Happy Monday, My Friends!

After being ask about breath awareness, pranayama, meditation and why I embrace the thought of the body as a house, I thought I would share my independent study, “The Body As A House: Rebuilding Through Pranayama & Meditation”. I wrote “The Body As A House: Rebuilding Through Pranayama & Meditation” during the Yoga Dharma 300 hour RYT training program in 2022-2023. This is Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2.

“The Body As A House: Rebuilding Through Pranayama & Meditation”

Copyright 2023

The human body has always amazed me. Over the last decade or so, I have found myself completely fascinated with the intimate connection of the physical body’s foundation and how it directly connects to the heart, mind & spirit. This reminds me of a house and its foundation and structure. To have a quality life, a physical body needs a strong foundation just like a house. A house, just like a body, needs an owner who brings positive gifts to the heart, the mind and the spirit, which serve as the structure. Both houses need tender loving care, daily upkeep and sometimes full renovation. 

I have tapped into this connection through my own personal yoga practice and find myself wanting to dive deeper into my own personal house. With every practice I recognize that being healthy goes beyond the physical body. Truly being healthy, feeling good, and experiencing clarity is comprised of our physical and emotional well-being as well as how we choose to live our life and see our life both on and off the mat. 

In nursing school, we were taught how to compartmentalize the body in order to recognize, monitor, and treat the signs & symptoms of disease. The goal was to attenuate the present issues of the physical body just enough to allow a person to survive without considering lifestyle changes or the possibility of mental, emotional or spiritual sickness. Unless psychology was a chosen field of study, the physical body was always the primary focus. Looking back, I realize that an Integrative approach to seeing and caring for patients and self was never discussed or considered important. 

Years ago, I was an active mother and wife, and a rising singer/songwriter. While my life appeared to be picture perfect and my music career was flourishing, my health was less than perfect. I bounced from medical specialist to specialist and endured numerous tests in hopes of getting a clinical diagnosis. The ‘compartmentalizing’ RN within me believed that if I could just get a diagnosis I could take advantage of whatever magic bullet traditional medicine had to offer and life would return to normal. I could maintain my fast-paced lifestyle that included poor sleeping and eating habits and accepting hurtful criticism from myself and others. On the outside, other than my shrinking body, my life did appear to be perfect. However, I and those very close to me knew something was very wrong.

For almost a year I saw numerous specialists and had multiple tests ran, all while my physical body declined. I hung out in the bathroom regularly, I lost thirty-four pounds, my vision deteriorated, my muscular & neurological systems were not working together, my skin color had a gray hue and I was exhausted all the time. Behind closed doors, I was a mess. Every aspect of my being – heart, mind, body & spirit – was completely out of control. My house was falling apart. 

I finally just got tired of hearing, ‘we don’t know, but let’s run this test for answers’, and ‘if you’ll take this medicine we will see what happens and hope for the best’. I decided I would think outside of my traditional nursing box and do what I could do to regain control where I could. 

At the time, I was working as a singer/songwriter, where I used my breath all the time. Since I couldn’t control anything else, I worked to control my breath. I began noticing my breath in a very different way. I noticed how it sounded, how it felt, how my chest felt as I inhaled and exhaled. As I did this, something interesting happened. Looking back, I was using my breath as a focal point to help settle the physical pain and emotional fear I was living. Using this tool, I began realizing that my heart, mind and spirit were in just as much pain as my physical body. My foundation was cracked and my structure was sinking. 

At the time, I had no idea what I was doing other than I was connecting my mind to my breath. I would count as I inhaled and exhaled adding pauses in between. The counting helped me settle my overactive brain, which offered my mind something to focus on instead of the pain and fear I was experiencing. I had no idea I was opening a door to a yoga practice that would ultimately change my life forever.

As I continued to use this tool of connecting my mind to my breath, I began extending the exhales. I noticed the extended exhales lowered my pulse rate and also seemed to settle my overactive brain. Even though there was a lot of uncertainty regarding my health, I found more and more peace with the chaos. I began accepting help from my husband and son, investigating different modes of treatment, changing my eating and sleeping habits and getting to know myself. Looking back, this method pushed me to slow down to see and feel my true self. 

Fast forward to the here and now… I find myself more and more fascinated with the thought of how a person’s health and wellness goes so much deeper than the physical. That tool I began using so many years ago when I was at my darkest moment of life was actually a rough form of breath awareness, which took my busy mind to my breath. This practice has now turned into daily pranayama, which is the fourth limb of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. In his book, Light On Life, B.K.S. Iyengar stated that,“Breath is the vehicle of consciousness and so, by its slow measured observation and distribution, we learn to tug our attention away from external desires (asana) toward a judicious, intelligent awareness (prajna).¹ I was using my breath as the focal point instead of giving all of my focus to my declining health and fading musical hopes and dreams.

I’ll share Part 2 of my thoughts on “The Body As A House: Rebuilding Through Pranayama & Meditation” very soon. Until then, I would love to hear from you! Maybe you already consider your body as a house or maybe you’re new to the practice of pranayama and mediation? Maybe you are looking for ideas on how to begin? I’m a firm believer that we can never have too much knowledge and it is never too late to start, My Friend. I Believe In You!

Until next time, lean into the promise, There! Is! So! Much! Hope! and never miss a moment to Make! It! Count!

Much Love,

Cristina Lynn Zen