I knew that the Breathing variation for opening SEL 10 is a powerful flow. Wayne Hackett once told us that it was one of three flows Mary Burmeister learned and used early in her practice. And yet, somehow, I rarely think of it and almost never use it.

Not anymore, apparently.

As I was preparing my latest Cycles newsletter with the weekly astrological forecast, SEL 10 – Breathing popped up on my intuitive radar while I was pondering Chiron’s reentry into Aries on Thursday, Sep. 18. Now, the story of Chiron is too long to tell here, so I’ll leave that for my newsletter or my Effortless Reality YouTube channel. My story here is about this SEL 10 – Breathing variation.

This is a variation of the sequence on page 22 of Text 1. I modified it for self-help and am sharing here what I do when I want to give myself this flow.

I frequently do only the anchor step of a sequence and hold it for about as long as it would normally take me to do the entire flow. So you might need only Step 1, but I’ll leave that up to you.

Mod means I modified the step so I can reach it in self-help. Skip means I skip that step. Opt means optional—depending on my mood, I might do it or not.

Left Side

Step 1 (Mod). Place your right hand on Left Hi SEL 19. With your left hand, make a fist so that your fingertips touch the base of the left thumb at SEL 18.

Steps 2–3. Skip.

Step 4. Left hand on Left SEL 15, right hand on Right Hi SEL 1.

Step 5 (Opt). Left hand on Left SEL 15, right hand on Left SEL 6.

Step 6 (Opt). Left hand on Left SEL 15, right hand on Left SEL 8.

Steps 7–9. Skip.

Right Side

Step 1 (Mod). Place your left hand on Right Hi SEL 19. With your right hand, make a fist so that your fingertips touch the base of the right thumb at SEL 18.

Steps 2–3. Skip.

Step 4. Right hand on Right SEL 15, left hand on Left Hi SEL 1.

Step 5 (Opt). Right hand on Right SEL 15, left hand on Right SEL 6.

Step 6 (Opt). Right hand on Right SEL 15, left hand on Right SEL 8.

Steps 7–9. Skip.

While writing this post, I tested the left sequence for several minutes. Even though I held only the anchor step, I felt my breathing lighten up.

Wow! I guess this is why this flow is considered such a powerhouse in the JSJ community.

Do you have stories about this flow?