Deep Ecology Practice: Breath
Our breath connects us with all that lives on the earth.
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The air we breathe is vibrant with life. It travels as wind across oceans and continents, and is endlessly created and recreated with each of us breathing, the plants, animals, the soils and seas. Sky and air are part of the Earth, held by gravity, created by living ecosystems. It is all that lies between us and the vast immensity of space.
The breathable atmosphere reaches from the ground about seven miles up. Seven miles is not far. It might take you part-way across a city, or to the nearest town. We live in the breathable realm, and out beyond that is the higher atmosphere, and then space, reaching out in the cold dark.
Breathe in and you take into your body a part of this air-tissue. It does not stop at your lungs, but moves through the bloodstream to all your living cells.
You do not hold on to it; it will not be grasped. You breathe out, and let it go. Your exhale rejoins the air-tissue.
Through bringing awareness to the breath we enter into conversation with our home planet and all the plants and animals here with us. We draw fresh energy from the world as we breathe in, and it renews our bodies. We breathe out what we do not need, and it feeds beings who can use it to renew their life.
Drawing awareness to the breath, whether in movement or in stillness, can calm the mind and body and offer a direct experience of how the self may become expansive and open. We may feel the world breathing.
Breath meditation is an ancient practice with particular value today, because the Earth’s air is being changed by human actions in a way that threatens all who live on this planet. The word Earth is contained in the word breath. Bringing to mind how thin is the oxygen-rich blanket wrapped around us, protecting us from space, it is staggering to know that we humans are attacking the air recklessly, by burning fossil fuels, polluting the oceans and destroying forests. If humans became more conscious of the breath, and of how we share it with the world, could there be a shift from disregard of the Earth, to honouring her?
In meditation, the practice of returning awareness to the breath can help release the mind entangled in fears and grasping. It brings attention to the present moment and helps us to find our place within this Earth family. In the breath we experience a subtle movement of turning inwards and opening out, the inhale and the exhale. The movement happens in our lungs and in each of our living cells. It happens throughout the natural world. It is in the ocean waves and tides, a flower opening to the sun or folding back around the growing fruit, the moon’s cycle, the expansion and contraction of the day and night, how nature opens up in summer and turns inwards for winter rest. We are all a part of Gaia breathing. At any time in your day and night, perhaps you could grow still and listen, notice this rhythm and your own breath within it.
Practice: Breath Meditation
Breath meditations take many forms. The simplest is simply to notice your breathing, without trying to alter it. Sitting in a comfortable position, or lying if you prefer, become aware of the sensation of breathing: the rise and fall of the belly, expansion and contraction at the chest, cool and warmth at the nostrils. Be curious. What do you feel? Where do you feel the breath most vividly? If you can, sit with the sensation a while.
The breath is light and cannot be grasped. Inevitably you will find you attention drifts elsewhere, to thoughts, worries, plans, sensations. Notice this drifting. Perhaps mark it with a word, such as ‘thinking’, but do not criticise yourself. Drift is what a human mind does, and it isn’t a sign of failure or weakness. Gently bring your attention back to the breath, which is still there.
In meditation, the moments when the thoughts drift are precious, because they train us in noticing what is happening and having the strength to return to our focus. This is the training in remembering to be present.
The breath is an anchor. We drift into trance. It calls us back to life.
When you get up from this time of focus and stillness and return to the rush and noise of your thoughts and daily life, remember that the breath is still there. It is a quiet rhythm supporting you always, and connecting you with the breathing web of life on Earth.
Notice how the movement of the breath travels through your whole body. As you breath in, you expand, and as you exhale, you release.
Bring to mind our breathing Earth, the tides of the ocean, the sunrise and sunset, the opening of flowers at dawn and how they close at dusk, the seasons of the year with their growing and contracting days. As you breathe, feel the pulse we share with all living beings. Feel the world breathing.
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More deep ecology practices are listed at the end of this article. Follow me on Medium for updates.
