A True Story: An Abundant Breath
This is a true story of a very sweet soul from the Netherlands by the name of Corina De Jongh Crientjuh that came across my path.
The story starts when Corina was 13 years old and spent one month in the hospital due to consistent headaches. She was an active child with sports activities as a regular part of her repertoire so it was left that she simply “did” too much. Since there were no findings, she simply slowed down a bit and went on with her life.
As the years passed, she became a mother raising her daughter independently, got her nursing & social work degrees while working to administer care for people of all types.
Oddly enough, people with emphysema were high on her list and this was no coincidence.
By age 37, Corina noticed how people seemed to walk faster than her and how tired she was most of the time. She scheduled and appointment with a pulmonologist and discovered she only had 45% lung capacity. She was diagnosed with a very rare disease called “Vikings Disease” which leads to emphysema. ( More about it at https://www.alpha1.org/Newly-Diagnosed/More-Alpha-1-Resources)
By age 40, she had to stop working and began researching on the internet for possible solutions. Her health was on a fast track downward spiral.
By age 48 she was in a wheelchair and couldn’t walk much of any distance nor carry her oxygen container but she was relentless in her pursuit of another pathway to EMBRACE.
She started her personal exploration through food as medicine, attending workshops online with David Wolf, Brian Clement (Hippocrates Health Institute) and many others.
Her lung capacity fell to 22% by 2013 and was finally placed on the list for a lung transplant. In December 2014 she felt a sensation like a knife going through her lung and she stated out loud to her mother, ” I have a collapsed lung. I just know it. I need a transplant or else I will die.”
During this time she had 24 hrs./day home care with 20 nurses assisting her on a variety of shifts. Nevertheless, Corina stayed the course with meditation and mindfulness practices until August 2015 when she finally received a lung transplant. The recovery would take 2 years of physical therapy, yoga, swimming, exercising on the treadmill which she did without fail 6 days a week. Now, she was able to breathe more deeply which gave her the strength and physical capacity to walk and move about.
It was/is more than physical though. It was/is a mental, emotional and spiritual transformation. It was and is a gradual process of finding her internal inspiration, becoming INTIMATE with its character, fostering its growth, deepening its roots and unleashing its essence into the world.
In 2017 she found Transformational Breath® and things really started to change even more. It was a new lease on life.
She found it interesting that the Transformational Breath® Trainers were focusing on the INHALE which is both metaphoric for our abundant nature plus a literal emphasis on oxygen INTAKE.
This focus is designed to accentuate our focus on opening ourselves to RECEIVING and experiencing our worthiness. This was in stark contrast to earlier guidance from emphysema protocols which focus on the exhale. She reflected on this deeply and felt there were layers of insight and revelations wanting to be discovered.
One thing Corina noted was that everything that happened was required to happen for her soul’s growth or else it would not have happened.
This is a Universal truth that applies to all of us!
This story will be conveyed to you experientially if you choose to do the mindfulness exercise outlined at the end.
What kept her going?
What inspired her to persevere?
This is a gradual process for most of us but well worth the journey. If you suffer from some physical, emotional, mental or spiritual imbalance, keep the faith and BREATHE OUT LOUD.
My friend is 54 years young and now facilitates Transformational Breath® work all around the world. At the time of this interview, she was in the Dominican Republic swimming with the whales twice a day for seven days.
She has such a renewed lease on life. Fear is no longer a deterrent in her exploration of what is possible.
It’s not that she does not feel fear. It’s just that she has the visceral understanding that she is NOT the FEAR!
Many of us identify with our emotions as if it is who we are. It’s not who we are. Not by a long shot!
Emotions and their accompanying sensations are simply “energies wanting to move through us” AND to the degree we allow this to occur, we step into the flow of life rather than creating obstructions.
We think that if we FEEL a particularly undesirable emotion for any period of time then we ARE that EMOTION which can challenge our self-image or false identity. We say things like “I am depressed or I am angry” and that means XYZ. A more accurate statement is, I feel a slowing down of my energy or I feel a crunchiness or a tork in my body.
The truth is that the emotional experience is moving, variable and worth being in a stance of simply noticing it. Recognizing this and observing ourselves “in vivo” causes the fortress to soften and melt effortlessly while the heart blooms like a fresh spring rose.
So………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
My friend travels the world and goes with the flow. She Minds the Wind. She no longer worries about her health or finances and allows the cadence of her breath to remind her of the presence of her innate abundance. It lifts her to new dimensions and opens doors to limitless possibilities. She soars with the winds.
When I asked her what she could show me so that I could have a deep understanding of her experience and the contrast of what it was like and how it is for her now, she replied, “I invite you to do the following exercise.”
MINDFULNESS PRACTICE
You will need 2 things: 1 straw and to be outside in nature on a warm or temperate sunny day.
- Get a straw. Pinch off your nostrils so you cannot breath through them. Place the straw inside your mouth and close your lips. Set a timer and breathe through the straw for 3 minutes. Experience the deprivation of oxygen and the amount of life force that is able to enter your body. After 1 minute, stand up and walk around with the straw in your mouth. Do not breathe through your nose. Note how your body feels. Imagine living like that for years.
2. Now, stand up outside in nature on a sunny day! Spread your arms out stretched, open your heart by taking a big inhalation feeling the expansion of your chest. Notice what you feel when you can enjoy as much oxygen as you desire. Smell the flowers, hear the birds. Feel the contrast of the former contraction and the present expansion.
Questions to ponder:
Compare and contrast.
a. How did your body feel in exercise 1 vs. 2?
-Constricting, limiting?
-Expanding, freeing?
Our breath is the vehicle by which we take in the abundance of oxygen and move stagnant energies within our body temple but we often disregard oxygen as one of our superpowers for the flow abundance so reflect on the following questions:
b. What is your definition of ABUNDANCE? ( Think way outside the box)
c. In what ways do you limit the abundance that is your birthright AND accessible in, through and around you?
d. What new ways might you define abundance for yourself and the world?
e. What inspires you to keep on going in times of challenge?
f. Name some ways in which abundance nourishes your body, mind and spirit?
g. What will be required to happen for you to honor that you are a vessel designed to receive abundance in every way, shape and form? Are you willing to embrace this newfound reality?
2015-2019 © Darryn Silver all rights reserved