Hello Everyone, Welcome to the September 2010 Breath and Breathing Report. First the news... I have been enjoying Cancun for over two weeks already. Working, playing, being with friends, floating in the warm ocean here, visiting the pyramids at Chichen Itza, and today, it was swimming with dolphins! Thank you so much to my friend and business partner Alex, for the chance to enjoy these delights, and for providing me with the most luxurious accommodations imaginable! September 23 to October 2, I will be in the Boston/Providence/Cape Cod area, visiting family and friends, and offering personal training and private sessions. Contact me on my cell: 508-345-7574, or email: . Sunday, October 3rd, I will be in New York City. Presenting a One Day Seminar: "The Breath as a Tool for Health, Growth and Change, in Spirit, Mind and Body." On October 4-5, I'll be available for individual sessions. Space and time are limitations, so contact Peace Arnold right away at: 917-579-1449 or October 6 to November 3, I will be in South Africa for the "Just Breathe" Tour. () We start with the "Celebrate Life Festival" in Cape Town (). And finish the month in Johannesburg. We'll also visit Durban and several other places. Tamara Penn--many of you already know her--will be traveling with me for the month (www.tamarapenn.com). And joining us for the Cape Town program will be Anne Guanciale--a natural born breathworker--that I hope many of you will come to know. You too are invited to take part in this adventure! It promises to be a month to remember. We will be doing workshops for parents and children with ADHD, for entrepreneurs, for healers and counselors, and for athletes and sport coaches. A National Breathwork Training Center is being established, and the first Practitioner/Coach/Facilitator Group is forming. Lluwellyn Diedericks is the organizer and contact person: or After South Africa, I be on the East Coast again: November 4 to 12. And it looks like we will hold another event in New York City before I make my way to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Diego. I will be driving back down the Baja to the farm sometime around November 22nd. And I'll be there until mid March. (Anyone want to drive with me?) You are welcome to take part in the ongoing Life Skills/Healing Arts Trainings at Baja Bio Sana. And you are invited to help with the seed planting, community building, and the construction projects. Or, you can just treat yourself to a fabulous Los Cabos resort vacation! Enjoy the Sierra Laguna Mountains, the nearby hot springs, kite surfing, whale watching, the outrageous clubs and five star restaurants in Cabo, or just sit in silent nature, feasting on pure fresh organically grown fruits and veggies from our gardens! Baja Bio Sana Invitation... If you would like to be a founding member of Baja Bio Sana, we still have 5 places open. Our plan is to complete the circle at 13. (If you would like information on the 8 founders to date, let me know.) You are invited to make this your eternal home, a place to come and rejuvenate forever. You can be part of the teaching and learning center, and be a voice in what is created here. There will never be one person in charge. We are all leaders. The big "I" or Intelligent Space or Source or Life Itself, holds all the solutions to all the world's problems; and those solutions become self-evident when we get our little "I" out of the way. Many people have asked me to give more details about what we are planning in Mexico, but until all 13 founders have come together, there is no detailed plan: only a general one. Of course there are many things that we know will be part of any plan, and we have been moving ahead with those things... water harvesting, permanent gardens, a variety of long term fruit trees, a seed bank, and many basic elements for a sustainable, harmonious, natural "eco-sheik" luxury living environment...! When we see who we all are, when we know what unique talents and vision all 13 founders bring, then we will evolve specific plans. None of the current founders wants to create something and then just invite people to join in. We are creating a space where those who feel drawn, and are meant to be part of this, can come together as co-creators. By the end of this month, the new website (www.bajabiosana.com & .org) will be online. Then we will begin to let the world know about our little piece of paradise. Until then, you can read the collection of progress reports posted on www.breathmastery.com. Click on the Mexico Community link. The CAT Master Trading Program Our group of Master Traders is growing. Some people are making it their primary source of income. Others are using the training for personal and spiritual development (with the bonus of unlimited financial benefits). The moment to moment awareness and zen-like focus that successful trading in the market requires, and the psychological and emotional growth that consistent success demands, can be applied to every area of life. If you would like to create more abundance and prosperity for your family, your community and yourself, you are invited to join us. Today, and in the coming times, wealth belongs in the hands of conscious loving people. We are making history in the trading world. Our goal is to re-pattern the money consciousness on the planet, and you are welcome to take part in this awesome mission! For more information, contact me directly, or go to: Breath and Breathing... This month, I'd like to remind you of some of the basic things involved in coaching yourself and others through a breathwork session. For example: awakening and increasing the flow of creative and healing life energy in the body. The ability to breathe in a way that results in more awareness and aliveness, and the ability to support others in this process is an important life skill. Breathworkers can recognize and improve inhibited, restricted, or dysfunctional breathing patterns, and they can guide themselves and others toward our full potential. All of our psycho-spiritual issues, including our relationship to life, ourselves, others and the world, are reflected in the way that we breathe. One of the main skills in breathwork is to recognize and produce what Leonard Orr calls a "complete energy cycle." We can think of this cycle as having three main phases: Activation, Processing, and Integration. And we can place that experience within two more things: Preparation and Completion. Another way of looking at a session is to use the analogy of a fire. First we clear and prepare a safe space. Then we carefully gather wood and pile it neatly. Then we need a spark to ignite the fire. Then flames are born and they grow bigger. The fire reaches a peak at some point. Then the flames begin to get smaller, becoming quieter, until we are enjoying a soft glowing bed of golden embers. If it was a good clean fire, then in the end, we are left with nothing but pure