“Exhale only love”

~ Rumi.

Start Here:

“Five times a day for one month. Exhale loving thoughts to five people.”

See what happens, as you exhale and “Send Loving Thoughts” to five people every day!

Miracles… You become what you think all the time…

1. Set your cell phone to “twinkle” 5 times a day, at the top of whatever hours you pick. (We avoid the word “alarm”.) You pick the hours. (for example 8am, 10am, 1pm, 3pm, 6pm)

2. Bring one specific person to mind. Imagine them standing in front of you.

3. Exhale Left sinus as a preparation. Then follow 2 ordinary rounds of Left Right Breath. On each exhale, send a wave of loving kindness, or a thank you to that person. (confession: sometimes I breathe more quickly than my natural rhythm.)

4. At first, pick people living or past that are easy for you. Every time you think of them, it makes you smile. Later on, work on the difficult relationships you may have, but become established in radiating love. Later on, you send loving thoughts to everyone.

5. It is especially powerful to silently repeat their first and last name, as you exhale. It is like addressing a postal letter. The first and last name instruction works…

6. One hour later, the cell phone twinkles and I begin 2 rounds and send heartfelt kindness or gratitude to a second person. You can use your hands. On the exhale, wave your free hand sending breath to their heart.

7. One hour later, cell phone twinkles and I dive into 2 rounds of Left Right Breath and send loving kindness, empathy, patience to a third person.

8. One hour later, I send a thank you, my heartfelt love to a fourth someone. We found it is best to do, the same person, at the same time. (ie. 11am becomes the hour you send loving thoughts to Harry… day after day.)

9. One hour later, twinkle, twinkle, I sincerely send loving kindness to a fifth person. It is a practice, not a perfection.

10. Do your Best.

11. Have fun.

FAQ:

a. If I miss an hour, should I feel guilty?

• No. No “shoulds” here. No guilt. Don’t get judgy about your practice. Commit to your commitment to love 5 people long enough for this practice to matter. One day, one week is not enough. It is your commitment to the commitment to keep sending loving kindness no matter what that matters. If you breakdown over being committed, that is when the whole project collapses. Persevere. Be unstoppable in this one thing.

b. If I miss the alarm, can I do two people the next hour?

• Yes, you are in charge of your life, your thoughts. This is a sometimes backup.

c. Why not send loving kindness to 5 people all at once?

• You can, and that could be a very wonderful and moving experience. However, experience has shown, the same person, where you just focus on them alone, at the same hour, is stronger when maintained for weeks, months, years. (ie. 10 o’clock is the “Harry hour.” The momentum builds from day to day when you follow this instruction.)

• If you keep going with this practice, the default mind state will shift. You will naturally become happier and more at peace, because you are having loving thoughts more of the time. It will become your go to response. There is a good chance, you’ll become a more loving and saintly person in the process. Program your mental software.

Q: Can I do this practice without the Left Right Breath?

• Yes, but it won’t be as strong. There is something very powerful about the breath, especially Left and Right. Breath makes thoughts potent. Another advantage to using the breath, is that it connects you back to your morning practice all through the day. When we keep looping back to left right side breathing awareness, that is pure gold. I focus on one person at a time, at the same time everyday … a couple of Left Right breaths empowers the vitality of the thoughts.

When you first hear of this concept, you might think this is like a greeting card from the Dollar Store. Cheap. Insincere. Inauthentic. Overcome that cynical voice. This has been a obstacle in my life. Cynicism pretends to be really smart, high intelligence, but cynical thinking really is just one of the obstacles that has always been in your way. I have had to wrestle with my past cynicism for years, and slowly I am making a tiny bit of progress. Reach inside and find the loving part of you, sincerely. You and I supply the sincerity to the moment.

“Fake it until you make it,” has benefits, short term.

Do your Best. Have fun.

Lets say you do this practice for a week. At 10 am you send love to your partner, for example. The next hour, you send love to another person, The hour after that, you send love to another person. The next hour, you send love to a fourth person. The next hour, you send love to a fifth person. Whoa!

These thoughts get stronger when we practice. They get weaker when we don’t practice.

