When we speak of breathability we often are referring to fabric. Does the fabric breathe? Does the air circulate and permeate it, like with cotton? But what about ourselves, our breathability? Breathability is a feeling or the contrast from being wound up or tense, to the change in our bodies of relaxing, our chest opens and we can feel our full breath moving. Breathability. Ahhhhhhh.

Sometimes feeling that shift to body openness can catch us by surprise. Maybe we didn’t know we were holding our breath or not fully relaxed. Like at bedtime, that little letting go as we lie there. Our days can be crazy. We are tensing up and holding on just to get through the day, working through our to-do lists. Even if our to-do list is full of things we want to do, we still might tense up, as a way to power through things.

A shift to breathability might come upon us unexpectedly. Maybe as we are awed by nature , or enter a room with our dearest person inside, or just feel the busyness of the day has stopped and now there is time to sit for a moment. Breathability can be a physical and emotional shift. It seems the whole chest cavity fills up at the same time as it relaxes all the muscles around it. Often we aren’t aware of how much we are holding in; in our muscles, in our hearts, in our minds…well, until we are not holding anymore.

The feeling of breathability can be spontaneous and can take us unawares. The gift can be once we are aware, we might choose to slow down in the run of a day, and take a few deep breaths in an effort to capture a longer moment of breathability.