Hello Fear...

You are welcome to join me but you will not be driving.

Love,
Jenna Michelle

As I continue working on my breathwork journey, developing my at home practice, joining and starting my own classes and workshops in LA and powering through my self-test of a 30 day breathwork challenge, my self–awareness has grown significantly. The most important element to share is as I go through my own personal healing with breathwork, I realize that I have the power to choose love, and I do choose love.

I choose not to be defined by my stories while also accepting that I still feel some of the pain that the stories have left me with. Feeling that pain doesn’t mean it defines me. It only means, I accept that the pain is there, and I am actively working on releasing that pain from my body through a consistent breathwork practice, that allows my body to move the stuck negative filled entities.

These entities are strong energies and have stood in my body confidently for years now believing that they rule me. They are pain, fear, even self-loathing sometimes. They drive from a fear-based perspective, not from a critical thought or loving perspective. They are truly only there for self-protection, but they don’t know that. They think they are doing the right thing, filling my body up with all this “self-protection”. I am aware of that, I am aware of them.

I recognize you fear based entities and I do appreciate the defense mechanism you are creating for me so that I don’t get hurt, but the truth is, getting hurt is a part of life. I don’t want to be driven by this fear you’ve instilled in me and I am no longer giving you that power. This doesn’t mean I don’t hear you. This doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate your work within my body to remind me of what I have been through. That is a part of who I am. You can be a part of who I am too, a story from my past, and I can and will, move on without being defined by you.

Soon enough, I will begin to release the pain and start letting go of these entities. It won’t happen all at once, it will take time, effort and significant diligence, but it can be done. It will be done. Then one day, the entities will move on, they will disperse and make room for new life inside my body.

Until that day comes when they leave me for good, I can make the conscious decision to choose a life driven by my creativity, by my inspiration, by my love. It’s OK that I still feel the pain from my stories, some days stronger than others. I recognize that it will take time for this pain to subside, for this sadness dissolve. I will say hello to it some days, be aware of it and then choose love.

I choose to be driven by my love for the world, my love for kindness, for truth. I choose to live my life from my most natural state, love, and I choose to make this choice every single day. For that, thank you Universe. I can feel you speaking to me, giving me guidance forward to follow my truest and highest self. Knowing that you’re there, that you have my back no matter what, is the best feeling in the world. That’s how I can thank fear for being there, for it’s support, but no thank you because I am choosing love. So see you later fear, you will not be driving me anymore.

Choose Love

Upon returning from an amazing journey in New Mexico with my new found breathwork family, people that understand my soul upon first connections, I realize how much growth can happen in just a short week. This Universe has given me a purpose in life. I may not always remember what it is, I may fall onto side paths that take me in a slightly different directions, but I know now that I am destined for more.

I felt the need to bring understanding and light to breathwork meditation immediately following my first experience. The message was urgent, eminent, and absolute – Bring this practice to the world.

Wanting to save the world is not a new sentiment amongst millenials or even matured millenials as I call myself being on the outskirts of this generation. And talking the talk and walking the walk are vastly different experiences. But if I want to live my life’s purpose and live a fulfilled life, this is the time.

The power of breathwork is life changing. If everyone in the world practiced this, if everyone in the world allowed themselves to let their guard down, to fight through their resistance to change, to push themselves to grow and become a better person, the world would be a better place. It would be saved, from our hate, from our pain, saved from ourselves. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we all came from a place of love?

Love - Our natural state. The essence of our being. The state of mind we are supposed to live in. Choose love and we will be freed from our stories. Choose love and we will no longer be chained to our pain, anger, or sadness. Choose love and we will feel liberated by the endless possibilities the Universe is offering.

“Someone just told me to leave all my sorrows, if that is true I don’t know who to be.” Sienabo Sey. Let’s leave all our sorrows and see who we have the power to become.

Live in love and watch life change right before your own eyes.

Photo By: Daniella Matutes

Breath Work

Bioenergetic breathing is a form of meditation. It is a specific breathing exercise that creates a heightened sense of awareness inwards, allowing your focus to be taken away from the neurological system. Because the technique requires your full attention, complete and utter focus, you’re constantly focusing on the breath and are unable to get distracted by words, thoughts, fears or anxieties. The benefits of such pure, unexpected focus, brings about clarity from hard decisions, clarity on your true self, your real dreams, it releases any inner pain and opens your heart allowing you to comfortably be with just exactly who you are. There is no other practice, to my knowledge, no other experience you can have on this earth (without mind-altering drugs) that can seamlessly connect your spiritual and physical beings.

Then, once you’ve cried to cry, shed the pain, the negativity, fears and anxieties away, you’re left with nothing but your vulnerable, open, big loving heart. Here I’ve set out explaining this practice and it’s glorious benefits. I hope by the end of this, you are encouraged to try a class because we all deserve to have this life changing experience.

The Technique.

This breathing technique keeps your focus so acutely, that there is no room for anything else to enter. So if you’re one of those people who has a hard time staying quiet, or can’t get your mind to stop making grocery lists, this is for you. If you’re the type of person who wants to feel a release, this is for you. If you are the type of human who wants to grow as a person, this is for you.

