The Power of The Rhythmic Vortex and How to Connect to It

Photo credit: Caleb Woods

A few days ago, just hours after the summer solstice, a tornado came tearing through the western suburbs of Chicago and touched down roughly two miles from my house. The destruction was severe and yet random: one house was untouched while one right nextdoor was completely destroyed. 

My daughter and I, after hearing the warning sirens, took shelter in our basement until well past midnight. The next day I practiced breathwork, realizing the power of the breath through the dynamic of these storms. We are all so much a part of our environment and I find it fascinating the way Mother Nature demands our attention. 

As always, I like to ask myself how the forces of nature are mirroring the forces within me. 

In the case of the recent storm, I felt I’d been given a glimpse into how the Earth breathes. And the emergence of a tornado was a reminder that within that breath is the potential for a swirling vortex of energy to form, clearing away anything that we don’t need. 

Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner likened the four seasons to the human respiratory cycle. Fall is the inhale, winter is a time of contraction, spring is the beginning of an exhale, and summer is the complete exhale, when we see the manifestation of released energy in the lush growth of plants and trees. 

I use Whalebreathing to tap into this same energy. The whales are so connected with the rhythm of the earth. Whales always follow a rhythmic cycle. When a pod of humpbacks hunt, they create a circle together—in essence, a powerful vortex that causes everything from below to surface and easily provides them with the shrimp and krill they need to survive.

As humans, we also have vortexes of energy within our bodies. 

Scientist Dietrich Hummel writes that, “Etheric energy moves in a vortex fashion, because the vortex provides the least resistance to the flowing motion...The natural media of water and air have this intrinsic vortex motion. Our blood and the sap of plants move in this way too.”

We are innately supplied with a circular energy that we can tap into with our breath. It’s universal, and when we surrender to the life force that is breathing us, we’re tapped into a world where we don’t have to work for our well-being. It just happens as our natural state. 

When I think of the incredible strength of a tornado, I have a sense of gratitude for the powerful vortexes that live in my bloodstream and in my magnetic field, as well. Each chakra is a vortex of energy. Each breath connects me to my own energy system and to the universal grid of energy. 

When I practice deep breathing, I feel all resistance move. All stuck emotion moves. When I breathe, I give over to something loving and beautiful and healing. 

I not only connect to my physical heart but to my etheric one as well, which is my energetic, magnetic heart. The night of the tornado, I felt a strong sense of it approaching before it struck because I could feel a shift in the magnetic field.

As we move into a new energetic paradigm, our work is to get back into our own circular energy. We do this by balancing Spirit and matter, masculine and feminine energy, fear and love. 

This is the way to experience harmony, that wonderful state that comes from being grounded in our bodies, anchored in our intuition, and connected to our heart.

If you would like to create a more powerful connection with your own energy, consider attending one of my upcoming group breathing sessions:

Breath Cafe Live in Mary’s backyard - July 14

Virtual WhaleBreathing Class - July 15

WhaleBreathing at the Flowering Heart Center - July 22

Embracing Death

I seek within
The working of creative forces, 
The life of creative powers.
Earth’s gravity is telling me
Through the Word of my feet
Air’s wafting forms are telling me
Through the singing of my hands
And heaven’s light is telling me
Through the thinking of my head,
How the great world in man
Speaks sings, and thinks

--Steiner