Talk Story with Brad · The Breath at the Center of the Work
When I think of “Let It Fly,” I literally see a gymnast flying through the air, or a shortstop handling a ground ball so smooth and then rifling the throw to first base. All effort disguised in the flow of the moment.
At the core of that effortless behavior is an enormous amount of reps, flawless practice, and complete flow of movement made easy. Combine it with breathing through the heart, a breath that settles the mind and brings unity to mind, body, and spirit awareness, and you are ready to Let It Fly.
“Let It Fly” is the freedom of expression that comes from absolute discipline. You overlearn the skills.
You take the skill so far past “got it” that it becomes automatic, so it holds up when the pressure comes and you resort to thinking instead of feeling. That's overlearning. Pair it with the fitness and endurance to go the distance, and now you've earned the right to Let It Fly with Fire and Passion.
Fire and Passion: Two Flames, One Heart
Fire is the energy you need to perform at your best under pressure. Fire burns quickly. It lives with excitement and enthusiasm, the E in our GED Foundation. You need Fire to execute the essential skills with solid form, the right intensity, and proper technique, right there in the moment.
Passion is the energy you need to keep coming back until mastery is achieved. Passion burns slowly. It lives with acceptance, devotion, and love. You need Passion to battle the competition and the distractions: the doubt, the discomfort, the pain. And you come out the other side with joy, satisfaction, and success over a season, a career, a lifetime.
Fire and Passion are the same energy. One burns fast, one burns slow. And the regulator between them is not in your head. It's in your chest. Breathing through your heart is how you turn the flame up for the moment and bank the coals for the long haul. The head cannot calm the heart. Never has, never will. But the heart can calm the head, and light it up right on time.
Inhale for five seconds. Exhale for five seconds.
Cardinal Rule #1: Maintain Attention and Awareness
Attention: Stay Open
To stay open, in the words of Michael Singer in The Untethered Soul, is to “lean into the work.” Your efforts line up with what you want to achieve. Your attitude is good, and you know it when it isn't. Your posture is grounded. You are confident and it shows. Shoulders pulled back. Chin tucked. A slight smile on your face. And at the center of it all, you are breathing through your heart. Air flowing in and out through the center of your chest, slow and even. An open posture and an open heart are the same thing. That's what “stay open” means.
To stay open is to stay present throughout your performance. You know the demands and you can get the job done. You will push through any and all resistance. You have arrived at the intersection of work-tough and work-fun. And lastly, you battle. You put your best effort on the line and you accept the results.
Rationale: To stay open when it counts requires the attention to be grateful for the experience, excited for the challenge, and devoted to completing the work. Gratitude. Excitement. Devotion. That's GED, and the heart breath is the doorway to all three.
Awareness: Be Mindful
Mindfulness, in the words of Jon Kabat-Zinn in Mindfulness for Beginners, “is a consistent and gentle discipline.” It's a way of thinking that lets you live with greater presence, practice deep listening, and build acceptance, patience, trust, and the ability to let go of upsets.
The connection between mindfulness and awareness is knowing when and how to press back against negative emotion. You take a close look, you see the bigger picture, you evaluate your options, you make a sound decision, and you let the negative emotion flow through you.
And how does it flow through you? Not by thinking. You cannot think negative energy out of your body. What you resist, persists. You breathe it through your heart. Slow breath in through the heart, slow breath out. Each breath says yes to the feeling and gives the energy somewhere to go. That's Accept Love doing its work in real time.
You can't think it through. You breathe it through.
When It Won't Pass: Caught Inside, Struggle, Flowing
Sometimes the energy is too big to simply pass through. When that happens, you're going to move through three stages. And if you look close, you'll see the Hammah swinging inside them. The Hammah is our tool for working through anything: three swings, every time. Awareness, Acceptance, Completion.
Caught Inside
Every surfer knows this one. You're caught inside, stuck in the impact zone, sets breaking right on your head, and every wave pushes you back before you can catch your breath. That's what happens when the mind builds a story with you cast as the main character of the problem. This always happens to me. I'm the victim here. You're no longer feeling frustration. You've become the frustrated one. The feeling has put on your jersey and taken the field in your place. You are consumed by frustration and anger.
Action Plan: Find the why. Be grateful, and find the “why” of what you want to have happen. The why gives you the motivation to stay open and move forward with a positive attitude and an open heart. And the first move back to an open heart is one slow breath through it. That single breath drops you below the story and back into your body, where the energy can move again. That's the first swing: Awareness.
Struggle
You struggle at times with the presence of frustration and anger. It comes and goes. Some days you have it handled; some days it has you. This is the paddle back out. Wave after wave, one duck dive at a time.
Action Plan: Breathe. This is where the full heart-breath protocol goes to work. Bring your attention to the center of your chest. Breathe in and out through your heart, five seconds in, five seconds out. On each breath, welcome the feeling. Say yes to it. You're here. You belong. You are my body getting ready to do something that matters to me. Anxiety, frustration, anger: it's all energy that hasn't been given a job yet. Deep, clearing breaths through the heart settle you down, end the struggle, and put you back in charge of the fuel. That's the second swing: Acceptance.
Flowing
You've made it back outside. Sitting in the lineup, calm water, clear eyes. You have learned from the situation and reframed the emotions. The energy no longer sticks to you.
Action Plan: Take action. Stay devoted. Maintain the attention and awareness to complete the healing process, one heart breath at a time. At this point the negative emotions pass easily through you, like waves pass through the ocean. What's left behind is Fire for the moment and Passion for the long haul. That's the third swing: Completion.
Caught Inside → Struggle → Flowing
The three swings of the Hammah: Awareness, Acceptance, Completion
Summary: The Heart of It
Learning to “Let It Fly with Fire and Passion” begins with maintaining the attention and awareness to stay open and let negative energy pass through you, and the breath through your heart is how it passes. This process will take everything you have to give. And in the end, the work comes back to you as an increase in Gratitude, Excitement, and Devotion for embracing the challenge. You will get closer to your objectives, and often you will reach them entirely.
Overlearn the skills. Stay open. Breathe through your heart. Give the energy a job. Then Let It Fly.
That's HiLevel!
Brad Yates
HiLevel Coaching Service