The Warrior's Breath: Pathway to Power & Presence

Having spent years studying physicality — through flow, toward balance and harmony — I have come to recognize the absolute and essential power of the breath.

The breath is our anchor, our bridge, our weapon. Through Yoga, Shiatsu, and Vipassana meditation, I have seen again and again the direct correlation between breath and oneness. Breath is the path from movement into stillness, from stillness into meditation, and from meditation into awakening.

I have witnessed in myself and others: the breath harnesses emotion, and the breath releases it. It is our tool to return to the only thing we ever truly have — this moment.

And in this moment lies clarity, focus, acceptance, oneness with self & freedom from fear.

To work with the breath is to meet both our potential and our weakness. It is the crucial journey inward — balancing our human being with our animal being. Breath awakens instinct. With deep, steady, rhythmic inhalations and exhalations, we tether the mind. We create awareness. We develop confidence. We begin to move forward without ego, without attachment to outcome. As Bruce Lee famously said: “Don’t think. Feel"

Because only when we can learn to drop below the restless, grasping, “monkey mind,” we then touch the warrior within. The one who does not hesitate.

According to the legendary Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, ‘The warrior is not someone who fights, because no one has the right to take life. The warrior, for us, is one who sacrifices themself for the good of others.’

Here, in battle — and in every different capacity of our lives, in business, in creativiity, in our profession, or in love — the breath is everything. It allows us to quieten. To assess. To move with precision. To step into fear, letting fear enlarge us, sharpen us, heighten us and draw us into focus. This is the breath. Fill it into your boots. Let it ground you. Let it steady you. Let it sharpen you, as a cat stills softly before the leap. The cat does not hunger for the mouse. She only feels the overwhelming truth of the chase — the absolute precision of the intent. So breathe. Gather. Center. And when the moment arrives — leap with everything you are!

The Bazillian Ju-Jitsu champion, Rickson Gracie knew this truth. To train in preparation for combat he sat in freezing waters, shocking his body into fear, only to master that fear through Pranayama.(The Yogic principal meaning breath control.) Through which he turned breath into fire. Into preparation. Into power.

As you find yourself approaching whatever battle: call upon this ancient, untapped weapon of yours. Control the mind, the emotions, the fear — distill them into one rhythm. One clarity. One flow.

Your truest self is waiting in the depth of your breath. Whatever the stage, whatever the outcome — this is your power. And if you fall this time? Then there is nothing more than simply the blessed chance to breathe deeper next time…...on the next inhale!