What if you could blow out your negativity in a puff of positive intention to shift your energy?
Well, you can.
For several years I have been physically blowing out any feelings of negativity in a simple shift of energy I now call A Positive Puff.
I naturally learned this while fuming one day about a personal situation in Japan.
Living in the mountains, the first thing I do whenever I feel low is go outside.
Stepping out into the vista of hills and sky instantly expands my senses and perception.
I do so whatever the weather, as the wide eaves of this Japanese minka shelter me from rain, snow, hail, and even typhoon winds.
That day, fuming and spluttering, I was so upset I let out a hiss of noisy breath.
I also threw my fists downward in a gesture of anger and disgust.
At once I felt a dramatic and positive shift.
My body released its hostile tension.
My dark mood ebbed out of me.
I had physically released my negativity.
Refined since through practice, here is A Positive Puff for you to try:
- If possible, go outdoors to an attractive, safe area.
- Stand lightly without locking your knees.
- Relax by breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
- Mentally bring up what bothers or upsets you.
- Scoop your negative feelings up into your cupped hands.
- Raise your hands, full of these feelings, slowly in front of your face.
- Take a deep breath in through your nose and release it in one strong puff over your cupped hands, as if blowing away your feelings.
- Immediately drop your empty hands to the ground as if releasing your negative feelings into the earth.
- Shake off your hands.
- Breathe deeply in through your nose and out through your mouth.
- Repeat the same movements two or three times if you feel you need to.
You will most likely sense an immediate lightness, both physically and mentally, as if your tension had both blown and dropped away.
Which it has.
You are actually blowing out your negativity in a puff of positive intention to shift your energy.
Do you think this can work for you?
Why don’t you try for yourself and share your experience?
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Hi Catrien, Although I’ve never gone through all of the steps that you’ve outlined, I believe in using deep breathing as a form of tension relief. I’ve found that stepping outside, or to at least away from the situation, to breathe deeply quickly clears the mind and reduces my level of anxiety. This practice has enabled me to avoid overreaction during stressful times. Ray
Hello Catrien,
Thank you for sharing your technique for others to try. Oh, what a beautiful setting you have to shift your energies and your Gratitude is evident.
I have learned of similar techniques. In hypnotherapy I have had clients bring up what upsets them, then upon exhale, loudly say ‘Haaaa…’ This is done 2-3 times with the intention to release and let go. I have used it in conjunction with a desensitization technique.
These and other variations remind me of how simple releasing can be and yet how stubborn humans are when we choose to hold onto something.
I say, the quickest and most effective technique for the individual, the better.
Have a beautiful week.
Kim, thank you so much for visiting again and commenting. Your addition is very helpful. Yes, we humans can be stubborn. And we choose to forget that a mental or emotional issue we consider serious or hard to change can often be shifted through a simple technique that uses our body. We are mind, spirit AND body. In our modern world we spend most of our lives indoors and we constrict and limit the physical movement for which our bodies are designed. Nature has become something “out there” and alienated from us. As a result we have alienated our own inner nature and diminished our sense of connection with the intelligence and richness of the natural web of life. We even forget that life means breathing. As you point out, finding what works for you is important. Effectiveness of technique varies for each individual. But shifting our physical energy can often have profound and lasting effects on our mental and emotional state. You have a wonderful week, too.
Ray, welcome to my blog and thank you for commenting and sharing your experience. Deep breathing is one of the best actions we can take to keep ourselves calm and clear. I find it interesting how shallowly we breathe throughout the day and stress always seems to cut us off from our breath. Deep breathing draws us inward into our cells so that we become aware once more of our life connection and what is truly important for us. Please visit here again to share your insights.
Hello Catrien,
I have just nominated you and your blog for the Kreativ Blogger award. Full details are posted at: http://debracortese.com/blog/?p=1502
Debra, it’s lovely to see your creative, nature-connected spirit here – welcome to my blog. I am not familiar with the Kreativ Blogger Award, but I feel very honored that you thought of me. I will follow your link and learn more about it. I also look forward to your visits here – please stop by often.