warm ash. As we sift through the ashes we may find some leftover chunks of coal... some unburned bits... And those pieces may give us ideas, a focus, direction and fuel for the next session. We can place those bits into our next fire, and so continue with our conscious evolution! In a breathwork session, we prepare a sacred time and space. Sometimes we surrender to and embrace the unknown: we simply trust the mystery of life, and take a leap into the process. At other times, we create a conscious intention. We focus the session on some issue or challenge, beginning the process with some goal or outcome in mind. This can be something we want to release or clear, strengthen or heal, or experience or embody. This heart-felt intention can be the spark required to begin a new life or a new direction in life. In applying the breath, sometimes we begin with a full slow rhythm, gradually allowing it to become faster and fuller until we are into the process. At other times, we go directly into a fast full activating breath. (When you go to the beach, do you hang around the edge and slowly make your way in, or do you run and dive in? A breathing session will always express or reflect your way of being.) In any case, as the energy begins to awaken, we adjust the breathing into a smooth connected rhythm, and we focus on deepening our relaxation, and increasing our awareness. We witness the breath, our body, our thoughts, our emotions, and we witness our reactions to these things. Is the whole breathing mechanism alive and active? Or are parts of the system shut down? Is the breathing full and free and relaxed? Is there tension or contractions in the jaw, neck, throat, or shoulders? Is the spine relaxed? And what is happening in the belly, pelvis, hips, legs, forehead, fingertips? We watch for the tendency to work, rush, push, force or struggle on the exhale. We adjust it accordingly, by relaxing more, slowing down, letting go, or being more gentle with ourselves. Is the inhale passive or shallow or lacking power or passion? We adjust it accordingly, either by speeding up the rhythm, adding a little bit to the end of the inhale, breathing more deeply, or with more enthusiasm. It often helps to place the hands on the chest and belly and breathe consciously into those places, feeling the hands lifted by the in-breath, and falling with the out-breath. It can sometimes help to apply a bit of weight or gentle pressure to these places, giving the breather something to breathe into or against. Is there a pause or a gap between the inhale and exhale? This is a key element. We want the inhale to turn around and become the exhale without the slightest pause or hesitation. Is there forcing at the top of the inhale? We may need to let go sooner. Is there an artificial ceiling on the inhale? We may need to pull the inhale thru that resistance. We want to eliminate any blocks or inhibitions in the breathing, because in releasing them, we automatically release blocks and inhibitions to the flow of our life force. Does the chest and belly release as the breath releases? We need to let our muscles and joints go as we let the breath go. We need to intuitively sense when we are breathing too quickly, and pull longer slower breaths. If the breaths are too long, slow, or drawn out, we need to move into a quicker rhythm. Breathing through the nose tends to activate subtle energies, making the session more gentle, but often activating the mind, thinking, images, etc. Nose breathing can open our upper energy centers. (It can also be a way to avoid powerful feelings.) Breathing through the mouth makes the session more physical, and often more emotional. This pattern tends to activate the body and open the lower energy centers. (It can also be a way of avoiding subtle energies.) Sometimes a session begins with nose breathing, then at some point, it naturally shifts to mouth breathing, and then toward the end, it returns to nose breathing. Breathing instructions can be verbal, or you can model the rhythm or pattern or quality that you sense is best in the moment. Be careful not to overdo this. Sometimes just sending a silent mental message is enough. Many times, a subtle adjustment at just the right moment means everything. But be careful not to micro-manage the session. Allow the breather to experiment and find their own intuitive rhythm. And allow the breath itself to express the perfect pattern. Every inhale and every exhale says something about our relationship to life and death. Pausing or holding between the inhale and exhale can mean fear of death, fear of letting go. Pushing or forcing the exhale can be an expression of the unconscious death urge, a fear of relaxing into life, or the desire to just "get it all over with." This breathing pattern may reflect a tendency to push away life and love. We need to remember to relax into life and the love that surrounds us. Holding on to the exhale can also be the fear of death, fear of loosing control, fear of strong emotions. We need to remember that all our feelings are safe, that it is safe to let go and surrender to life. A lazy shallow inhale may be due to thoughts and feelings of not-enough-ness, unwillingness, non-deserving, lack of passion or caring about life. We need to choose life. We need to remind ourselves of our creative and healing powers. Struggling on the inhale can reflect the fear that we can't make it in life unless we work and fight, or that there is not enough time, or that we are not enough. We need to remind ourselves that ease and abundance is our birthright. We need to remember our connection to Infinite Being. Holding on after the exhale (pausing at the bottom of the exhale) can be a sign of an unwillingness to live fully, a fear of stepping forward in life, self-doubt, or lack of purpose and passion. Through breathwork we can discover, accept, and release anything that is working against us or keeping us from expressing our highest potential. Every session is an adventure into self-knowledge and self-mastery. It is an opportunity to connect with our Higher Self, our Inner Knowing, our "Heart of Hearts." And so I invite you to continue to discover, explore, and develop the power and potential of breathwork. Thank you for all the words of loving support recently. Whenever it seems that we have lost someone or something, the space left behind is a natural opening to something higher, for something greater. And I can tell you that life always sends us angels to help at every step along the way! Life has proven to me that there is no such thing as loss. We live in a constantly expanding universe. Everything new thing is added to the last. And as we ascend in love, we are called to live and express that love in every way that we can. Thank you for sharing your insights and your lessons and your reminders on this path! May every breath be a prayer, and may every breath be a blessing! Love! Love! Love! Dan