If you are not feeling “loving kindness” another good choice is to say to yourself “Thank you, thank you, thank you,___________.”

What if you did this every hour for a month, 2 months…? Good to make a commitment to try it for one month and then make a decision. Go for it!

“One month. Five People. Exhaling only Love.”

Unexpected Benefits - The Compounding Effect

Every time you come back to Left Right Breath, you’ll reconnect with your morning practice. All during your day, every hour, you touch down into the reality of being here and now, echoing the vibe you found in the early am. You will be surprised how this compounding effect will exponentially reward you.

The Next Step

Next Step Suggestions: Set up your phone to “twinkle” every hour ~ 5am-7pm.

Program the thoughts you want to think. With the Left Right Breath, we start including activities, like humming. What do I want to make stronger my life.?

Experiment Part Two Suggestions: Every hour include a beneficial thought or activity on your phone. Experiment with repeating wholesome beneficial contemplative thoughts, such as gratitude, non-harming, the ethical precepts of yoga and ideas like that, throughout your day. Add a hum.

After one day, nothing happens. After 2 days, nothing much happens. The mind is like a tape recorder and keeps repeating the thoughts you think. After a month, … the beginning of huge life transforming starts…. When we mindfully inhale through one sinus, with noble mind states such as forgiveness or gratitude, these mind states become especially charged with potency.

You are in the process of reprogramming the thoughts that go through your mind all day long, and you get to do your own reprogramming. You mentally become a different person according to the thoughts you think.

Experiment Part Three: Instead of “Doing” a round of Left Right Breath every hour, instead take a “Mindfulness Moment,” a la Thich Nhat Hanh, where you stop all doing…. and just BE for a minute. Doing versus Being. Instead of breathing every hour, stop everything and just be. Compare a day of “Mindfulness Moments” versus a day of “Split Breath” at the top of every hour.

What do you expect will be the result, before the experiment? After the experiment, what do you discover? Which is more difficult? Are you surprised? Left Right Breath is easier in the middle of your flow that day, more accessible and has a greater impact. “Being” is considerably more difficult. It takes more time.

Results so far: Every Hour Breath is an active ongoing experiment, since Dec 1, 2024. The first 3 months, I programmed the Yamas and Niyamas into my phone. It was amazing to contemplate the ethical precepts throughout the day, every day, every hour. My mind got tired after 3 months of contemplating Non-violence, Truth et al, and I found the hourly reminders were losing impact. Therefore: Switch it up.

I switched the “programming” away from contemplative ideas. The focus now is on action: “A bias towards action.”

Yogic thoughts to put on your phone

Experiment #1: Dec 1, 2024 - Feb 28, 2025

Experiment #2: March 1, 2025 - the present

2 rounds of Left Right Breath

Its a practice. It is an experiment.

The Every Hour Practice of Split Breath Mindfulness is just that. I don’t know where it leads, but the direction is very promising, rewarding and fruitful. The default setting of my old cynical, jaded mind is turning toward the light.

Other inspiring phrases you might use

What you practice gets stronger

What you focus on gets bigger

What I keep doing, is who I become

The whole world is One Family

True Friends are the greatest wealth

Have fun and play

Dance

This too shall pass

Do your best, Let it go

Plant good seeds in the unconscious mind

Dig the well, before the house is on fire

Be still and know thyself

Your purpose is loving service

What is inside, leaks outside

You are always on a trajectory with your habits

What you do today does matter

You are always in the process of habit formation

My only job is to be curious about the present moment

The Slight Edge is always at work. (Get the book/audio tapes by Jeff Olsen)

I am always strengthening habits, whether they are good or bad.

Presence! Positivity!

Linger after the inhale

Linger after the exhale

Become the Witness

“Showing up is essential.

Showing up consistently is powerful.

Showing up consistently with a positive outlook is even more powerful”

“Try not to become a man of success, but become a man of value.”

What I think repeatedly, becomes who I am.

Continuous breath awareness

Life ~ Always connected to the breath

If we keep going in the direction we are going, we are going to wind up where we are headed.

Looks hard, but this is the easiest thing in the world.