BodyLogos Blog

Please Breathe

As my sister remains hooked up to oxygen day after day, week after week, with Covid double pneumonia, I realize the richness of each breath I take.

My sister is instructed to lye on her stomach with the oxygen mask adhered to her face to give her lungs the freedom to inflate. In tandem, bent over our legs in daily hamstrings stretches I instruct my clients to take a full expansive breath into their lungs.

With each inflation my back muscles yawn a release of tension; with each depression I relax in the trust that a next breath will follow. I feel a relaxed strength that I experience as freedom.

Each breath puts me in the moment, reminds me that I’m OK, and readies me for the next moment. I breath in and breath out, I move from one moment to the next, I feel nature’s grace.

How easy is it to forget to breathe deeply? To be fooled into thinking the stresses of our days are more important than the riches of each breath. We hold our breath, breath shallow, and breath quietly as not to disturb others.

Breathe. Please breathe deeply and fully, awake to the grace of you.

Every waking moment my sister thinks about breathing. Eating little and talking less, she focuses on the mechanics of each breath.

Be reminded every day, with every breath, that your life is only as deep as your breath.

Breathe deeply. There is nothing more important. 🧡

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Redefining Strength

I want to change our perception of strength. Strength is the ability to meet resistance and influence an outcome without compromising ourselves. And we already have it.

Strength is not an attribute; it’s a state of being. Gladiators, bodybuilders, and football players demonstrate strength through brute force, sheer willpower, muscle mass, and relentless pursuit. But we’re also quick to identify dancers and martial artists as strong. Their medium taps into a sense of vulnerability, balance, alignment, controlled power, and grace—but no one can deny their strength. Strength may look different on each of us, but it is an inherent part of who we are.

You are not weak by nature; you are stronger than you think. Your strength is not something you need to kill yourself to gain—it is already within you, waiting to be excavated. The key is to stop chasing something you already have and tap into it, so you can manifest that strength in your everyday life.

Because we don’t think we’re strong, we approach resistance with the idea that we’re not enough. We throw everything we have at it and push past our physical, mental, and emotional limitations. We see strength as domination, but it’s not.

When you learn to listen to your body’s divine wisdom, you cultivate a sense of where your body is developing tension instead of standing in its strength. You end the vicious cycle of unrealistic expectations, injury, and self-criticism and learn how to consciously embrace responsible growth. You stop compartmentalizing your strength into emotional, physical, and mental pieces and operate from the strength of your being at all times.

You learn how to align yourself with gravity—instead of working against it—so you can channel your strength to meet life’s resistance. As you meet resistance with equal parts power and alignment, you transform tension into strength

As in the sword dance above, the power lies in bringing just the right amount of force—not too little and not too much. By meeting the sword’s weight, I meet gravity. I am tapped into a larger source of energy, free of tension, and discover a strength that is wholly and uniquely mine.

About Tammy Wise

Tammy Wise is a widely respected mind-body fitness expert based out of New York City, owner of BodyLogos, Inc. author of The Art of Strength: Sculpt the Body ~ Train the Mind. A former Broadway dancer turned Tao minister, Tammy was voted the Best of Fitness by Time Out New York and has appeared in Martha Stewart’s Whole Living magazine, New York Magazine, Natural Health, Shape, and Thrive Global. She’s a Transformational Authors Contest Winner and regular contributor to Honeysuckle magazine and Medium. Visit her at bodylogos.com.

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