As we go through our lives day by day, moods rising and falling, it is easy for us to let ourselves be controlled by our emotions. Feelings of joy, frustration, or melancholy swell up seemingly out of nowhere and may completely color our day as we are carried along, apparently helpless. As we grow out of childhood, we learn that we cannot always act on our emotions, but we don't necessarily learn to control the emotions themselves. But we can learn to control our emotions, yet still experience, enjoy, learn, and grow through them.

The Witness
The hurdle that we must overcome in our quest to master our emotions is the ability to observe our thoughts, emotions, and physical state. Richard Rosen, in his book The Yoga of Breath, tells us that one of the first steps to mastering our breath is befriending what the ancient masters called "the Witness." It is our true or "authentic" self, the self that is not caught up in thinking, doing, evaluating, re-living memories, and following our emotions.

If finding the Witness is the path to breath mastery, the breath is also the best way to summon the Witness, for it is our breath that provides us with a way to shut out the endless streams of chatter that constantly are analyzing, evaluating, planning and criticizing.

In many ways, I can say that I live to get through this moment. Usually that is because I am busy with right now that I don't have time to remember or think. All I want to do is scratch this off my do to list and move on to the next. I've got to keep moving or I'll get behind.

Not just living through the moment but fully embracing it is difficult. We have so little time in our lives with our overloaded schedules that it is difficult to carve out time for meditation or spiritual pursuits. There is always dinner, then soccer practice, getting milk for breakfast, taking clothes to the cleaners and...

My practice is Chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony. Every week I go to tea class, and the ritual preparation of tea helps me put my head right for another week. As part of the ritual, every time I pass through a gate, or a doorway, I have trained myself to leave something of the world outside. I get out of the car, and leave traffic behind. I pass through sensei's gate and leave my work to-do lists outside. I enter the front door and leave all the things I need to do for tomorrow outside. I can always pick them up on my way out again.

By the time I enter the tea room, it is like I have unburdened myself for an hour where I have space to breathe.

We know you think we're kidding, but the trick for using your perfect breath is finding little triggers throughout the day to remind yourself to take a full, mindful breath. Your morning or afternoon coffee or tea break is the perfect opportunity to breathe. And our mugs are the perfect vehicle!

Visit our our online store for everything from comfortable apparel and messenger bags, to ball caps, clocks, notepads and even extremely stylish barbecue aprons , all appropriately adorned with our Kanji logo.

Workbooks Now Available
Also, we've made our Perfect Breathing workbook available. This is the same workbook that Al uses in his Perfect Breathing seminars (see below). It's full of pure science, anecdotal evidence, exercises and a method for tracking your breathing progress. It's a great resource to have on hand. Click here to get yours today.

Schedule your Perfect Breathing seminar or keynote, with Al Lee. You and your company or organization can take advantage of Perfect Breathing's customized training and presentations. Al presents not only the latest and most compelling scientific and medical information, but valuable, practical techniques to improve health, battle stress, and become a more productive, creative person.

For bookings:
al@perfectbreathing.com

In between Perfect Breath ezines, visit us at the The Perfect Breath Blog . Get answers to your questions, share your experience and expertise with others, and stay abreast of the latest science, research, and technology. Be part of the Perfect Breath community -- everyday. Stop by and drop us a note at blog.perfectbreath.com. We'd love to hear from you!

• The adrenaline dump and tactical arousal control: It's more than just breathing (Police Training)

• Yogic Exercises for Asthma cure (American Chronicle

• Be calm! Put your mind in the zone without distractions (Dallas Morning News)

Thanks for being part of Perfect Breath. Stay tuned! If you have comments, questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,