How are you doing? Do you remember the format of this practice? 15 minutes of breathing, twice a day, and 8 glasses of water a day.
Remember the Hug your Heart breath? Alternate nostril breathing? Reverse it breath? Good, glad you remember. Keep reading.
And do you remember, when all this started in December, someone said she was going to begin her breathing and water drinking practice on the winter solstice? Well, here we are at the spring equinox. Half way. Congratulations.
Here’re some comments from you:
I’m much less cranky and my joints are way less stiff since I’ve been drinking 8 glasses of water a day.
I feel more positive about life than I have in a very long time.
I keep falling off the Breath and Water wagon, but I keep getting back on. Even with my sporadic practice I can see the difference in my life, especially at work.
I too keep “falling off the wagon.” And every time I renew my practice I marvel anew at how good it feels. That why it’s called practice.
The more we do it, the better we get. You start from where you are, you practice, and you get better.
And here’s a question:
Why do we have to drink 8 glasses of water a day? Isn’t that an arbitrary number? Why not just drink according to our thirst? Not all cultures in the world have access to so much water. Besides, I have to pee too much when I drink so much.
8 glasses is a suggestion. Many of us suffer from chronic dehydration, however mild or severe. When we are dehydrated our thirst function is out of order. People tell me all the time that they were never thirsty until they started drinking water. It is fairly common to pee a lot at first, but often your body adjusts to being well-hydrated and you find yourself visiting the bathroom a bit less frequently.
Having said that, please always do what feels the most healing for you.
Here’s something I’ve noticed:
When I breathe with my awareness on my breath, without my mind wandering, I realize that I have a small smile on my face. It works the other way, too. When I can’t seem to get my mind to settle down, I put a small smile on my face. Presto, I’m present with my breath. Present with my breath and infused with gratitude. So nice.
Don’t forget to keep in touch and let me know how you’re doing. I sometimes wonder if a fall in the number of you who write to me is related to the number of you who have fallen off the wagon. Get back on!
We’ve been at this for three months and we’ve got three months to go. Breathe, drink water, enjoy!
Happy Equinox. The days are longer than the nights! Hooray!