Breathing into Midlife
Herbert Nitsch is the free diving champion of the world (and at age 49 a certified Modern Elder) who managed to take a single giant breath and hold it for just under ten minutes as he dove down to 800 feet into the Aegean Sea. Brain cells begin to die at one minute of held breath. At three minutes most human would be dead. And yet many of us go through our daily lives unconsciously holding or restricting our breath.
One way of cultivating wisdom, health and longevity as we age is by becoming more aware and in tune with our breathing bodies. As we age our blood-oxygen concentrations decrease, time sharpens, and we are inevitably drawn to the big questions; Who am I? What happens when I die? What will be my legacy on this earth?
How would your life change if you took time every day to dive into that vast ocean of the self, with a little more awareness, and instead of hanging on to your breath, you simply let it go? After all, we really don’t want to hold our breath, so much as hold it sacred.
Albert Flynn DeSilver is a MEA alum who was in our first public cohort in early November 2018. He’s an American poet, memoirist, novelist, meditation teacher, speaker, and workshop leader.
