Full moon fear, anxiety and the abdominal breath

We have a full moon lunar eclipse approaching on Saturday, days before Samhain. We’ve been doing a lot of letting go this year but this is a big one and many of us can feel it in the air.

There is anxiety and a certain unsettled feeling, because life is about to change. Endings always bring new beginnings but endings are sometimes difficult to navigate. Eclipses have a habit of changing things for us you see, if we are not already aligned with our truth and where we are meant to be.

There are various tools that can help us navigate this time, as we are also in Vata season, air and ether, and this just enhances anxious feelings because of its floaty nature, and lack of earth and grounding. I’ll be writing more on this in my newsletters to those of you interested in our Beinspired offerings.

What I will say though, is that the breath is our best friend, especially at times like this, when we are feeling as little insecure and uncertain. The best breathing technique is also the simplest in many respects - always simple is best! This is abdominal breath and I highly recommend up to 30 abdominal breaths each morning and evening in bed - it really does make a difference!

Here’s how you might do it:

Please sit or lie comfortably.

Take a moment just to notice how you feel - body, mind, emotional state, mood, spirit.

Then place one hand on your abdomen, somewhere near your belly button is probably best;

Notice your breath, breathing in and out through the nose if you can, otherwise breath through your mouth;

Now take a deep and slow breath in, through the nose if you  can, using as much of the lower part of your abdomen as you possible. As you inhale, expand the abdomen up into your hand and as you exhale gently contract at the belly button so that the abdomen drops towards your spine. Really try and focus on the abdomen rising with each inhalation and falling with each exhalation. Try not to look at your abdomen, just feel it moving with each breath you take.

Continue this practice for a minute or so, focusing on taking a full breath in, all the way to fill, and then a full breath out, making sure that you are completely empty before you inhale again.

After a minute or so, stop and just notice how you feel.

Initially it may feel strange to connect with abdomen in this way but it is helping you to connect with your diaphragm. We can hold a lot of tension in the diaphragm as it is the meeting place between apana vayu (downward flowing energy) and prana vayu (upward flowing energy) so energy can get stuck here, especially if we don’t want to let go or find it difficult to find the words to express what we want to say.

Interestingly the voice comes from the abdomen and if we are struggling to process our life experiences, let alone our food stuff, then the words can get stuck in the throat - think of those moments when we experience a shock, we then find it difficult to speak, we are stunned to silence. We can also keep the energy too high, unable to let go and this shows up with constipation and bloating and excess flatulence too, like the thoughts bubble through our digestive system but we can’t actually release physically.

The relationship between our gut and our mind is very interesting. Not so good when it is all out of balance and we are stuck in fear and anxiety.

If you are stuck then please don’t lose hope, there is lots that can be done. Yoga is brilliant and if you are a lady then yoni yoga is especially effective but the Friday morning Tantra class of course is always focusing on freedom of mind, body and soul and especially into our middle, the meeting place of al our worlds.

There’s Ayurveda too, which is amazing at helping to restore good digestive health and helping us to process whatever needs to be heard/seen and expressed/released so that our digestion improves in the process. And of course Reiki helps us to get to the root, to release whatever we are holding onto that is causing the disturbance. Spiritual Life Coaching encompasses ALL of this. I am passionate about all these practices as they are ancient and have been tried and tested, they are not some new age attempt at healing or spiritual something or other, they are the REAL deal! You can sign up for any of these sessions through the website.

In terms of abdominal breath, it can take time to release, but this will really help to support your digestion and state of mind, and will improve your general wellbeing over time too. Gradually you will start to breathe like this all the time, but initially it can be challenging, so be gentle with yourself.

Enjoy the full moon and Samhain ahead!

Love Emma x