Breathing with the Universe

Lately, while practicing Joshin Kokyū Hō, a Japanese breathing meditation, with a group of friends, something became increasingly clear to me.

As we breathed deeply into the hara, allowing the breath to move through the body and out into our whole being, we began to experience our breathing not as something separate or isolated, but as part of a much larger rhythm. We were breathing as human beings, together with our families, our communities, the natural world, and everything around us.

There was a simple but profound sense of belonging in that experience. We were not practicing apart from life. We were practicing within it.

From that space, we recited the Reiki Precepts one by one, taking a few deep breaths after each. Rather than rushing through the words, we allowed them to settle into the body. We breathed, released tension, softened our effort, and returned again to the present moment.

We then moved into hands-on practice, placing our hands on our bodies and allowing ourselves to listen.

There was nothing particularly complicated happening. And yet, something became very clear:

Self-practice and practice with others are not separate practices.

When we practice with ourselves, we are cultivating the qualities with which we meet everything else.

The steadiness we develop, the quality of our attention, our sensitivity, our ability to remain present, and our capacity to meet experience without immediately reacting—all of these become part of how we relate to another person and to the world around us.

This was particularly meaningful because one of my friends had been feeling deeply anxious and powerless about the state of the world. We cannot resolve everything that happens in the world from our meditation cushion. But through practice, we can begin to recognize that we are not entirely separate from what is happening around us.

Our thoughts, choices, words, and actions have consequences. So does the quality of presence we bring into our relationships.

We may understand this intellectually, but practice allows us to encounter it differently. We can feel our interconnectedness through the body, through the breath, through attention.

This brought another question to the surface:

What do we actually mean by “self” in self-practice?

Perhaps self-practice is not about becoming more concerned with ourselves. Perhaps it is about becoming more familiar with ourselves—our patterns, our reactions, our habits of mind, our capacity for attention, and our ability to remain present.

Through that process, we gradually become less identified with every thought, emotion, or reaction that arises. We develop space. We become more grounded. We become better able to listen.

This is where I see Reiki practice as cultivation.

We practice not simply to feel better in the moment, but to develop ourselves. We cultivate a quality of presence that can gradually become part of how we live.

As we become more centered, clear, and stable, we may also become more capable of recognizing what a situation is asking of us. Sometimes that means resting. Sometimes it means listening. Sometimes it means setting a boundary. Sometimes it means offering support. And sometimes it means taking action.

Practice does not tell us what to do. It can, however, help us meet the moment with greater clarity and less reactivity.

This is why I no longer see self-practice as something separate from practice with others.

The practitioner and the practice cannot really be separated.

The way we cultivate ourselves becomes part of the way we meet others.

When we sit on our cushion, we are not withdrawing from the world. We are learning how to be present within it.

And perhaps this is one of the deepest meanings of an inner sanctuary: not a place where we escape from life, but a place where we learn to return to ourselves so that we can meet life more fully.

We begin with the breath.

We discover that we are not breathing alone.

We are breathing with the universe.

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A Short Joshin Kokyū Hō Practice

Sit comfortably.

Bring your awareness to your breath and your hara, just below the navel.

As you breathe in, feel yourself receiving from the universe.

As you breathe out, feel yourself breathing into and with the universe.

With each breath, notice that you are not separate—you are part of this living exchange.

Breathe in. Be with the universe.

Breathe out. Be the universe.

For any questions about Reiki practice, classes, and upcoming events, please contact Veronique Frede at moonstonesanctuary@gmail.com or visit our website at www.moonstonesanctuary.com