Your Breath Changes the Room
What if making good connections with others not only starts with, but is mostly about, making a good connection with yourself? Your connection radiates out and invites others in.
I’m obsessed with doing my best to make good connections with others, not just to be helpful, network, and connect everyone, all of which bring me such joy, but to practice the physical and emotional aspects of the outcome of what feels like magic: making a good connection with myself. I know understanding this is much more than the secret to avoiding burnout. It’s one of the ingredients that makes whatever you are doing feel and go better. One of the areas I’ve been able to explore this over the years is through leading yoga, and it’s even more exciting when it extends to life. Not in an “off the mat into the world” or “yoga lasts after you practice” kind of way, but by applying the same foundations of connection to each moment you attempt to make a good connection. It begins with you and your relationship with yourself. Let’s start with your breath.
Your breath is a never-tiring, always-ready, inexhaustible superstar of an assistant, helper, and partner. We take it for granted so much without knowing it. If our breath were personified, it would cancel us for wrongdoing, gaslighting, and all kinds of abuse. We ignore it, bulldoze through it, and shove it down when we need it most.
We can train ourselves to have a better relationship with our breath and, in turn, a better relationship with ourselves and others. The relationship we have with our breath can be felt. We have all experienced feeling good or bad “vibes” from people. There is a bit of research on this now, which is pretty fun, but as usual, while we wait for more research, we might as well do our best to make things better for ourselves the best we can. This starts with our connection to our breath and body.
“Research shows our heart generates a measurable electromagnetic field that extends beyond our body. While scientists are still exploring exactly how much this contributes to human connection, we know our nervous systems constantly influence one another. The way we carry ourselves, calm or tense, doesn’t just affect us; it affects everyone around us.” Here is some more reading on that for fun.
During a workshop I was leading in London, I was showing an example of how powerful the Breath-Body Connection is. I led a short yoga sequence with the group using the language, body position, and calm tone I always strive for. The only thing missing was my own Breath-Body Connection. Now keep in mind I was instructing the group to “inhale, do this, exhale, do this.” My language on when and how to breathe and how to connect the breath and body was all there.
A short note that yoga is vast and broad, and the way we lead with Strala Yoga is to let the breath begin and the body follow, using the breath as fuel, which is different from styles like Ashtanga and vinyasa, which are breath-linked but more focused on holding a pose for a certain number of breaths to count the time like a metronome. With Strala, we take our movement wisdom from the foundations of tai chi, which show that breath isn’t something to just sit next to or use only to observe, but to engage as a helper to lift and a support to release.
So on with the exercise. People were wobbling. Minds were wandering. The vibe was sus, as the kids say.
Toward the end of the exercise, a young woman was coming back from the bathroom to rejoin the group. She interjected and said something that I will always use to prove this point.
“This feels awful and dogmatic. I signed up for the opposite of this experience. What is this?”
I was so proud that she said that and was quick to let her know she had gone to the bathroom while we were explaining the exercise. She had only come back to experience how doing everything “nice enough,” but missing only my connection to my own breath and body, took the room from a safe, supportive place to the dogmatic environment she had come there to escape.
We did the exercise again. Same sequence, same language, same body position. Now I was connected to my own breath and body. I let the movement breathe me. I felt more connected, and the room did too.
Something else amazing happened. People balanced with ease. People did more than they could before. Minds weren’t wandering. People started smiling and enjoying themselves. The vibe was individuals doing something good for themselves together as a group, all in harmony, like a pod of dolphins heading toward their next destination.
We talked about this in the group, and the feedback was incredible. Everyone could really feel the difference. No Breath-Body Connection and a perfectly nice person leading led to feeling disconnected, wobbling, feeling unsafe, and minds wandering. Include Breath-Body Connection, and a nice person leading leads to a feeling of connection, balance, safety, flow state, and being able to do so much more than anyone thought possible.
Now, I still haven’t been successful at convincing everyone to try this out in a yoga class, so I started bringing this to meetings, group settings, parent hangouts, wherever I find myself with people, and the results are the same. We can do this wherever we are, with whoever we are with.
Let’s try now.
Softness Break
Put yourself in a steady, comfortable position.
Make yourself moveable so you can be moved by your breath. A little bend in your knees and elbows. Let yourself emotionally settle a bit.
Wait for your inhale to show up. Watch that inhale carry you up and out a bit physically, mentally, and emotionally. Wait for your exhale to show up. Watch that exhale release, relax, and make it easier to be here, and joyful to be you.
Repeat this while you are with yourself, just chillin’, so you can get comfortable with this.
Now do this when you are around other people, on the Zoom call, in the parent meeting, at the grocery store.
Let me know how it goes. I can’t wait to hear about the vibes.
Join us Online
Download the Strala Yoga app today and start feeling better with a new class every day.
This is your home studio.
Every day, a new practice is waiting for you.
Monday: Weights with Ease
Tuesday: Tai Chi
Wednesday: LIVE Gentle Yoga
Thursday: Weights with Ease
Friday: LIVE Energize Yoga
Saturday: Tai Chi Flow
Sunday: Restorative
Get comfortable, move in a way that feels supportive, notice how you feel, and let all the benefits soak in. We’re here together, one breath at a time.
Join us In Person
Effingham Illinois. Join us on Saturdays (when I’m in town) for an easy going Energize Yoga class. I’m so excited to be a part of this midwestern, artsy community. If you’re making a trip out of it, send me a note and I’ll send you all the good spots to visit! RSVP your space
Kansas City, MO. July 25-26. I’m so excited to offer our weekend intensive a little closer to home for so many in our community. Join us at Maya Yoga, July 25-26 for the Strala Weekend 20+Hour Intensive. RSVP your space here.
Amsterdam, Netherlands. September 19-20. It’s a homecoming for sure to Amsterdam. We’ve been a couple times a year for many years and this will be my first time back since the pandemic. It will be so good to see everyone. Amsterdam is a great city with great people to visit if you want to make a trip out of it! RSVP your space here.
Weekend of Softness, Metzingen, Germany, Sept 26-27. I’m joining longtime Strala Guide and partner studio owner Anna Rampf, to celebrate our community in a weekend of softness and connection. You’ll love Metzingen, it’s so nice. RSVP here.
Om Show London, October 16, 17 & 18. I’m so excited to be back leading classes and workshops at the Om Show this fall. RSVP here.
