breathe with me Archives - Page 2 of 2 - ⚡️Kristen Kalp

Posts in "breathe with me" Category — Page 2

How to lose 100 pounds in about an hour.

When the Western world talks about losing weight, we’re nearly always referring to our physical bodies.  But everything else in our lives has weight, too: our possessions, our financial choices, our emotions, and our worries, to name a few.

In this episode of That’s What She Said, we dive deeper into what it looks like to lose weight beyond the whether-or-not-you-have-a-thigh-gap level.  (Because the presence or absence of a thigh gap is the least interesting thing about you.)

The goal is to feel…lighter.

Do any one of the tasks presented for about an hour to gather some rad benefits. The goal is not to do all of them, or you’ll feel like a failed Marie Kondo instead of a freaking champion. (Konmari for Business is here.)

Let’s lose weight in physical-but-not-bodily, financial, and emotional ways.

The free breathwork session mentioned is called Lighter. You can get it right here.

How to reclaim joy even if you’re currently miserable, sad, and/or angry.

productivity police

Most people are afraid that having found the perfect parking spot on a busy day at the mall directly translates to someone they know being diagnosed with a horrible illness this week. Or that having spent a day doing nothing with no distractions will cause the roof to leak. Or that a stunning business success means the car will break down within minutes of cash hitting your bank account.

Most people are absolutely terrified of joy.

I get it: joy is vulnerable.

Finding joy in the ocean or a lover or sunlight means you’ll have to admit that not being near the ocean or that lover or sunlight can be painful.

Further, because there’s always something to be miserable about, joy is easy for other people to bat out of our hands and shame away: don’t you know there are starving children/diseases/natural disasters/misery somewhere? HOW DARE YOU BE HAPPY!!!?

So, we pretend we don’t feel anything when we’re delighted. We tamp down our enthusiasm and get really fucking SERIOUS about joy. That means we leave delight to kids at birthday parties who are busy eating their eighth slice of Pinteresting cake after jumping in the bouncy house instead of actually feeling happy for a second ourselves.

(And we don’t enjoy the cake. We never really enjoy the cake, even if we bother to eat it.)

Brene Brown calls the part of us that looks around and waits for the other shoe to drop when we find something amazing ‘foreboding joy.’ It means we’re actively keeping one foot out of the good feelings in order to stave off the future sadness or despair that we believe is sure to follow.

Only, denying joy as it comes to us doesn’t make loss any less devastating. Depression doesn’t hold itself at bay because we’ve failed to enjoy ourselves for a whole month, and no one is handing out ‘Kept Her Smile Thin-Lipped and Didn’t Laugh’ awards.

Related! Listen to Joy 101: why I dress like a four-year-old for a deeper dive into the first steps to reclaiming joy.

What if we gave up on foreboding joy?

What if we reveled in everything we’ve got at this moment, EVEN THOUGH there’s misery in our lives and our friends’ lives and in the lives of most members of humanity?

…and what if we made room to experience delight and wonder and the full spectrum of being alive, in particular the emotions that are the most remarkable and astonishing?

I’ve fought my way through 17 years of depression, sadness, despair, and general wallowing in feels to be able to get to where I am now.  (See the bevy of articles about this topic here, here, here, here, and here.)

At this very moment, I can laugh easily, wag my bottom half at puppies, and make children giggle wherever I go. I’ve faced countless eyerolls and huffy noises from strangers because I don’t tamp the good shit down anymore. I don’t hold in laughs or hide smiles or try not to enjoy the enjoyable things in life.

In other words, I’ve earned joy.

I’ve slogged my way through internal goblins and demons and have fought tooth and nail for the full-throated laughter available to me in any given moment.

You can reclaim joy, too.

It starts with the willingness to experience it, even though someone, somewhere, isn’t happy at the moment. (And even though some part of you isn’t happy at the moment.)

All the Joy is a 1-hour breathwork class for identifying, feeling, and just plain enjoying joy.

If you’re ready to stop being afraid of the good emotions life has to offer — i.e. every single feeling that makes life worth living — it’s time to take the class. (Also if you’re ready to enjoy cake or stop batting down your own aliveness because someone, somewhere is suffering…)

I’ll ask you to lie down in a place where you feel safe, then walk you through the breathing pattern and through each step of returning to joy.  If you’ve got an hour and a bed, you’re ready.

This breathwork class is $22 and is available on March 20th, 2018.

That’s comparable to the cost of a drop-in yoga class and less than a hardcover book, only you can do this class as many times as you’d like and without having to put pants on. 😉

P.S. Joy is a choice.  And an act of resistance.

Receive breathwork class is here!

Breathwork class // receive image

One of the themes I’ve been working on for years now is receiving. I’ve had to learn to receive compliments and pleasure and kindness and fulfillment in ever-increasing amounts since falling in love with Bear three years ago.

If you’re like, RECEIVING, KRISTEN!? REALLY THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM!?? MUST BE NICE.

Stay with me.

Receiving sounds AWESOME in theory but is often tricky in practice.

How often do you let a compliment land instead of a.) doubting it or b.) returning it immediately to the person giving it?

Read: NOILIKEYOURSWEATERBETTER!!!!

Or: OHTHISOLDTHING,ITWAS$4ATTARGET.

Have you ever been embarrassed by accepting a gift because your inner asshole brain is freaking out that you didn’t bring a gift to give in return? Or that you brought the ‘wrong’ gift?

Do you distrust strangers who are being nice to you because you assume they want something?

To be perfectly frank: are you really all-the-way-down-okay with receiving oral sex from a partner?

All of those forms of receiving take work. (Or at least, they did for me.)

In a time of giving and giving and giving, it’s important to take a moment to receive.

To let the kindness of another person deeply affect you.

To let someone compliment your hair/shirt/heart/soul/work without batting down the praise or rushing to reciprocate it.

To enjoy all acts of kindness without keeping a running list of how you’re going to return the favor or even the score.

Ultimately, the more we receive, the more energy and juice and love we have to give.

I’m specifically talking about receiving more of the good stuff that has no limits here on earth: more joy, more delight, more wonder, and more awe. (See also: miserable people don’t leave joy in their wake.)

If you wanna do the work of getting more alive and more open — and therefore more able to receive love and joy and pleasure and energy — the Receive breathwork class will do the trick.

You’ll lie down and breathe with me.

You’ll relax for a bit afterwards.

And you’ll end with a heart just a tad more open than it is right now.

Introverts! You can do this class at home and without wearing shoes or pants or even clothes, if you want. All you need is a place to lie down, a pillow, and the breathwork recording.

Extroverts! Invite a friend or seven over and do it together! I might die from pure delight if you send me a photo of your meet-up afterward.

The Receive breathwork class is $22.  Pick it up here.

It’s available via magical instantaneous download after checkout and is about an hour long.

25% of all breathwork proceeds are donated to Together Rising and/or Flying Kites

If you’re ready to lean into your own discomfort and blow through a bunch of the stuff that means you shut down around people, don’t trust compliments, and/or hate getting gifts, please join me.

Curious about whether this is right for you? It’s priced so that experimenting doesn’t cost you much more than a yoga class. Give it a whirl.

Why breathwork? I talk all about my reasons for loving the practice here. This podcast episode also talks about my training and my love of breathwork: show your work.

breathwork testimonial

P.S. If you want to release some more resentment you have toward those you love, BOOM this podcast is for you.  Show your work!