is how I receive revelation the I am part of something grand. The is a difference between a picture of the sunset and being part of a sunset as it unfolds.
The photos are a reminder of the small part I played in something grand. Maybe the lapses of attention, when my affections shift to lessor things, are distractions, snapshots, and not the picture that I am in.
The things that get our full attention determine our experience for life.
Reflection Question:
What are you giving your attention to?
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You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11
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