Breath the Way You Want to Live

Rip Van Winkle  is a story of a man who was loved by his town but tormented by a nagging wife who was thoroughly displeased with his laziness-- lazy enough that his home & farm went to shambles. He went up to the mountains to get away from his wife on day, drank with men and fell asleep, only to wake up much older. His dog is gone, his wife is dead, and he doesn't recognize anyone in town. The world had changed.
 
We live the way we breathe.
 
When we surrender our breath to the stressors of life, which is what we do when we don't think about it (we engage in automatic or involuntary breathing vs. the practice of voluntary breath control, or pranayam), we become Rip Van Winkle. We wake up one day to find that so much time has past, and we don't know where it all went. Sound familiar? There are different levels. We might hardly recognize our surroundings. And we might hardly know ourselves.
 
Breathe the way you want to live: Full. Complete. With Intention. At times relaxed. At times with power.
 
Take classes in pranayam. Expand the Pranic Body.
 
I found a good description of Pranic Body here, where the author writes, "Eighth Body, The Pranic: Controls the breath and takes in prana, the life-force energy of the universe. When the Pranic Body is working, you are fearless and fully alive. Your pranic energy heals others. Challenge: Tendency to be fearful, exhibit defensive behavior when weak, or to feel sluggish and fatigued."
 
Don't be Rip.
Breathe consciously.