The Breath That Softens the Heart

 

I’m writing to you from the banks of the Ganga River in Rishikesh, India, sitting at the Little Buddha Café. I’m here teaching yoga on a women’s healing retreat, and our time together has already been so deep, so impactful, as we connect with Mother India and with one another.

Yet, even in the middle of such beauty and spiritual nourishment, life offers its tests. Just before writing this, I received a text and a phone call from someone back home that were filled with harshness. Their words stung more than they might have otherwise, because when I’m in India, my heart opens as wide as it can. Vulnerability is the price of openness—and it means that unkindness can cut deeply.

My first reaction? Anger, and a few choice expletives. Then tears. Interestingly, just before this exchange, our retreat group had been in circle together reflecting on resistance—the way the body and mind contract when something unwanted arises. The meanness I experienced triggered that contraction in me, stirring up the citta-vrittis—the agitations of the mind.

But this is one benefit of practice. With yoga and mindfulness, I have tools to recognize when I’m being pulled into negative states and to find my way back toward equanimity.

Remembering the Teachings

When I notice myself wishing life were different than it is, I remember the wisdom of my teachers:

• From Sharon Gannon: “Let go and let God.”

• From Ram Dass: “Do I want to be right, or do I want to be free?”

• From Ajahn Sumedho: “Right now, it’s like this.”

After cussing, crying, and complaining for a moment, I returned to those teachings. And I remembered to breathe. It didn't take long for the anger and hurt to dissolve, and I softened back into balance.

Breath as the Bridge

This month’s Jivamukti Yoga focus-of-the-month essay by Julie Kirkpatrick is on the power of breath to still the mind. She writes, “By changing the pattern of breathing we can influence neural activity in the brain and nervous system. When our minds have calmed by means of breath we can embody receptivity and access clarity.”

It’s true: the quality of our breath affects the quality of our mind. If we lose our breath, we lose our peace.

Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us that breath is the bridge between body and mind. When we make this unconscious act conscious, we arrive fully in the present moment, where clarity and receptivity are possible. Tara Brach echoes this wisdom: “We soften by saying yes, letting go of resistance, and allowing our experience to be just as it is.”

Breath, Spirit, and Inspiration

The word inspiration comes from the Latin inspirare—to breathe into. To inspire was originally understood as something divine: God breathing an idea, or a truth, into us. Likewise, the word spirit (from spiritus) means both “breath” and “soul.” My Guru Neem Karoli Baba (Maharaji) once said, “Hanuman is the breath of Ram.”  The breath, then, is the strength of God—and it grants us the power to overcome obstacles and to remember who we truly are.

When we choose to breathe with awareness, we invite that strength and wisdom in with each inhalation. We surrender with each exhalation. We let go and let God. Through breath, we learn to soften into the present moment, to lean into life rather than resist it, and to become receptive to the divine inspiration that is always present.

Breath returns us to clarity. Breath steadies the mind. Breath softens the heart.

What a divine blessing.

With love from India xo

Sharada Devi