How Monet Can Heal Your Nervous System

Last May while I was in Cleveland, I went to the Museum of Art to meet my girlfriend. While I was waiting, I went up and sat in front of a huge canvas of Monet's Water Lilies. 
 
Prior to the trip, I had been consciously doing specific nervous system breathing in which your exhale is longer than your inhale. It’s very calming for the body and releases anxiety. 
 
While sitting in front of Monet, I decided to do that breathing and what I noticed within a few minutes fascinated me.

This was my first trip out of Los Angeles after the fires of last January, and I knew I had been holding a lot of stress and terror from that experience. I inhaled to a count of four, which in and of itself was great because I had only been inhaling to a count of three, and then I noticed that my exhale kept expanding with each round.

Now, in LA, my inhale typically was a three count, and my exhale was a five count- if I was lucky. 
 
Just sitting in front of something of tremendous beauty, dropped all the tension in my body, and especially in my diaphragm, which had frozen in panic. Every part of me started to release.

The fact that I could get my exhale to ultimately be a 12 count as I kept sitting there, showed me what I was capable of taking in breath wise, and just how much I had been so constricted in fear.
 
Why is this important? 
 
Breath is everything. Breath is life. When your breathing is shallow, your organs and blood are not getting the oxygen they need. Fear, panic, and worry are more able to swirl consistently through you and be the dominant feelings you experience, because you're not at ease. You're too clamped down and tight. 
 
But when you can get your breath deep – think of an opera singer and the notes that they can hold - you're open and expansive. There's more room for the positive energies to flow. For your life force to flow. For the possibilities beyond what you're experiencing in your reality right now. 
 
That spaciousness is everything!
 
I’m sharing this now, because this morning when I sat down to ground myself, I could feel a bit of constriction in my breath, so I intentionally started nervous system breathing. And then I remembered Monet. 
 
I imagined myself sitting in front of Water Lilies and instantly, my inhale became a 5, and my exhale became a 10 count. 
 
Simply by remembering. Simply by thinking about something of beauty.
 
To detail the technique: there are two ways to do this. First, as I’ve been speaking of, allow your exhale to be longer than your inhale. It doesn't matter the count; it just matters that your exhale takes longer. Second, inhale to a comfortable count, hold for a few counts, and then exhale. 
 
Both work wonderfully- there's not a right or wrong way to do it. Sometimes I do the hold, sometimes I don't. No matter what though, the exhale needs to be longest. It will settle you into your body and soften your nervous system.
 
Beauty is one of the most powerful healers there is. So, when you’re stressed out, pause for a second and think of what's beautiful. What's elevating. What opens you up. And then breathe to get into your body. 
 
 

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