What if the transition from one breath phase to the next were a certainty in your mind?
A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and post as a gift.
In 2022 the breath tokens are about transitions. Transition literally means to “cross over, go over, pass over, hasten over, pass away,” from transire – trans “across, beyond” + ire “to go“.
In breathing, transition naturally occurs after the inhale and the exhale and vice versa. I’ve noticed that I tend to go over transitions, in breathing as well as in the every day, going from one thing to the next without paying attention to the space in between. Despite being aware that these transitions are happening, in breathing or in other behaviours, I find it really challenging to be present in them.
Together with you I’d like to explore the subject of transitions. I’ll post quotes, collect ideas or questions from people I know and from you.
If you’d like to share something about transitions, contact me at hallo@nicolacaroli.com.
Transition as anticipation
In the breathwork summit 2022, I was struck by something psychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel said: „the in-breath has an anticipation of the out-breath and the out-breath has an anticipation of in-breath.“ The anticipation comes from a learnt breathing pattern from the time we were born, so our brain is doing the anticipating for us, Dr. Siegel explained. I’ll write about this in more detail in the following blog post but for this breath token I’d like to pose the question: What if you knew the next inhale or exhale was coming and instead of waiting for it – wondering when it will come or in what way it will come… – you focussed on the knowledge that it simply will. What does the transition from one breath phase to the next feel like when the next phase is a certainty in your mind?
Enjoy exploring and I look forward to hearing about your experiences.
We can explore these ideas through touch, movement, sound, writing, drawing, and, of course, breathing itself.
Let’s stay in touch. Let’s be breathed.