After last week’s bout with all the wildfire smoke in NYC, it got me thinking a lot about the role that our lungs play in our lives.

There are the more (potentially obvious) physical impacts on our health and our body's ability to function with ease and efficiency, but our lungs also have a direct connection to our ability to thrive in our lives, and play the game of life full out.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, many of us are moving through our days breathing to survive, not breathing to thrive.

You see, our lungs not only help us inhale and breathe in the oxygen and other nutrients that our body needs, they are directly correlated with the idea of inspiration -our soul’s ability to feel inspired by life and open to accepting and receiving all of the gifts that life has to offer.

And our exhales aren’t simply only about breathing out to release the toxins and byproducts of our breath that the body has produced and no longer needs. They are about our soul's ability to let go of control, surrender and gracefully release things that no longer serve us.

And like any muscle in the body, with practice, we can strengthen and train our lungs.

But it isn’t just about training the lungs.

We have to train our nervous system as well.

If our body is used to taking short, shallow breaths or possibly holding our breath and not breathing at all, the nervous system is going to think that’s normal.

Short and shallow breaths are us breathing to survive and therefore signals to our brain to stay in survival mode.

As we retrain our lungs to function differently, we have to coach the nervous system as well, so that it feels safe and secure in turning our new longer, deeper breathing patterns into a habit, creating a partnership between our lungs and our nervous system.

That is us breathing to be alive and signals to our brain that it is safe to thrive.

Cultivating our breath can teach us to trust the process in the same way we trust that there will be a next breath.

And when we trust the process, we automatically breathe (and live) more fully and deeply.

It's a reciprocal relationship.

So today I want you to choose your own adventure.