By Wendy Richmond
Guided meditation typically begins by paying attention to the breath. It can be straightforward (“Count one as you inhale, two as you exhale”) or evocative (“Breathe up from the earth, breathe out to the sky”). Either way, the goal is to focus on a single action, an automatic bodily function that we usually ignore. As soon as we rise from the meditation cushion, we don’t give breathing a second thought.
At least that’s how it used to be. As I write to you now, seven months have passed since this country began its battle with COVID-19. I have thought more about breath in these months than in all my years combined. The seemingly simple subject of breath has become loaded.