Catrien,
That’s great… something i have come to realize is that a shift in body posture has an impact on feelings and that we can use our body to instantly change how we are feeling.
As you have said, nature also has a way to shifting our perspective and outlook; a sense of peace and calm envelopes us while in nature and we are able to see the matter at hand with greater clarity.
Thanks very much.
By the way, you have a beautiful blog here.
Christopher, thank you for your appreciative comments, and welcome to my blog. We spend so much time inside our minds that we tend to forget that a physical shift in our bodies can result in dramatic mental and emotional change. And reconnecting with nature always brings me back to my center, to my own inner nature. As you say, “nature also has a way of shifting our perspective and outlook.” I look forward to sharing perspectives with you -please visit often.
great process here
i also find getting outside very helpful
something about fresh air and a bigger ‘view’
Kel, hello and welcome to my blog. Thanks for commenting on the process. I am glad to hear you find getting outside very helpful, too. Fresh air and a bigger “view” changes our perspective every time. It’s good to see you here and I hope you will stop by again.
hi catrien,
how are you?
For now i practice steps 1 and 3(going outside and breathing) and it relieves me of any tension or stress that would have built up at that point time. It also prevents me from saying hurtful things to people and gives me that ahhh!!! kind of peace which cant really be explained.
I might consider adding a few more steps to it and see the results.
Take care of yourself.
Ayo, thanks for stopping by again. I am fine in the stirrings of spring on the mountain here. It’s great that steps 1 and 3 work so effectively for you. I am always interested in creating an energy shift process that moves the physical field as much as possible. But then, we are energy medicine and Oriental Medicine practitioners and love developing effective techniques! The ahhh!!! kind of peace you speak of is really special, isn’t it? You take care of yourself, too.
Hi Catrien – Thanks so much for the lovely comment you left on my blog. I do absolutely believe what you’re suggesting can work and the imagery you use is so compelling. I’m not feeling any particular negative energy right now, but I did cup my hands and blow and it was wonderful. The whole thing is like a dance. Beautiful! Thanks.
Patty, thank you very much, and welcome to my blog. It’s lovely for me that you described the movements as a dance. The memory of dance as the ancient vibration each of us carries in our bones and blood has been very much a part of my awareness in recent years – physically shifting our energy in a sacred expression of our joy, our celebration in being a part of the living intelligence that surrounds us and sustains us. Dancing is so natural for humans, for living entities – even bees dance. We sing our bodies with the earth and the energy of the earth sings through us, illuminating our existence. Well, thanks for giving me the opportunity to reply to your comment – what an opening – I will have to write more about this! Please visit again.
Catrien: Great post and great suggestion. I think it is important that we figure out approaches like this and things we can integrate into our lives that will help us reconnect and find our center. The reality is that as we move through our days, there may be things that distract us or interfere with our peace of mind. Finding ways like this to reconnect really allow us to only go so far from our center. Thanks for the suggestion.
Catrien, my first ever visit to your blog and what a treasure trove!
Thanks for this excellent way of letting go of all my hot air and tension – and believe me, I have a lot to let go:-)
I just did this exercise in my lounge and boy, I feel so much better. Now off out in the spring sunshine of London and enjoy the rest of the day in a calmer frame of mind.
As Patty says, it felt like a dance. It really can be easy to let go of things and as Kim says above, we seem reluctant to do so. Clearly it’s time for me to do this exercise a few times every day!
Sibyl, thank you for your comment. I always appreciate seeing you here and the insights you bring. As you say, there may be things that distract us or interfere with our peace of mind, and we can learn how to respond in constructive ways that help us rather than draw us further into negativity. Glad you liked the suggestion – it is one positive way we can respond as we move through the day.