You begin with one sharp breath through your mouth while protruding your stomach. Then take a sharp breath through your mouth from your chest. Finally, one quick sharp release of the breath, again through your mouth. Repeat. I don’t believe speed matters. Some days I start out fast, some days I follow the flow and energy of the class around me.

The Release

Our guide started the class by reminding us that we were in a safe place. He said, weird things would likely happen to our bodies, odd sensations, tingling, potentially cramped hands, feet, face. No matter what, we were to remember, and he would remind us that we were safe and to let our bodies do what felt natural to them.

I have had a number of different experiences varying from a permanently cramped face, and lips pursed so tightly it felt like nothing would ever let them release. My fingers have felt like they were asleep but not in the painful way, in an almost orgasmic kind of way. My feet and face tingle too, my body was tense, and my shoulders sometimes hurt for awhile after class from being clenched together. My face is almost always soaking wet. I usually cannot stop crying, nor do I know what I am crying over. I didn’t have time to focus on the why’s and nor does it ever feel like it even matters. The thought of what and why is irrelevant, and now after a few different experiences with breath work, it always feels irrelevant after every class. Tears need to be shed so they are. Your body craves release, no matter what it is releasing, and the tears will come, if not in your first class, one day.  

The Love

Every teacher adapts a form of breath work that they believe in and crave teaching. After just 5 songs of this (20 minutes of breathing), after endless tears flowing, after receiving a tissue, this instructor brings the class through a self-love exercise. You are instructed to reach out with one hand in front of you. Then, think of a memory that fills you with love. Feel the memory. Live in the memory. Then grab the memory and place it over your heart. Place the memory through the door to your heart and feel your heart physically grow three times its size. It’s beating faster now and you can feel nothing but your heart. Put your other hand over the hand that placed it in your heart and feel the love. Then, think of a memory that fills you with laughter. Feel the memory. Live in the memory. The room might become filled with physical laughter. Grab that memory and place it over your heart, watch it fill your already too big heart with laughter. Next, think of a memory when you were proud of yourself. Feel it, live it and place it in your heart. Think of something you love about yourself. Feel it, see it and place it in your heart. Watch your heart overflow with love and gratitude into the rest of your body. My body became physically warm, the tingling from the breath work was mostly gone by then and my whole body was just filled with warmth. I could feel these memories bleeding throughout my every orifice; love and laughter were flowing through me stronger than anything I’ve ever felt.

Raw

You’re emotionally naked. Naked and not at all afraid because you’ve already let it all go. You have already pushed any negativity, self-doubting, stupidity, ugliness or lack of respecting thoughts out of your body. Now you get to sit here vulnerably with nothing but exactly who you truly are, the moments you love most and the memories you hold dearest. You are left with your most authentic emotion, your big loving heart. You are sitting there with pure LOVE. Walking away from this my heart felt like it could explode from love. I’m not sure I’ve ever allowed myself to feel this much love and release of all that bogs you down from being your truest self. This is without a doubt, the best part of breath work. It took awhile to come out of the physical state bioenergetic breathing put me, and yet a part of me never wanted to come out of it.

After

My favorite thing so far is that I felt the after-effects for the rest of that evening and into the following day. It was almost 24 hours of pure, authentic me existing in the world. This is something I had personally been looking for. A meditation that I could feel the affects of for hours to come following my moment of silence. A meditation that lasted me to the next moment. My practice of 10 minutes of morning meditation was not doing that for me, but bioenergetic breathing is.

I felt exhausted, and relieved at the same time. I felt complete drained of any emotion, thought, or experience and yet overflowing with love, happiness and gratitude. It’s the happiest I think I have ever felt.

Since my first experience in breath work I have been going back to that class, twice a week almost exactly now. I love it. It still feels like the best form of therapy you could ever receive, it’s like a massive immersion into your deepest fears, what causes your tears and anxieties all while being able to just naturally let them out before moving on.

I have learned that one of, if not the single most important element is to remember to go into each experience as though it’s your first time. No expectations. No pre-conceived notions, no personal or external judging of what happens around you. Just genuine child-like wonder for what today’s class will bring. If you leave your expectations at the door, you’ll have a more healing experience because opportunities will come to you that you might not have been open to in the past. You have the chance to experience things you didn’t know was possible, but only if you walk into each session with a drive for change, an interest in growth and an open mind to do whatever it takes to live a peaceful and balanced life.

Love A Stranger

The world is full of beautiful souls. Of strong souls. Of individual souls. Of inspiring souls and of soulful souls.

We all begin as strangers. The connection between two people when they first meet is real. There’s those people you first meet and become best friends with. The people you instantly dive deep into and feel like you’ve known them for years. Then there are people you first meet that you just know are not going to be an everlasting friendship. People that you cannot see eye to eye with, people that make the hair on your arm, or your intuitive red flag go up because there’s just something not right. That’s ok. Move along. There’s someone else a few people down the sidewalk that you easily could find everlasting love with. No matter what the first impression experience is, we all start out as strangers.

