“How many breaths do you take in a day? Close your eyes and count your breaths for the next minute. If you do the math, you will discover that we take approximately twenty thousand breaths a day. And yet, how many of those breaths are we consciously aware of? This is exactly how we unlock mindfulness – by taking what is unconscious and shining the light of consciousness on it. By intentionally taking a diaphragmatic breath (aka belly breath), we turn on the body’s innate relaxation system and thermostat.
What is more, to notice the breath is to appreciate our own precious being and to contact the essence of our presence. With the breath, we peer behind the veil at how we come into this world needing and grasping for the breath of life. Holding onto the breath leads to suffocation. Living requires a constant letting go. This in itself is a powerful lesson in non-attachment. Each breath teaches us that holding on too long to anything creates pain and suffering. Letting go is nature’s way, and this is no small thing.”
Donald Altman, in “The Mindfulness Code”
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Jeff Maziarek, author of Spirituality Simplified and Codi’s Journey, launched Pondercentral.com in April 2007 as a Web-based forum for “PONDER on THIS,” a series of weekday inspirational email messages he began sending to subscribers in March 1999. A FREE service since its inception, “PONDER on THIS” provides subscribers with meaningful content to assist them on their individual paths of spiritual growth. In addition, it benefits subscribers, authors, and publishers by including links to Amazon.com where subscribers can learn more about the book being quoted, and also purchase it.
