Dooley Noted: 7/3/2014
After class yesterday, I quickly sent an important email and replied to an urgent text, moving from one thing to the next.
I felt myself stand, smile, and sigh the great sigh.
My professor noticed, and asked, “Kathy, are you okay?”
Dooley: “Yes ma’am, I’ve never been so great.”
So, what’s in a sigh?
Chinese medicine demarcates sighing as a sign of stagnation, namely in the liver highway system. Sighing is an attempt to keep things moving.
I also think of sighing as a beautiful release, coupled with a prolonged exhale. Oxygen is delivered to cells on the exhale, so with every sigh comes a nice dose of oxygen delivery.
I love the life I’ve built. It has stress, sure. Who doesn’t? Stress is how we adapt and change. But the things you feel are really up to you.
If you feel the stress you are enduring, meditative and breathing practices may turn around your perception of your stress.
Many people with my stress level might end up ripping their hair out. A common question I receive regarding stress and task management is, “How do you do it?”
I’m no different than anyone that asks me that question. We are more than 99% the same, sometimes leaving ourselves caught up in the less than 1% that makes us different.
So, I assess the stress. With every prolonged exhale, I breathe away what I don’t need to keep. I picture my cells perfusing with oxygen as stressors leave my body with the exhale.
The times I let stress get to me, I guarantee I didn’t go to the breathwork first.
It’s a beautiful thing, taking back the power to feel exactly how you want, all with some work.
Sigh. Exhale. Inhale for 4. Exhale for 8. Start there. Prolong it. Do good work. The sigh can be a great way to get things moving in the right direction.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley