By: Hettie Basil Lighttower
This past week I got to spend extra time with my whipper-snapper granddaughter of five years of age. She came with jokes! Now she has always had a sense of humor even at the age of two! I have always loved her sprite nature and funny bone. So, I know you are now wondering, how do I know she had a sense of humor at two. Let me explain.
I was putting her socks and shoes on her as she was sitting beside me with one leg at a time draped over my thigh to do the task. I got the first foot done with both sock and shoe, then asked her to hand me the other sock as I know she was holding it. As I requested said sock, I glanced aside to her and she had put the sock on her left hand as she is right-handed and said loud and proud, “It’s a glove!” I laughed and said, “give me that sock!” She laughed and laughed and repeated, “It’s a glove!” I corrected myself, “Ok, gimme that glove! I’m gonna put it on your foot!” She is such a joy.
Now this week fast forward, she without warning asks me, “what is your name?” I reply, “Grandma” and questioning what is she up to with a little squint of my eye. “Ok, now what is this?”, she said pointing to her nose. “Nose”, I said with much inquisition both eyes squinting. “And what is between my hands?” she said while holding her arms outward her hands facing each other but with some distance between them about shoulder flush. Now, I was sweating. Haha, this question is a little tougher than the first two. I said, “Air!” quite proudly. I was gonna prove to be smarter than a five-year-old. Most certainly! She gently moved towards me and cupped her hand to her mouth and to my ear and said, “Say ‘nothing’”. “OK…… nothing!” I muttered. Then she repeated all the answers in sequence and came up with the sentence face gleaming as I was now in her verbal trap, “Grandma nose nothing!”. Of course, to be translated “Grandma knows nothing”.
What a cute little joke. And then she got a few others in the vicinity with the same fun. Reflecting back on my first answer of “air” I am reminded about how important air and breathing are.
I have more than one friend that does breath work classes and facilitation. Focusing on your breath has come up many times in my life. One when I had swimming lessons and I learned how to hold my breath and blow bubbles under water for as long as I could. Another time was when I was about to have a piano recital and I was scared to death that the folks in the audience may hear every mistake my trembling hands would make. My patient piano teacher Mrs. Wellings assured me to take a few deep breaths and relax before I start to play. And with our backs to the audience it was like our own secret hiding place there in front of the keyboard and we both took breaths together until I was ready.
I think of other times, again pertaining to music when in middle school and more so into high school. In order to be a good singer there were certain breathing techniques to do in order to have enough breath for a certain stretch of song. It was then I learned about the diaphragm and engaging it to keep a big full belly of air reserve to last the whole note at the end.
Moving on to college, I took a Psychology class and we learned about meditation and a bit of paying attention to the breath going in and out of your lungs. And if you could focus on that, then it can be your focal point and the next thing you know, you are not clouded any more with your thoughts and distractions in your head and you can meditate easier.
Then during other stressful situations either friends or family would offer assistance by telling me to just take a deep breath. Just breathe. Don’t stress out. Take a breath. Then do the thing or have the conversation or deal with the matter. I remember having to do this on my wedding day and feeling faint that I was actually getting married. Breathing slowing and deliberately definitely has a calming effect.
Then by the time I was expecting my first child I learned about the opportunity to have a Lamaze style childbirth. This is where if you can control your stress and trauma through breathing properly and intentionally during the process, you don’t have to have pain medications and an epidural to numb your spinal cord(which is always risky). This is supposed to be healthier for the new born, especially before it is born. Chemical free is always the better option. My husband and I attended the Lamaze classed together and both of us learned about deep breathing and how frequent to breathe and how to focus on the breath instead of the situation. Of course, this was great for him a first time father to use to counteract the high stress situation of having no control over what’s happening.
Breathing is essential for everyday life but breathing with intent and focus is a whole other secret weapon in this world we live in. I have mentioned several quick examples of how I have used it in my life. I will talk more about this next week as I am just getting to the nitty-gritty good stuff. So, hold out your hands to face each other and ask, “what is this?” Air? Nothing? Superpower? Space? Think about your relationship to what is there between your hands and let’s talk more next week.
What are your thoughts about all this? Send in your notions and comments to [email protected]. Kindness is contagious~*