Inspire with each inhale
What if, instead of breathing to catch our breath from the last thing we just said, we actually inhaled in preparation to inspire the words or sounds about to be expressed? Susan Lincoln’s idea to INSPIRE as the intention of an INHALE was truly a gift for me.
Susan (who prefers “Sus”) considers herself a transformational singer and healer. From a place of inspiration, she began a women’s spiritual song circle, The Hilde Girls, in Austin, TX and she travels the world bringing love, joy, healing, and connection through song.
I recently attended an evening workshop she offered in Mt. Shasta, CA. If you ever get a chance to work with her, regardless of your singing ability, I highly encourage you to do it! When she spoke of “IN-SPIRE” I was awestruck. I had never considered pausing to breathe as a way to prepare for the sacredness of the next breath, the next thought, the next gift I was offering others.
Try it for yourself. It may be easiest to begin with song, with inhaling deeply before you sing outloud. Each time you need to inhale again, do this from a place of INSPIRE (which, by the way, has its origins in “breath” and “spirit”). Feel the expression that you exhale change as it becomes what you offer the world. Now try this with speaking words outloud rather than singing. I am trying it now, even as I type, in between sentences or commas. It allows the words to find me, rather than me searching for them. INSPIRE (inhale in). EXPRESS (exhale out). Amazing.
Though Sus explained all of this much more eloquently, I wanted to capture it here and share it with you. As I recall more pieces of that magical evening, I will pass them along as well. Thank you, Sus, and thanks to Gentle Thunder for bringing such a blessing to Mt. Shasta!