Ujjayi Breath Saved Our Lives
by Deb Goeschel
by Deb Goeschel
We went backpacking in a wilderness area in NH’s White Mountains. We hiked in, set up our camp on Friday, and Sat were doing a “dayhike”. It was raining all day and our trail had us crossing the Dry River multiple times, with the first crossing being the most difficult. Well, Jen and I got stuck on the return--we couldn’t cross the river the last time. It had gotten so swollen and angry that we were risking serious injury and possible death if we fell in. (We tried, but quickly came to that conclusion.) So, we thought we’d try for shelter at the closest hut--we didn’t make it. We lost the trail and ended up needing to “hunker down” in a pine grove.
We were wet, and cold and the temp was going down
into the 40’s. We used every single item we had in our
packs, curled up around each other for warmth and
proceeded to start our long night (about 12 hours)
with synchronized breathing, a meditation in which we
asked every God, Saint, or Spirit that either of us
work with for protection and blessing, and added in
some chanting too.
And then we proceeded to use Ujjayi breath for the entire night. We found it was the best way to keep our body core warm. The moment either of us stopped Ujjayi breathing (dozing off, or just losing focus) we’d start shivering violently. We tag-teamed
all night reminding each other to breathe. We talked,
we even laughed, and we breathed. What was amazing to me (and truly, spiritually, the entire night revealed some wondrous things for me) was at a point, fairly early in the night I guess--we’d been there for a few hours and it was pitch dark--I was at a place where, relatively speaking, I was warm. Jen and I were curled up, her head on my shoulder, my head on her head, breathing that beautiful sounding breath and the thought that went through my head was, “this is
bliss”. I was so in my moment that nothing else
mattered but the fact that not only we were not
hypothermic, but we were somewhat warm, and we were breathing--everything else was superfluous! We’d turned the night into a yoga practice.
So Tom, part of why I wanted to share this with you in
particular, was that both Jen and I at points in the
night “visited” your studio. (It is a warm place!)
And although you weren’t the first to teach me Ujjayi
breath, I feel that yogically, I’ve arrived in a
different place, guided along this past year by you.
You did teach me kapalabhati breath, and we used that
at the darkest, coldest part of the night and that
triggered some powerful visions for me. I am convinced the breathing and the focus
got us through the dark night of our soul’s adventure. I’ve always used breath, and thought I understood its power. But, this experience transcended all my knowledge about breath.
What I now know has been brought down to a visceral, cellular level. It’ll change my practice and it’ll
change who I am and how I teach. This
experience with breath has shifted something important in me.
We were completely humbled and blessed that night. In hindsight, both Jen and I feel that we were meant to
go through this experience--we both ignored many
“signs” that might have brought a different outcome
had we acknowledged them. It was certainly a
harrowing, frightening, and physically demanding
experience. I honestly can’t regret it happening. I feel like I’ve been “birthed” into a new phase of life--and how can that be anything but wonderful? Of course, this past week has been about physically recovering (I’ve been sleeping like a hibernating bear!!) and just
processing the experience. But, I’m eager to get back
into the yoga studio--as a student--and rediscover my
practice.
