Breathing Through

Following the news these days doesn’t just affect my thoughts—it lands in my body. A tightening in the jaw. A heaviness in the chest. A sinking feeling in the belly. Often, I don’t realize how much I’ve absorbed until I notice my body beginning to brace.

To stay awake and compassionate in this unraveling world means learning how to let the body feel—without becoming overwhelmed or shutting down when painful emotions arise.

When I notice myself constricting, I turn to a simple breath practice called Breathing Through, taught by Joanna Macy as part of the Work That Reconnects.

Rooted in tonglen—a traditional Buddhist meditation practice—Breathing Through offers a way to open to the suffering of the world without holding onto it. Rather than bracing against what you take in, you allow it to move through you—so it can be metabolized and released.

Over time, this practice builds resilience—not by armoring the heart, but by expanding it. It has taught me that true strength comes not from hardening against the world, but by becoming permeable enough to let life flow through me. When I practice Breathing Through, I feel the heaviness begin to shift— because I've pushed it away, but because I've allowed it to move.

How to Practice Breathing Through

You can do this seated, standing, or lying down. A few minutes is enough.

1. Settle into your natural breath. Close your eyes and bring your attention to your breathing. Don’t try to breathe in any special way - simply notice the breath as it moves in and out on its own. Feel the sensations at the nostrils, chest, or abdomen. Notice that you are not doing the breathing—you are being breathed. Life is breathing you, just as it breathes everyone, everywhere. 
2. Sense yourself in the larger web of life. Imagine your breath as a stream of air flowing in through your nose, down into your lungs, and into the heart space in the center of the chest. As you exhale, feel the breath flowing out through the heart, rejoining the larger living web that sustains you. Your breathing is one loop within a vast, interconnected whole.
3. Open to the pain of the world. Without searching or straining, gently allow your awareness to open to the suffering that is present—human and more-than-human. Let whatever arises come naturally: images, sensations, emotions, even numbness. All of it belongs.
4. Breathe it through. As you inhale, imagine the pain riding in on the breath—like fine granules carried on a current of air—moving through your nose, lungs, and heart. As you exhale, let it continue on its way, flowing back out through the heart into the wider web of life. You are not asked to fix or resolve anything. Just let it pass through your heart, releasing it with each outbreath. Keep breathing.
5. Return and rest. When you’re ready, let go of the imagery and return to simply noticing the natural movement of your breath. Feel your body. Sense the support beneath you. Notice what has shifted, even subtly.

Once learned, Breathing Through can become a steady companion for staying present with the suffering of our time without losing heart. Rather than resisting what you take in, you participate consciously in the great exchange that is always happening—between self and world, inner and outer, grief and love. In that exchange, you may discover that you are never separate from the web of life but held and strengthened within it. 

 This is how practice bolsters us to meet the pain of the world: not by ignoring it, and not by carrying it alone. Staying present, breathing, and allowing what we witness to move through us feels like a quiet and necessary form of resistance.

May it offer you exactly that - one breath at a time.