When you first meet a stranger, you have no idea what to expect. It could be the worst conversation you’ve ever had or the best. Regardless, we all have the ability to make a connection to the soul next to you. No matter what our background is, where you come from, who you know or what you believe, we all have the ability to grow into something more beautiful than what you’ve ever known or believed possible.

It all begins with a single soul and the desire for connection. There’s endless opportunities to connect. It could be about adventure, about travel, about the world views, fears, about what you love doing, what you hate doing, what angers you to your core and what makes you fly.

If we keep an open mind we can all find a love within ourselves for the next person. We don’t have to love everyone, but you can find a common ground love.

If we come from this place, the place of honest connection and real, truthful love, then maybe we could lesson the worlds pain. Maybe the hate on innocent souls, the pain we experience when losing someone we love, wouldn’t happen.

Strangers. If we could all find something to connect on, maybe we could save the world from ourselves a little. Maybe, just maybe, we could empty out the hatred that fills some souls and replace it with love.

The Best Advice For A 20something As Told By A 20something

Most 20-somethings experience a momentous transformation after college called the quarter life crisis. Our experiences with this crisis vary significantly based on when they occur, how we handle them, where we move to, who we break up with, who/when we marry, and so on. Here I’ve gathered the best advice for a 20something as told by a 20something. These are people who have experienced this phase first hand, and whether it helps to hear you’re not alone or pushes you forward on a new path, here’s to hoping this gives guidance to at least one of you.

KEJAL

"If something scares you, that's usually a good sign you should do it."

"Always try to look your best. You never know when you'll run into a former or future love."

"Anyone who tells you that you can't do something can go eat a bird-shit sandwich."

NICK

Move - Nobody should end in the same place they began - live, love and laugh someplace new. At least once in your life, pack up and move to some place different. It's amazing how much you find out about yourself when you wander new places with new people. You can't grow if you don't give yourself the room. 

Create - Whether collaboratively or by yourself, be responsible for creating something beautiful at least once a year. Art is a big small word and something that everyone should experience firsthand. It could be something written, painted, sewn, built, or said - just as long as it’s something you are proud of.

ANONYMOUS

“If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your shit, then you deserve it.”
― Frank Zappa

People will always justify their choices to you when you are doing something different. Let them, for their sake. But, don't let ANYONE tell you there is a way to live life. The happiest people have invented their own way. 

Oh, and watch Blackfish.

KATHERINE

WEAR SUNSCREEN! - You never think you'll get wrinkles but when you do, it's quite a blow to that invincible ego.

Save your money - At the age of 28, I realized if I wanted to continue buying cute jackets and shoes, I would live with my parents forever. Not ideal.

If you don't like where you’re at in life, be brave and make the change. Move. Change jobs. Travel. Go back to school. It's scary, but you only get one life and you might as well spend it being happy!

GERARD

Sometimes, it’s just time to “grow up”. A little bit, at least.

Post-graduation, I lived with college friends, in my college town, enjoying copious happy hours with my social circle still in close proximity. Subsequent to say, the supposed transition into “adult hood” was non-existent. And then people starting moving away - they got into graduate school, began cohabitating and became serious about their jobs. My weekend warrior posse was shrinking and Friday nights were no longer an assumed night out. I knew at some point the remnants of undergraduate debauchery was going to dissipate but when it did, it was like someone flipped a switch. It took me by surprise. I guess, sometimes it’s just time to “grow up”. A little bit, at least.  

 DYLAN

"Avoid making life decisions based on the regrets of others." –D. Campbell

TREVOR

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take"

 Take a chance. I like to think of it as the basketball player who is waiting to be discovered but was always told by his coaches not to shoot because he wasn’t good enough. Suddenly the game comes down to him and he finds himself with the ball at the last second. It's an internal struggle of what he's been told for so long, versus having the confidence in himself to do something different – something high risk but high reward.

"Eat every cheeseburger"

A fun way of saying "Carpe diem." Get out there, get uncomfortable, taste things you don't think you like, look at things you don't normally want to see. How do you know you don't like it until you try it?

If you don’t eat every cheeseburger, you won't know why one is better than the other.

STEFANIE

Appreciate your FAMBAM.  Spend more quality time with your parents.  Ask them lots of questions. Don't skip family dinners in fear of missing the "Party of the Year". The bar can wait. Just stay home with the A-Team tonight.  In the end, they are the ones that matter and have always had your back. Trust me, every moment is worth it.

LYNDSAY

Advice that I wish I would have known..... Honestly, I hold firm in the idea that all things come to us when we are ready to hear them and as we need them. I think the experiences and/or 'mistakes' we may have made in the past have all helped shape us into the brilliant humans we are today. Learning and growing is forever so I do not know if any advice would have done me well earlier than when I was ready to receive it. We just have to trust the path and know that we are walking in the exact footsteps we are supposed to be carving out. Sometimes trusting that path can seem nearly impossible when navigating the waters of the 20something lifestyle. I suppose, if I had to choose one thing I wish I would have known, deeply known, it would be this - all experience is happening in exactly the time, place and space it is supposed to be happening and that you are okay. Then maybe I could have sat more comfortably in knowing that all things work out as they are supposed to. Every experience just adds to the perfect culmination of exactly the being we are supposed to be in this time; the present. The only thing we have.