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Breathing with the awareness that we are connected to all
living beings including the Earth is a fundamental practice in many spiritual
traditions. For me, such awareness is an opportunity to connect with the soul
of the world (Anima Mundi) on a deeper level. In one of the spiritual practices
that I follow, I bring awareness to the space between the in-breath and the out-breath.
Noticing and infusing this space with feelings of love and gratitude for life is
how I can magnetize my inhalation and exhalation with an appreciation for the
sacred nature of life. This practice can also impact the state of my autonomic
nervous system (ANS). It provides a shift toward my parasympathetic system and
invites a sense of serenity to my body and mind.
The ANS is the part of the nervous system that governs the
fight, flight, or freeze instinct and is responsible for many unconscious
bodily functions such as breathing, digesting food, and regulating the heart
rate. It also plays an important role in supplying information from our organs
to our brain. In addition, the ANS plays an enormous role in helping us
experience safety. Once regulated, our ANS can help our body settle and make it
easier to bring awareness to our breathing for meditative and healing purposes.
There is magic in the breath that flows from a person with a regulated nervous
system. When infused with love, it can offer the healing atmosphere needed to
relate to the planet from a caring place.
Everyone has a nervous system. Embracing the oneness of
our humanity can include awareness of our collective nervous system, and the need to regulate it. There are
many breathing practices that can help regulate the ANS. Breathing from a
regulated ANS can add harmony to the collective nervous system. It can also
create the inner peace needed to breathe with the intention of loving the
Earth.
When I breathe in the context of loving and connecting to my body
and the Earth, I can create a relational field between my body and the planet. In
this relational field, I can love the Earth. As Thich Nhat Hanh reminded
us, we need to fall in love with the Earth. This love affair can happen through
contextual breathing that involves mixing breath with love and offering it to
the planet. During this practice the body can become a sacred vessel in the
service of creation, a home to mystical experiences, and a container for love.
The Earth is a living being with a soul and in need of love.
Our survival on the planet depends on how we treat the Earth and all its
inhabitants. Those of us who hear the cry of the Earth cannot ignore the pain
that has been inflicted on her by greed driven consumerism. As the
ecosystem is being destroyed by greed and economic expansion, everyone has a
responsibility to respond to the lament of the Earth. As the oceans get more
polluted and the rainforests more devastated, we need to ask ourselves, “What
are we doing for the Earth?”
One way to help the planet is by loving it and relating to it
as a living being with a soul. As I described earlier, this relationship can
happen through our body, in particular the awareness of our breath. Not
everyone finds meditative breathing helpful, and such practice should never be
imposed on anyone. Those who can engage in slow and mindful breathing with the
intention of caring for the world and inviting calmness to their nervous system
can expand their meditative process beyond solely focusing on personal growth.
To turn the body into a container of love and a vessel in
service to the Earth, one needs to claim the body first. Just like a garden
that needs preparation and elimination of weeds before planting, the body needs
preparation for deepening one’s relationship to life. This work needs to
involve healing from one’s unresolved traumas. According to Peter Levine who
developed the Somatic Experiencing® approach to healing trauma, “trauma is a
fact of life,” and it can become embodied during a person's life. Since our ANS
is shaped by our life experiences, having a history of unresolved trauma, or
dealing with a current overwhelming situation can negatively influence our
ANS’s ability to help us feel safe and cause it to dysregulate. Therefore,
much of the healing from trauma needs to happen through the body. In
particular, the nervous system needs to be regulated. For some, a traumatized
body is less available for the type of breath work that has the potential to facilitate
a kindhearted connection to the Earth. The sense of bliss that one can
experience in relating to life from a place of gratitude is difficult to access
in a body frozen by trauma.
After all these times that the Earth has been sustaining and
holding us so generously, the least any one of us can do is to breathe with remembrance
of the sacred nature of the Earth. Such breath carries a fragrance of love for
the Earth and invites a sense of aliveness to the body. Also, such breath is
needed to journey within and practice meditation with the soul of the planet in
our hearts. Keeping the planet in our hearts during meditation can trigger
healing energy that is needed to love the Earth back to health.
© Payam
Ghassemlou SEP, MFT, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist (marriage and family
therapist) in private practice in West Hollywood, California. www.DrPayam.com
