”When you inhale, you are taking strength from God. When you exhale, it represents the service you are giving to the world.”

BKS Iyengar

Try standing or sitting absolutely still for any amount of time. What you get is tension and rigidity. This sets limits on exploration, inside and outside. When we set limits we miss exploring what really matters–which we often cannot see.

Breath is the engine of life. Living is taking a breath and going forward. Holding the breath is like holding a grudge. Inhaling is the first act of birth. Our very last exhalation takes us to our next world.

Express the chest (with breath) because this is where the heart resides. The heart is the most important organ in our body. We are hearty when in good health. We are heartfelt when we are genuine and when we love. Our heartbreaks can kill us. They have made us heroes, warriors and murderers.

The Bible commands us: “know your heart.” Our hearts “see” better than our eyes. As Saint-Exupery wrote, “One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.” The seat of intelligence is the heart. Opening the chest, taking a breath, gives our heart space.

The breath is always in the moment (unlike the mind that wanders). Fear is a distraction that keeps us from what is–from the present, actual moment (from which I wanted to run away), preventing us from living fully, from being all that we can be (and who knows what that is?)

Breath makes space and space is like love: wide and broad and flowing with good energy. Feed your heart with slow, deep breaths. Expand inside and learn that the known (today) is limited; the unknown (tomorrow) is vast.