Arvind, thank you for your comment of delight and welcome to my blog. I enjoyed hearing how the exercise shifted energy for you. With spring stirring in London you might also want to try it outdoors in one of the city’s wonderful parks. Yes, the movements can really feel like a dance – a physical shift that can change the dynamics quite rapidly. Doing it a few times a day is not too much! Thank you – please visit here again and share your views.
How refreshing, looking at the blossom puff. I will pass this site on to my daughter Susan, who is 43 today. For the most part, my daughters and grandchildren seem to choose joy over anger. This also seems to be the case with Danika, my great grandchild, who is four months old. I am enjoying being the babysitter. When my daughters were babies, my grandmother, then 75, was my babysitter. I get to do the job at a younger age. I had to wait until now that I am retired to do childcare; I have always worked. However, I have always enjoyed my work, so it is as though I have always enjoyed life.
Thanks, Catrien!
Jane Anne, thank you for visiting again. How wise of your daughters and grandchildren to choose joy over anger – and your great grandchild, too. But knowing your nature and wisdom, I think I know where they first learned the joy of this choice. Please stop by often, and I look forward to seeing Susan, too. Spring greetings from the mountains here in Japan.
Catrien
I certainly agree that taking a deep breath and going for a walk etc helps deal with stressful situations and tensions. I guess its the same as the technique of composing an email in response to one that causes you angst but not hitting the send key until you have taken some time out – this often leads to that email heading to the recycle bin. However, as a Scottish accountant I think I’m too introverted to try your entire technque – perhaps if I lived in the Japanese mountains that might be different!
Allan, thanks, it’s lovely to see you here again. You made an important point about pausing and creating the space that allows room for a change in perspective. Are Scottish accountants especially introverted? Trying the entire technique might cause you some angst, but spring is an ideal time to be outrageous! Cheers from the Japanese mountains – Catrien.
Hello Catrien,
Love what you describe here…has many links to my practice which includes Grounding {Tree of Life} followed by Ha Prayer and Kala {Huna}.
I find it inspiring/exciting/affirming that we are connecting and remembering….
Elizabeth, what a joy to see you here again. Thank you for your comment – it’s good to hear about your own practice. Don’t you think that at this particular time so many of us are connecting and remembering? More and more we are reconnecting, both with nature and with our deeper nature within ourselves, and drawing on that awareness to express more authentic and fulfilling lives. I, too, find this inspiring/exciting/affirming. Morning greetings to you from the foot of Mount Fuji.
This reminds of something I did a while back. If I was feeling negative, I would imagine myself locking those feelings up in a treasure chest and throwing it in the ocean. The deeper the chest would sink, the more relieved I would feel. Next time, I will definitely use your exercise and blow it all away because I know it will work!
Faizal, it’s so good to see you here again. Your imagery of a treasure chest sinking deep into the ocean is very creative. Do you ever feel the urge to dive in after the chest to retrieve your lost treasure? Thank you for enjoying my exercise – please let me know how well it works for you next time.
I believe that your steps may just work for me. I have tried just shaking my hands in an act of releasing my tensions, worries and stress while at the park two months ago. I have found that it helped!
Evelyn, thank you so much for visiting, and welcome to my blog. I, too, have found that simply shaking off my hands shifts the energy positively. And that you tried it outdoors, in a park, means that you were surrounded by natural beauty and fresh air that supported you. I’m glad to hear it helped, and I hope A Positive Puff helps next time, too. Please stop by again.
That’s Worth a try Catrien
you know the problem with many people would be their busy life styles which might prevent them from finding time to get rid of their negative energy.
that’s one good technique for dumping bad emotions
Farouk, thanks for commenting again here. You are quite right – in today’s busy lifestyles negative energy seems to build up. The technique I designed works for me, so I hope you will let me know if it works for you.
such a simple yet powerful thing to do. I would imagine it would work in a similar way on things that were felt to hold us back from accomplishing our dreams….a blowing away of our own limiting beliefs. Thank you
Hello, B. Thank you for your comment. My reply has been a long time coming! Please drop by again in 2012 whenever you have a moment. Happy New Year to you. Catrien.