Launching ‘Breath Campaign’ in Oman to help people face challenges
The first step to facing any of life’s problem is to breathe. Such is the philosophy of Ahmed bin Sulaiman al Alawi, founder of Science Traveller Company and currently, a community motivator who launched the “Breath Campaign.”
Ahmed posited that while we get to enjoy a lot of the amazing things the modern world brought along, it has also created a stressful, often challenging environment.
“I chose ‘breathing’ because it is an ideal method to face life’s challenges with calm and wisdom,” he said.
He added, “Everyone knows how to breathe. Everyone does it anywhere, anytime and without costing money. But not a lot of people know how to utilise proper breathing. Not a lot of people know how to work with their respiratory system and dwell inward so that they can arrange their thoughts and feelings,” he explained.
He added, “Breathing is an ideal method to face life’s challenges. When one faces issues with calm and wisdom, with meditation, that demeanour is also reflected in an individual’s behaviour,” he said.
Ahmed’s Breath Campaign has three main goals. First, help people to get rid of anxiety and tension. Second, to be more connected to their spiritual side. And third, connect with nature.
“When one has learned how to breathe properly, meditate, regardless of the difficult circumstances surrounding them, they will be able to refer to the spirit of life and will find joy and happiness inside them,” he said.
“People are going through challenges in their lives, and they have to recognize these challenges. They also have to think that for every problem there is a solution. Breathing is considered as a powerful tool that takes you to the spirit of life, no matter what the conditions are,” he shared.
“The connecting with nature part, one does not necessarily have to isolate in nature. The point is just to be in it, interacting with it. It can either be planting a tree or taking a short walk by the beach,” he said.
For Ahmed, Ramadhan is actually a great opportunity to launch the breathing campaign and encourage everyone to adopt the habit.
With the spiritual atmosphere of Ramadhan really high, he said people will be able to feel the positive impact of the exercise.
“The idea came to me after watching an awareness video of a spiritual teacher named Eckhart Tolle. Also, an author, Tolle in the video, talked about the world that is designed to challenge you. He said that after one problem, another usually rise that human life has become a pot of challenges and pressures. This video inspired me to think about launching a campaign to help people face life’s challenges and how to deal with it,” he said.
It is for this reason that Ahmed tapped his company the Science Traveller Company to develop the idea and launch it into a full bloom campaign.
Manal al Khaifi is one of the specialists who has been involved in breath campaigns. She is a self-awareness trainer and advanced practitioner of meditative breathing.
“What drove me to participate in breathe campaign is that for the first time, the Sultanate held a campaign about breathing and I really appreciate the level of development and professionalism by this organisation. I participated in this campaign by presenting workshops on breathing techniques,” Al Khaifi said.
“I have presented a group of breathing exercises in a correct manner that restores cells and increases their activity as well as contributes to the balance of the body. The workshops also included awareness of the wrong breathing forms as the body doesn’t get enough oxygen which causes fatigue and the inability to perform during the day,” she added.
Among many the most important benefits of correct breathing techniques are the balance of the body and the nervous system, strengthening the respiratory and immune systems, and raising the body’s energy. Through breathing, a person can express his feelings and thoughts because he moves to a state of mental clarity without impulsion or emotion to the surroundings. As well as expanding awareness of feelings, thoughts and pressures, and how to deal with them with flexibility.
Breathe campaign began on March 24 and will continue throughout the holy month of Ramadhan, and will run even after the holy month is over. The campaign’s programs are conducted online on the Science Traveller Company website. Online courses are presented by specialists in the field of meditative breathing. These materials can also be found on the company’s various social media platforms.
To learn more about the Breathing Campaign, you can follow them on Instagram @science.traveller.a