Breath – it’s a powerful and healing word. A lovely combination of meditative movement and breathing is taking place in of all places, Houston Texas. Yoga meets performance art in a piece created by Pam Johnson and Lynn Birdwell entitled “Breath, the Pulse of the Universe.”
Photo credit: Rivet
The live event is a three-part experiential homage to breath — beginning with a short art film, directed by Birdwell and produced by Rivet, which features Johnson, a long-respected local yoga acharya. Then Johnson leads Tadasana Breath Troupe in an on-stage performance. The piece closes with a short, guided meditation by Birdwell.
The inspiration for the piece was to capture and inspire awareness about the breath, which is both the essence of the ancient healing practice of yoga as well as the innate human capacity to create and manage internal spaces.
Since the show closes with a guided meditation, the audience is able to experience spirituality and art firsthand. Participants are encouraged to quiet external distractions and tap into their internal senses.
The piece has already been performed in the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Rothko Chapel, as well as in Austin and California.
Photo credit: Rivet
Birdwell and Johnson continue to search for appropriate venues for “Breath” throughout the world. Because the program features expressively sonorous surround-sound, the audience is enveloped in a peaked sensory perception.
Says breath coach and Vinyasa Krama practitioner Johnson:
“Change your breath, change your life.”
She has a similar rationale behind her more than 30 years teaching ancient classical Himalayan pranic yoga. It all comes back to breathing.
“When people are watching us move, and hearing us breathe in surround sound, they almost can’t help but start breathing with us,” said Johnson. “It has a calming effect on the mind”
“The calming and centering power of attentive breathing is more important now than ever.”
“We need to turn inward,” she said. “This calmness and mindset that breathing can create is a way of slowing things down in an increasingly fast-paced world. Once we can experience that, then we can take it out into the world and change things.”
Birdwell asserts that by being better breathers, individuals can become better listeners. “It can change the way we see nature and other people,” she says. Her hope is that the program can help people find inner calm and change their lives for the better.
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Renee Blodgett is the Founder and Managing Editor of We Blog the World, a global travel, culture and lifestyle publication exploring the world through the lens of meaningful experiences, human connection and cultural depth. Having lived in 10 countries and traveled to 95, Renee has spent much of her life immersed in the people, traditions, landscapes and ideas that shape how we experience the world.
Since launching We Blog the World in 2007, she has written and produced extensive editorial coverage spanning boutique and luxury travel, culinary experiences, arts and culture, wellness, adventure, technology, spiritual traditions and transformative travel. Her work is rooted in the belief that travel is about more than where we go—it is also about what a place, culture or encounter awakens within us.
Renee brings more than three decades of experience across journalism, photography, media, brand strategy, technology, wellness and global storytelling. She has worked with companies and organizations around the world on brand positioning, communications, product launches, media strategy, speaker positioning and storytelling. Through Blue Soul Media, she works with authors, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and purpose-driven brands to clarify their message and expand their impact, which includes speaker coaching/training for high-profile stages such as TED and bringing authors’ work to market while retaining authors rights.
She is also the co-founder of Blue Soul Earth, an educational platform exploring consciousness, ancient wisdom, spirituality, healing and the intersection between science and the nature of reality. Renee is the producer and host of the award-winning Blue Soul CHATS, a conversational series bringing together leading voices in science, technology, consciousness, wellness and spirituality.
Her growing body of work also includes Blue Soul Living, which extends her interest in consciousness and well-being into the spaces we inhabit, exploring how intentional design, energy and environment can support greater harmony and connection.
Renee is the award-winning co-author of the bestselling Magdalene’s Journey and founder of the Magdalene Collection, inspired by women’s voices, stories and wisdom across cultures and generations.
A longtime photographer and storyteller, Renee has documented people, places and cultures around the world and produced photographic collections focused on destinations including the Galápagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome and Ecuador. She also co-founded Traveling Geeks, an international initiative that brought entrepreneurs, journalists, creators and technology leaders together with their counterparts in other countries to exchange ideas and explore innovation across cultures.
Renee’s work has been recognized by Forbes, the United Nations and others for her influence in media and social storytelling. Across her work in travel, media, consciousness and culture, a common thread remains: curiosity about the world, the stories that connect us and the ways meaningful experiences can change how we see ourselves and one another.
