Taking the Pause and Opening to Life

When we’re traveling, we’re forced to be in a kind of limbo, whether on a flight, waiting for transportation, or adjusting to jet lag. Time seems to slow down, or even stop. Then suddenly, it can speed up again as we rush into sightseeing, meeting tour groups, or trying to record every meaningful moment with our phones. 

I experienced this on my recent trip to Africa—a trip that was life-changing in so many ways. One of my first lessons was learning how to take a pause and listen to my body. 

I was in Kenya with the International Breath Foundation, joining others from around the world in the practice of Transformational Breath®. I wasn’t planning to teach while I was there, but when an email was sent asking for teaching volunteers, I decided to offer a WhaleBreathing class. 

So many people showed up that I had to turn some away. 

It was a powerful experience. I wanted to show others that breathwork can be transformative without drama, without pain. This is what the whales teach us. They are so powerful but so gentle. 

And when breathwork is combined with energetic touch, it goes to a new level. The body then becomes involved and releases stored emotions. 

When I do WhaleBreathing with clients, I know the healing is on their time, not mine. I always want to come from a place of humility, knowing that I’m just facilitating and holding space to allow an innate wisdom to come forward. 

I had to rely on my own innate wisdom when, after teaching the class, I realized I needed a rest.  My body was telling me to slow down. This can be uncomfortable because when we’re quiet, we have to meet the things we’ve pushed aside. 

I knew I had to watch my own energy and practice what I preach. So I turned to nature to regain my balance and rhythm. 

The elephants were spectacular. I just wanted to sit and watch them. One day, they went up in the hills and I was in the right place at the right time when the entire herd came back down. Their walk was mesmerizing. Each step was in sync, in rhythm. It was gratifying to watch how they moved together, and communicated and cared for each other. I felt the energy field they were creating in concert with the earth. I began breathing with their movements and felt a deep heart-to-heart connection with them.

When we visited the lion sanctuary, I felt their energy more in my diaphragm. Each time they roared, the energy reverberated through my whole chest. They’re so grounded in their bodies and in that powerful voice. There was even a fight between three males. A young lion named Felix wasn’t part of a pride. He had to find a new group or die. The workers at the sanctuary talked about how it was hard to not step in and save him, to let nature take its course. 

Nature always mirrors to me what my soul needs to work on. I was reminded that we have to surrender to the breath, to life, to the bigger mystery. In Africa, there was a sense of profound wisdom and I experienced a deep knowing that all of life started there, on that continent. The sense of open-heartedness there is palpable. 

I also felt wistful, knowing how these powerful wild animals have been endangered. It would be a sad existence to not hear the roar of the lion, the singing of the whales, to see the walk of the elephant. 

By the time I boarded the plane for home, I was pondering: 

How can we embody the open-heartedness of Africa and meet life without resistance? Can we come back to sharing this earth with compassion? Can we breathe together, as one? 

“Even the elephant carries but a small trunk on his journeys. The perfection of traveling is to travel without baggage.” –Henry David Thoreau