JUST BREATHE... It's Good For the SOUL

Most of my life... I've carried STRESS in my shoulders and neck...

I think it might be related an incident in 2nd grade where I was struck by a truck while crossing the street.  I know, I know... the joke   usually goes like this... 

"Oh, so that's what happened to you!"  ha ha ha... maybe true!

This is me around 2nd grade... 

with brother, Ernie, and sister, Joan.

I'm in the middle.

It's still a vivid memory from childhood...

I was walking home from school. There was a big train to my right which was sort of intimidating to me, so I decided to cross the street. I looked both ways. The coast was clear. But, as I crossed, a truck turned into the road from behind a bush and I was hit. My Brownie outfit was torn to shreds, the breath was knocked out of me, and I had strained my neck. I remember riding in a police car to the doctor's office in Mulberry, FL., and my mother arriving shortly.  Amazingly, I checked out fine... but, well... maybe there were some  lingering effects...

It's no surprise to me that, as an adult, I have some asthma,

...and, hold muscle tension in my neck and shoulders... 

...and... I never let my kids ride their bikes in the street EVER!! 

(They got bicycles, but they hung in the garage until they outgrew them ~ then they got another bike ~ which, also, hung in the garage!) My girls teased me about this as they got older... but, I came to realize that I was parenting out of paranoia from my own childhood event.

I find it interesting that traumas like this follow us in ways we never imagined!

So I have been learning through the years to...

*This pic looks like the allees near my parent's Winter Haven home.

I sometimes go for a run down to Lake Eloise and pass these beautiful landscapes and always feel peace.*

Today, I was especially stressed... 

probably carrying too much grief from my client's struggles,

which is not healthy for me... 

So, I got myself a mini - shoulder massage during lunch break.

That helped tremendously... 

still... as I went to choir rehearsal tonight, I noticed my breathing was tight and shallow.  I was tense from head to toe.

Then, as I sang, that healing effect took over and I felt more and more relaxed... and my breathing relaxed, too... singing long phrases... working the intercostal muscles...  full body rhythmic breathing...  Wow!

It's in moments like this that... 

I realize why I sing... 

For, singing is good for MY soul!

Thanks for reading my blog!

La - Ti - Do!

Jeanne