Growing up in Scotland, I often wore three sweaters at the same time to keep warm in the summer (no joke!) so when I moved to Miami, Florida in my 20’s I was pretty sure life could not get any better! Aside from the warm weather, I loved my job and I threw myself into Miami’s social scene—by all appearances my life was really good!
So why was I feeling a sense of emptiness, a flatness, a feeling that there must be something more to life?
Was I missing something?
Like an iceberg floating in the sea, I was only aware of what was visible to me from the surface, in this case, my physical outer reality.
By chance, I attended a weekend seminar and one of the processes was a breathing meditation. That experience was truly life changing. During the session, my breath led me to my inner universe. I was feeling and seeing for the first time what I had missed before, the submerged part of the iceberg! The empty feeling vanished. What I found instead was a new sense of wholeness, peace and utter contentment.
It was only then that I realized that something had been missing; that what I had been doing by living it up in Miami (namely partying, shopping and comfort eating) was attempting to get rid of my empty feeling. I did succeed with those activities in the moment but soon after I would be left with that empty feeling again. In truth, our inner universe is always there, like the underbelly of the iceberg; it's just a question of whether we’re in tune with it.
As I discovered that fateful weekend, the breath has the magical ability to lead the way to your inner universe, where peace, tranquility and a sense of “place” await. Breathwork is now both my passion and purpose. Each week I share this experience with others by facilitating weekly Virtual Breathwork Circles.
After each VBC, I invite participants to share a word that describes how they felt during the breathwork or immediately following the session. Here is a sample of what they shared recently:
Peace | Grounded | Awake | Replenished | Calm | Quiet
I can see the smile on the faces of those of you who come regularly to the VBC’s, because these may be your words. And sometimes there are no words, and yet I know you know the “filled up” feeling.
Whether it’s your first VBC or your 40th, all are welcome to experience breathwork meditation first hand by joining a virtual breathwork circle.