Breath Meditation

This simple breath meditation can help you find peace about a problem in your life or a situation that is causing you stress.  It is from the book 'The Earth Path" by Starhawk.  Please make sure you have read Air:The Gift of our Ancestors before doing this meditation.  You could possibly find someone to read it out loud to you, or even make a recording of yourself reading it out loud.  If you can't do those, copy it down or print it out so you can read it to yourself slowly, taking time to breathe and close your eyes between certain segments.  Ideally you would want to do this meditation out in nature on a nice spring day, somewhere with a slight breeze, or in front of your Air Altar.  You can light your Air Element Candle or hold your Air Element Witches' Ladder if you want.


Breath Meditation
by Starhawk, from "The Earth Path"

"Read the story of "The Gift of the Ancestors" or have someone read it out loud as a guided meditation.  Now close your eyes for a moment and simply breathe.

Breathe in with gratitude to the ancestors and with appreciation for the great creative powers of life.

Breathe out with love, as a conscious gift back to the green world.

This air is the gift of the early ancestors.  What you breathe in, this moment, originated billions of years ago.  This air passed through the lungs of dinosaurs and mammoths and the earliest human beings.  Is there a great teacher or hero from the past that you admire?  You are breathing the same air that passed through her or his lungs, sharing inspiration.

Breathe in with gratitude; breathe out with love.

Is there a problem you're stuck on, an issue that seems hopeless?  A place where you've given up in despair?

Just breathe in, taking in the creative power of the ancestors, of life, asking that power to infuse you and help you transform your issue.

Breathe out, with love and commitment, acknowledging your grief and pain or hopelessness, not trying to change it but just making space within, to breathe in again, filling yourself with creativity and power.

Continue as long as it feels right.  Don't try to solve your problem instantly; just keep breathing into it and trust that you can shift the energies around it and open the space for inspiration to come."