One Way To Feel Safe in the Midst of Uncertainty
No question we live in a time of uncertainty, and that uncertainty often leads to anxiety. One sure indicator of anxiety is shallowness in our breath.
Before COVID, we were able to plan and predict things most of the time. That ability gave us a sense of overall safety, even if we didn’t feel fully safe inside ourselves.
As our external safety has been diminished by COVID and other developments, we now must look almost entirely within for our sense of safety and security. I’m not saying don’t lean on others. It’s essential that we connect and feel part of someone larger. But paying attention to our breath is one of the most reliable ways for us to find a solid and consistent sense of safety today.
When we feel anxious, we need to find out what feels right for us right now. We bring our attention not to what will be happening in a week or in a month. Instead, we ask, what’s happening with me right now? What do I need? To do this, we drop into our breath, to the very core of our existence, and we recognize, yes, this is really hard. And we ask ourselves, what do I need to do now?
Most of us were taught from early in our lives to disown our own internal instincts and trust external structures. When these external structures are weak or no longer there, we have to re-learn what is within us that we can rely on consistently, moment to moment. If a great deal seems uncertain, what do I have? The certainty of now. The certainty of my breath in every moment.
How do I pay attention to the breath? I can literally start sensing the breath with an open curiosity. How does it actually feel like to take a breath? How deep does the breath go? Am I breathing into my chest? Am I holding my breath? I can take notice of how tight my chest and my abdomen feel, perhaps restricting my breath.
I can try holding one hand on my chest and holding the other one on the belly. That gives me more of a sense of my whole body. It keeps me focused. It’s calming, and it helps me to breathe with greater ease. I can notice that I am breathing deeply when the hand on my belly moves up with the inhale and down within the exhale. I can notice how both my chest and my belly are moving and that can help me see where I’m holding or breathing shallow or deeply breathing.
Paying attention to how deeply we breath is important for our bodies too, making sure we get enough oxygen and then fully exhaling as well to get all the old air out. Then a full new inhale helps renew and replenish the body. It’s actually a matter of life and death to make sure our body is well nurtured with oxygen.
Yet, if we have established patterns of not being aware of our breath over the years, we have built conditions of vulnerability for certain hardships that come our way. Being aware of our breath can help us stay strong and get through hardships with more awareness and ease.
Awareness of our breath takes deliberate, curious attention, because breathing happens on an unconscious level. We’re not usually aware of our breath. Bringing awareness to it brings us back into the here and now where we actually hold the power to make changes for ourselves. Though we can’t control the past or the future, we can attend to our breath now, and that’s where our power is.