The Breath of Expansion & Contraction
A Living Metaphor for Growth
Breathe in…
Can you feel your lungs expand?
Can you feel the energy stretching outward into your entire being?
Breathe out…
Do you sense the contraction — the way your body collapses slightly inward — until the emptiness aches for oxygen once again?
Try it for a few minutes.
Breathe in and feel the expansion.
Breathe out and feel the contraction.
It struck me the other day just how profound this simple rhythm is. It’s not just biological — it’s metaphorical. A living, breathing metaphor for growth.
For so long, I believed growth was only about expansion. The inhale. The rush of newness, aliveness, and the thrilling momentum of becoming more of who I was designed to be. I thought the path of transformation was just one exhilarating breath in after another.
But now I see how essential the outbreath is too.
Because real growth requires release.
It asks us to exhale the parts of ourselves that no longer serve.
To let go of outdated stories and inherited beliefs that keep us small.
Recently, this pattern showed up powerfully in my own life.
Over the past few months, I’ve been presented with some beautiful opportunities — moments that felt expansive and aligned, both in my business and my being. I said yes with a full sacral fire, trusting the "uh-huh" that Human Design teaches us to follow.
And for a moment, it felt like I was flying — filled with the oxygen of possibility.
But then came the contraction.
Unexpected challenges. Uncomfortable responses. Subtle shadows. And suddenly, old voices began to rise:
“I’m too old.”
“It’s too late.”
“This isn’t for me.”
“I should just stay small.”
These beliefs didn’t come out of nowhere — they’ve been with me for years. But this time, something was different.
This time, I noticed.
I watched myself contract. I felt how I was holding my breath, tightening around those limiting beliefs. And I realized I had a choice:
Would I stay in the shallow breath of self-doubt?
Or would I breathe back in — deeply, intentionally — and return to the expansion of who I’m becoming?
Awareness is everything.
Just like we often move through life unaware of our breath, we often overlook the energetic rhythms of our becoming. But when we slow down enough to notice — when we attend to our breath — we move into presence. And presence is where transformation lives.
This is the essence of my Human Design practice. It’s about noticing — not just the peaks of expansion, but the valleys of contraction too. Because both are sacred. Both are necessary. One cannot exist without the other.
The next time life offers you something big — something that makes you feel lit up, aligned, and ready — pay attention. And when contraction follows (because it will), don’t resist it. Let it teach you. Let it show you what’s ready to be released.
Let it make space for the next breath.
Affirmations to Anchor In
“I breathe in life into my being.”
“I breathe out my being into life.”
Breathe it all,
Dyan
