Breath

I always seem to have some of the most inspiring conversations with my two Erics. One of my Erics is my hair stylist. The other is my acupuncturist. Yesterday my inspiring conversation was with acupuncturist Eric about breath.

My acupuncturist Eric practices Classic Five Element, different from the practice most people think of as someone laying on a table covered with a bunch of needles that stay in for a time. The first portion of our sessions involves a verbal check in, almost like therapy. I relay to Eric how things have been going since our last session, which is typically every four weeks. Eric then treats me based on his reaction to me, which is quite Zen.

I relayed my recent last minute self-evacuation from my originally scheduled flight to San Francisco along with the wonderful couple I had the honor of sitting next to on the plane the following day. He said he was glad I did what I did, it's a strong example of caring for myself, that most people would bite the bullet and suffer. I acknowledged the gift for me was the new acquaintances I made.

I relayed about my post San Francisco visit to Dr. Ramaley, a Seattle naturopath who does muscle/resistance testing. Just using his hands he probes and finds weak points in the body. Apparently my weak points were thyroid, which I expected, gallbladder, stomach and parasites. The doc couldn't pinpoint the root cause of these imbalances, only to also acknowledge underlying everything is my heart. Specifically he said my heart isn't producing enough energy needed to completely heal my body.

His statement makes so much sense to me, the inhabitor of this body for the last 41 years. Through my now three year long battle with chronic illness, my chest is the area of most prominence for me. This is where I occasionally feel tightness, restriction, a void and experience shortness of breath.

Then I told Eric about my recent conscious breathing workshop. When I got to telling him about the moments I felt enveloped in divine love, he asked why I was starting to get misty-eyed. I wasn't aware I was. Perhaps he was projecting or I was once more present to that feeling? I honestly cannot say for sure.

"Well, it sounds like you got from that practice exactly what you needed. Love." He said.

I shared about my sudden realization from that workshop about the breath being so much more than just the biological way we oxygenate our blood to sustain our lives. Eric told me the Chinese word "Chi" means breath. Then he pointed to the congee symbol that he uses in his practice's logo.

"This is the symbol for the word Chi," he said. "It's a grain of rice with steam coming off of it. The steam represents breath. In Chinese medicine, the Earth element is food. We get our food from the Earth. Breath or air is the element representative of Heaven. Think of all the ways we intentionally use our breath. Meditation. Tai Chi or Qigong ..."

Ancient cultures used the same word for breath as they did for spirit. Our modern English language has a word for sharing stories which is derived from ancient languages. The word conspire. It literally means to exchange breath. Native Americans would "conspire" around a fire, "exchanging spirits."

I think of breath in a new way. It's not just the air we breathe. It's a force of nature and it has intelligence.