Beginnings

What is a beginning to you?

A new day

A sunrise

The birth of a baby

A new year

Starting a new job or new relationship.

And how does that make you feel?

Anxious

Excited

Nervous

Afraid.

So many things can be beginning and the very idea of “beginning” can trigger so many different reactions in each of us.

I remember as a child how overwhelming September felt.

The beginning of a new term, starting the next school year, feeling more grown up.

A fresh uniform or some sparkling stationery.

The excitement, anticipation, and potential anxiety of what lies ahead.

Beginnings can often become marked as the turn of the year, maybe a birthday or significant event or even simply the start of a new week.

In reality, every moment is a beginning.

Every tick of a clock a new sound.

Every movement in the body a start of a chain of events

And every single breath the beginning of bringing fresh oxygen into the cells to keep us alive.

It is society, our Gregorian calendar and often our own ego mind that persuade us that a beginning occurs only at certain stages and often only when extra significance can be added to it.

This in turn can fuel the anxiety or excitement building up to the beginning.

So how would it be to feel a new beginning as it actually is without all the added extras?

Let’s try.

Take a great big belly inhale….. go on….. there you have another beginning.

Perhaps you find yourself right now on the cusp of a new beginning.

Maybe it’s a new project, tackling the life admin, or the kids going back to school.

Take a deep belly breath – feel into the sensations of the breath entering the nostrils, the belly and chest expanding and then fully release the exhale ready for your next (beginning) inhale.

As we practice this mindful technique with full awareness, the body, breath and brain become naturally aligned.

In turn the ease, peace, and clarity this produces allows us to bring attention to the tasks we most need to complete without the stress and anxiety that can also be loaded onto the expectation of beginning anew.

Take as many deep belly breaths with full awareness as you need and allow that resulting ease to encourage you into your task.

Tomorrow isn’t the only beginning.

It is now.

And now

And now.

We are always beginning, so seize your moment.

September this year also brings a refreshed website, a new class timetable and the beginning of a bigger community.

So come and join us, we’d love to meet you.