“Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.”

~Kahlil Gibran

With so much happening outside of us, I find my breath to be my anchor. It brings me back home — to my center, to presence, to what is real. Because ultimately, the only thing I can truly guide is my response.

The body speaks before the mind catches up. Tight? Constricted? Heavy? These are not thoughts — they are whispers from within, asking for space. When my body tightens, my breath becomes shallow, and I can feel my nervous system tip into fight-or-flight.

This is where my practice begins: awareness and conscious breathing.

When I breathe from my lower dantien — the center of my being — I return to myself. My inhale softens my body; my exhale soothes my spirit. When I extend the exhale, my whole system relaxes. I can even do this quietly, in conversation with someone, and notice how it not only calms me — it softens them.

Because in that moment, I am no longer trying to control the exchange. I am allowing it to unfold.

You hear often about conscious breathing — and for good reason. Each exhale releases not only carbon dioxide but tension, judgment, and emotional residue. Our bodies are miraculous that way.

Then comes the pause.
A small moment before words.

Especially when I’m speaking with someone whose views differ from mine. Instead of reacting, I listen — not to reply, but to understand. This has not always been easy for me, and I still catch myself wanting to jump in. But this practice of pausing allows space for harmony to arise, like the space between movements in Tai Chi.

To allow life to unfold is to surrender the illusion of control — to stop pushing the river. There are no shoulds in the flow of life. People are who they are, and we are constantly evolving.

I am not the same person I was in my 50s.
I am not even the same being I was six months ago.

These days, I tend to my physical, emotional, and energetic well-being with more gentleness. I listen more deeply to my intuition, to my own heart’s voice — not the outer noise telling me who or what I “should” be. The energy we are living in now — the rising 3I/Atlas frequency — calls us to live differently. The old ways of pushing, pleasing, and proving no longer serve. What does is softness, receptivity, and trust.

Sometimes, embracing the unfolding means giving ourselves permission to step back, to love others from afar, and to honor where we are. It’s okay not to be okay. It’s okay to rest.

One simple way I share with students to reconnect with their inner voice is to make a gentle fist and tap on the chest while chanting the healing sound of the heart, “HAAAA.” This vibration reminds us not to let the noise outside become louder than the truth within.

In the practice of Tai Chi and Qigong, we move with what is — not against it. We learn to be fluid, adaptable, and quietly powerful. And that, to me, is what it means to embrace the unfolding of life.

“Those who flow as life flows know they need no other force.”

~Lao Tzu

An Invitation

To experience this for yourself.
Take a moment now to pause…
Feel your breath rise and fall.
Notice where life is asking you to soften — to release the need to figure it all out, to control, to be anything other than what you are in this moment.

The next few weeks, I invite you to play with allowing life to unfold.
Breathe from your center.
Move slowly, like water finding its path.
Let laughter bubble up when it wants to.
And when challenges come, meet them with a gentle exhale and the reminder: I can flow with this too.

Each time you return to your breath, your body remembers — you are safe, supported, and part of something far greater that is guiding you.