(Creating a Breathwork Practice)
My 5 Cynical Stages of Doing Something New
I understand if you’re skeptical. So was I. I still am about most things. I think it’s my East Coast cynical upbringing that’s embedded deep in my bones. Here are some of my personal (if somewhat embarrassing) stages of me trying something new:
- Someone tells me about this “OH. MY. GOD. AMAZE-ZING!!” (add any extra hyperbole here) experience they had doing something I’ve never heard of—see Breathwork—and that I would really benefit hugely from it.
- My initial mental reactions are as follows:
- Screw that! I already know how to breathe.
- Breathing is free, why would I pay someone to show me how to do something I already do?!
- I know there will be some annoying hippie types there who will stare wide eyed into my eyes for way too long…
- And then there’s going to be at least one stranger sharing way too much information about themselves…so
- I would much rather stay home and binge watch Netflix, thank you very much.
- I ask more questions, make up some questions, and make fun of things I should try. I keep cracking jokes about it until finally, I find an excuse or a reason why I can’t do it.
- A few days later, someone completely unrelated to the first person who told me about Breathwork tells me that they think I should try it, that I would really benefit from it. OH F#*K! At least this time I’m awake enough to realize that the universe or whatever you want to call it is trying to tell me something. And now I’m screwed because I know I have to try it now.
- So, I try it.
The simple fact is this: everything new that I try, whether I hate it or love it, changes me somehow. I grow. And the more uncomfortable it makes me at first … the more I grow from it. Like the saying goes, “There’s no growth in the comfort zone.”
If you related to any of this then A) you are my people …. and B) you’ll probably get as much out of Breathwork as I do.
If there was a drug that could take me from angry, resentful, sad, depressed, stressed and anxious to a state of love and gratitude for my life, I would have taken it. I would have taken a lot of it. The good news is that Breathwork will do that and it’s available whenever you want it.
I learned the hard way that life dishes out all kinds of pain to absolutely everyone and everybody, but it’s what you decide to do with the pain that determines the kind of person you are.
When people take a Breathwork class, one of the first things I hear from them (after the initial shock) is, “That was one of the most profound things I’ve ever experienced. When can I do this again?”
My answer is always the same, “Do it tomorrow.”
Will you have the same intense experience that you had in class or in a private session with someone guiding you? Who knows? It’s different every single time. I’ve had some epic sessions all by my lonesome.
It’s like working out. Hell, do that too.
If you take a Breathwork class, as well as a private, you are going to have faster, greater and more lasting results. Just do it. Try it every way you can, and don’t set limitations early on in your practice by thinking that you know what works best for you. You really have no idea until you try everything.
Creating a practice for yourself is one of the easiest and most rewarding things you will do with your life. It’s all payoff with no downside. The hardest part is committing to it.
Except here’s what makes it much easier than working out: you will feel massive results after one session.
Trust me, I’m not bullshitting you. Actually, don’t take my word for it. Prove me wrong. Try it and see for yourself.
