The End is Only the Beginning

This week I’ve been changing how I think about and teach breathwork. I think it’s natural that most humans would think of the inhale as the start of the breath cycle. In movement classes, we are told to take a deep breath in to initiate a movement. It’s also how we think about life beginning - a baby takes it’s first breath in outside the womb.

Try this breath practice with me. You can do this wherever you are right now. Start by observing your breath without altering it. Notice when each phase of the breath starts and ends. Take a few breaths doing this. Then concentrate on the exhale only, sighing out the breath with an “ahhhhh’” sound, and think of the exhalation as the beginning of the breath cycle. The exhale makes space inside the body for the inhale to occur. The inhale happens as a result of the elongated and emptying exhale. Maybe you feel a little more ease now in the inhale, a little more spaciousness.

As with our breath, so it is in life. Sometimes what feels like the end is only the beginning.

When things end we might feel sadness or regret or wish things could be different. We resist the ending. But all of the endings we have encountered have made space for new beginnings.