You know that feeling – you’re lying back in a hammock, cool breeze caressing your face, great new book waiting to be read, the waves gently lapping the beautiful sandy beach – perhaps your even on some tropical isle and a waiter is about to bring you something to drink that’s cool and exotic and tastes oh so good. And you let out a deep, long sigh – Aaaaaaaahhh.
It feels great – the release, the gratitude, that sweet, sweet sense of peace.
Perhaps you’ve let out such a long, deep sigh in relief after a medical test has come back OK, or after a long and difficult challenge is finally over.
You know that sigh – it’s like anything and everything can be let go of, at the same time as anything and everything can be accepted.
Maybe it is hard to match the gratitude of a good medical result or the peaceful release of a much-anticipated holiday.
But if you try my Aaaaaaaaahhh principle you might be able to recapture that sense, even every day.
Let’s start with the slightly shorter Aaaaaahh to get you practising, before we move on to the longer version.
Awareness – become aware of the thoughts in you head, softly without attachment to them
Acknowledgement – acknowledge that you have ‘good’ and ‘bad’ thoughts, without labelling them
Acceptance – accept the thoughts you’d rather not have (eg guilt,fear,frustration) and breathe them out
Attitude – choose an attitude of love and compassion and thoughts of kindness, forgiveness and joy
Attention – continue to focus on loving thoughts and watch them grow in between the stillness
Appreciation – appreciate the flow of loving thoughts and the peaceful spaces between them
Happiness – enjoy happiness as loving thoughts and peaceful presence become your habitual mental state
Health – realize the health benefits of a calm, peaceful and loving mind
Feels good right.
Now for the longer version you can add in:
Alignment – know that when your thoughts flow with love you are in sync with the universe
Abundance – realize that your loving thoughts in alignment with the universe create everlasting abundance
Awakening – understand that it is universal love that flows through you connecting you to everything and everyone
and finish with:
Harmony – feel at one with the divine universe (God) and know that anything is possible
Aaaaaaaaahhh, now that feels great.
Love for you to try it – let me know how you go. Linking up with Essentially Jess for IBOT and joining in FYBF with Grace.
Kathy X
36 Comments on “The Aaaaaaaaahhh principle”
Very cool Kathy. Lots to think about xx
Thanks Deb.
Sounds lovely to me! I’m working on my health and back into daily yoga so my current aaaahhhh is the next day aches haha!
So glad the yoga is going well for you Amy – and there is a certain aaaahhh in feeling those aches and pains when you know your body is benefiting – I love the feeling of tired muscles, makes me feel alive.
You can send that hammock my way thanks! 🙂
It does look very tempting right now Nikki – but you may have to just close your eyes and imagine!
I loved this and actually did the aaaaaaaah as I read. Thank you for the wonderful reminder. Denyse #teamIBOT
Glad you liked it Denyse and hope you felt a little more relaxed as you read>
Really interesting – I heard on the radio this morning that sighing was good for heart health. Only they made it sound like the tsk tsk, head shaking version. I like this much better!
I think there’s nothing like a long, loud sigh – the louder the better – nice to know it is good for heart health.
Oh this is wonderful – what a clever acronym!
Thanks Melissa.
You’re too clever, Kathy. And yes, it does feel good. I always have that aaah moment after a swim. It’s the only thing that really winds me down 🙂
Thanks Renee. A swim always feels great, especially if I just float for a while. It is that suspension of the senses underwater I think – you just feel a real sense of peace.
The short version is very similar to what I am doing with my psychologist at the moment. I find it much easier to accept that the thoughts that I don’t like will come, but that it is how I deal with them that matters. I feel less pressure that way.
That’s great that a similar technique is helping you Tegan. Our minds can be crazy – we have negative thoughts then feel guilty for having negative thoughts, then feel guilty for feeling guilty! Talk about piling on layers of emotion!
Love this Kathy. I read something recently about the misconceptions around “taking a deep breath” but often it’s the exhaling that’s far more beneficial. Such a release (and relief). Another great post. Hope your weekend is full of aaaah moments. x
I agree – and the deeper we exhale the more room we leave to ‘breathe in’ the good stuff. I think we need plenty of aaaaahhh moments and hopefully some Ah-Ha moments too!
I need a bit of Ahhhhh at the moment….Ahhhhhh!
You’re welcome – enjoy the moment.
I LOVE this! I love your Aaaaaaaaahhh principle. That is so cool. I am going to share this with my clients. Good job!
Thanks so much Leanne – I shared it teaching my yin yoga class the other day and there were lots of sighs (good) in the room!
This is great Kathy. Makes me feel relaxed as I start my work from home. Aaaaaahh Thanks
That’s great. Always good to start work relaxed – hope you have a great Friday.
These are all good ones! I think acceptance is going to be my key word this year…
It really starts with acceptance doesn’t it Grace. Otherwise we spend our lives arguing with what IS. Doesn’t mean we can’t embrace change – we just have to be OK with where we are and change from there.
I’m hoping that big sigh comes this weekend following our 23rd house move. I can almost see the light at the end of a long, dusty, box ridden tunnel.
OMG – 23 moves. You deserve the deepest and most energizing, relieving of sighs after that! Good luck.
I love my little ahhhh moment just as I finish a work out, or as I hop into bed. Really enjoying meditation at the moment x
I think an Aaaahhh is a great way to seal off a day or an achievement, just as much as it is a letting go of anything niggling.
That’s beautiful Kathy (as always). Have you thought of recording that as a video or podcast? I’d love to have a soothing voice telling me those things as I fell asleep!
Thanks you and good idea Lara – I shared it when I taught my yin yoga class the other day. I have plans to do some more meditations (I’ve mostly done kids ones but some adult ones too).
I really love this, Kathy. I definitely know what it feels like to let out a big ‘aaaah’ but have never thought of it this way. Next time I will. Thank you. x
I love this. I’ve book marked the page because a little bit of ahhhh is exactly what I need right now!
Thanks Melissa – nice of you to visit and hope you enjoy your Aaahhh later on.
I felt a huge aaaahhhhh come out of myself as I read this Kathy. I have been exploring more of this lately and your post was perfect timing and I took it as a sign that by allowing myself more aaaaahhhh moments I am on the right path xx