Exhale

I was blessed and honored on Sunday to speak at a women's retreat at the beautiful Getty gardens. It was such a beautiful experience to be able to speak to a diverse group of women. On the topic: EXHALE. When I was preparing for the engagement. I looked at what the word exhale means, and the impact that holding your breath can have on your body.

 I realized a lot of people are walking around holding their breath. They're holding their emotions, they're holding their fear, they're holding their pain, they're holding their worry, they're holding their tears. in my research, what I found was that physical breath-holding can be our auto-response to shock or stress, as well as something that happens when we're waiting for or anticipating events.

An author by the name of Max Strom said, “Some doors only open from the inside. Breath is a way of accessing that door. When we put our breath on hold, it's often because we're trying to avoid some aspect of what life is throwing at us. We use holding on to the breath as a sort of pause button. The problem is that nothing changes.” How powerful is that?

 No matter how long you hold your breath. It doesn't change anything. And when you think about that, when you hold your emotions, does that really change anything? When you hold your fear, does that really change anything? When you hold your worry, does that make the circumstance the situation any better?

This is why I'm a big advocate and proponent of the power of the pen I believe that pain, stress, worry, and fear can be released through the strokes or the typing on a keyboard. Writing can be a gateway and a door. We all need a space in a place where we are not judged. And the paper does not judge it doesn't do that. Practicing journaling and expressing your thoughts can be a powerful form of release and a beautiful way to Exhale.

Click the image to hear my full thoughts on the Tear Talk Podcast.