Did you know most of us start constriction training at a very young age? We learn it through the breathing patterns of our parents, even when we are still in the womb.
I read somewhere, “Constriction exists whenever love is absent…It is self-perpetuating because to constrict life in yourself or in another, is to welcome more suffering into your life.”
If you really stop and tune into your body, you will sense it deep inside you. If I hear or think of something that creates constriction inside me I feel the tension in my abdomen. Some people experience it in their head, neck, back, etc. Where do you experience constriction?
How you react to the discomfort defines and shapes your life.
If you shrink back from the emotional pain, you will live a life of denial and distraction. The harder you try to ignore the pain inside, the tighter it engulfs you.
It takes courage to honor and listen to the wounds within you, by doing this, you will create change.
When the constriction is allowed to persist, it will stop the person in their tracks. This person will create all sorts of excuses why they can’t create the life that they desire.
They can become controlling, frustrated, and angry. They will become possessive, jealous, and distrustful in their relationships.
A “partner” of constriction is seriousness. The tighter we hold onto anything, whether an opinion, a person, or an object, the more constricting it becomes for us. When this happens, it distorts and restricts the natural flow of love between people.
Love grows through freedom and dies through constriction.
Constriction is the physical manifestation of fear at an individual and universal level.
People respond to this fear in a couple ways. One is a repressive nature. This person will use up a lot of energy to be able to maintain a sense of ignorance of the feeling or situation. What I mean by ignorance is the inability to look at your own pain. 
It takes a massive effort to deny the pain one has inside oneself. Because of this huge effort, people will
find themselves absolutely exhausted and will refuse to accept solutions that will get them to look at the pain and take action.
The other response to constriction is a reactive nature. Similar to the repressive nature the person is unable to own the depth of the pain/issue deep inside them, the reactive nature is unwilling to own it.
The repressive nature doesn’t know how they feel, the reactive nature hates how they feel. They show this hatred by being cold-hearted. They show their fear by anger, and take it out on the world and loved ones.
They push any type of support and warmth away from them because it reminds them of their own pain.
How to handle the constriction:
When you are confronted with a situation or a person that creates a feeling of tension in your body, immediately inhale through your nose, expand your belly as you inhale, and take a long relaxed exhale. Focus on the area where you feel the tension, let your inhale and exhale “stretch” the contraction out.
If you respond quickly by breathing, the tension will lose its power. You will react more appropriately to the person or situation. Allowing you to look through a lens of love rather than fear.
We are all growing, expanding, healing from our past, and getting healthier. In order to do this successfully, we need to look at our fears and learn to accept them.
My next blog post will be on the power of acceptance, and how it allows us to break free from our wounds.
