breathing again

Breathing is something we do with that reptilian part of our brain, a reflex action coerced by the need of our cells for oxygen for their many metabolic manipulations of materials we have ingested. Thank God we don't have to consciously command our lungs to inhale! Fill with fresh air, allow the hemoglobin to trap the oxygen and carry it away in the bloodstream! Then exhale! Blow out the carbon dioxide waste created by the cells, empty the lungs before the issuing of another command to inhale! How on earth would we have time for the many thoughts we think if we had to consciously take care of breathing and the beating of the heart and the working of the liver and kidneys and ... you get the picture.

Concentrating on the act of breathing is something I do to calm myself when I'm agitated, whether due to nervousness or anger or excitement or some other intense feeling. I usually close my eyes and allow only those words directly connected to respiration to visually enter my mind. Inhale. Hold it - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Exhale. I can even use that mantra to get to sleep on those occasions when my brain won't shut up and let me rest. If all other thoughts are banished and only those few are at the forefront, what else is there to do but sleep? N'est-ce pas?

But there is an antiquated meaning of respiration that has nothing to do with the physiological exchange of gases between the lungs and the atmosphere. "Relief from toil or suffering" is the phrase which best describes the obsolute definition; "taking a breather" is another and the one I think of when I need a break from life as I know it. Setting aside - completely - all work-related issues, all worries, all overbearing, nigh impossible loads so as to simply enjoy being alive in the present moment. That's why every so often I "run away" from home, most often to a sandy, salty shoreline to breathe, to arise from sleep unencumbered by the cares of the workday. Even if I am granted but a single morning away from the responsibilities of my life, that will suffice to make me feel calmer, more at peace with the world and all in it.

Breathe.