Black Breaths Matter
Right know everything black matters right? Smack the word black in front of any noun and I’m all ears/eyes. However as I started my mindfulness practice I was concerned about focusing on breaths and hashtagging “Black Breaths Matter” .I didn’t want to misappropriate the movement “Black Lives Matter” . We the black community, we the world are well aware of several black men saying “I cant BREATHE” as their last words while being killed the police. So I not only wanted to be careful but respectful.
The act of breathing has been both a point of joy (when babies take their first breaths) and fear when you struggle with breathing issues. Starting with my asthma diagnoses to to my current roots in meditation I have learned to trust my breaths, to listen to them and to relish in them. Black Breaths Matter. My Breath Matters.
Asthma
In the 80’s I grew up in the south Bronx where the rates of asthma were astronomically high. The air quality wasn’t not so great and the hospitals struggled to service the needs of black people. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I was able to make the correlation between “25 cent juicees” and the onset of asthma attacks. Imagine every time you go to a BBQ you start to struggle and people believe it is due to excitement. So you are told…don’t get too excited. Don’t run. Don’t too much so you don’t get sick. At the height of the milk craze I was banned from it because it builds mucus. I slept with my inhaler under my pillow at night because I didn’t trust that I would make it to my inhaler if it was across the room. The message, you can not trust your lungs. You can not trust your breaths.
Meditation
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Feel your breaths flowing your through your body. Huh? Breathing in deep is ok for me? I was just as shocked when I started yoga in college (as an elective lol) and I was told that when you exhale you can push your body further in to a pose. Here I am an asthmatic using my breaths for good. Using my breaths for healing. How freaking powerful is it to know that the thing that comes natural to us can take care of us so beautifully. Learning that everything you need is already inside of you has been nothing short of overwhelming.
What I have been avoiding focusing on is the one thing that now guides me but in a good way. Now don’t get me wrong there are still times when I am struggling with asthma/allergies and cant breathe in as deep as I would like and I share that with who ever I am meditating with. Thankfully mindfulness is about kindness and intention and not perfection. I now trust my breaths and hopefully you can learn to trust yours. Our breaths matter. Black breaths matter.