Let it ferment and season you As few human Or even divine ingredients can.
Something missing in my heart tonight Has made my eyes so soft, My voice So tender,
My need of God Absolutely Clear.
by Shams al-Din Hafiz
Within solitude is found the deepest expression of our heart and soul….and it is here that we know ourselves as the fabric woven by God.
Being alone seems different from seeking solitude. The first happens spontaneously most every day of our lives either physically, or in an emotional state of being.
The second occurs when we mindfully seek out a space within and without for reflection and deep inner rest – a refuge if you will within the state of loneliness. Hafiz speaks of the state of loneliness as a rich source of communion with God/or source, and asks that we not discard or run away from it, but allow it to ferment.
Breathing within this state of solitude takes on new and expanded dimensions as our focus shifts from external concerns and stimuli to watching the breath take form and shape moment to moment. We may come face to face with the patterns of breathing that block us from vibrant life, or perhaps we watch as the small shallow breath drops softly down into the belly and brings us back to why we are here – back to our dreams and captive creative longings that can often be just a backdrop in the fabric of our lives.
In this place of solitude place your hands on your belly now and feel the warmth melt the hard protectiveness into a soft receptacle for the breath. Allow this soft belly breath to remind your ribcage and chest to expand in all directions. Watch, wait – even for just a moment in the life that stretches out before you – and know that it is now in this place of solitude that gifts are to be found. Do not struggle. Open the gate and walk barefoot on the soft path before you. Be still…..and allow yourself to be breathed.
On this day, in celebration of the role of motherhood bestowed upon many of us, I took a walk out into nature. Reflecting on the richness of having given birth to 3 unique and amazing sons and having been given birth to by my own mother into this lifetime, I walked softly down the country road listening to, feeling into, and seeing the natural order of things all around me with immense appreciation and gratitude.
The sound of wind, vast clouds with spaces of blue sky and sun peaking through, rivers flowing strongly from the abundance of rain, Spring flowers doting the grasslands, trees magnificent in their leafing out, bird song abounding, baby lambs all nestled together – all of the elements collaborating to bring balance, wealth and meaning to our lives.
This is our breathing space – the space of the largest and most important mother we shall ever know. Because of her we BREATHE. Because of the intricate interconnection of all life here on this planet we exist at all.
Let today be a celebration of all that is “mother” to each and every one of us – human, all species, nature, and cosmos. The mystery of it all would astound us even more if we knew exactly how everything dances together on our behalf.
We are indeed the ones we have been waiting for. It is in our hands, minds, hearts and souls to protect and bring back into balance that which gives us life….the most important Breathing Space of all – Mother Earth.
Many times over the last few weeks Breathing Spaces has commented on the innate truth of the deep interconnection of all life on this planet we call Earth and beyond. From sharing the air in each breath we take, to the moving wings of a butterfly felt on the other side of the world…to the upheaval that is presently shaking our Earth back into balance.
Co-Creating, maintaining, and honoring all ready well established natural sustainable systems that grow and thrive in balance, harmony, and interconnectedness is perhaps at the focal point of what we as humans need to remember of what has gone before….before our narcissism put us above the life forms that sustain our very being and we fell into the illusion of being separate. We do have this innate interconnected wisdom within us. It is in our cells.
This weeks post shares with you a few words taken from recent thoughts by Carolyn Myss after the most recent natural disasters. It is BreathingSpaces hope that the magic, intelligence, and mystery of our natural world, the Earth planet we live upon, be embraced with love, honoring, and gratitude….and that each person remember it is the natural order of things that brings us the very air we breathe.
Could it be that as we remember to breathe naturally within the cycles and rhythms of the breath that we were given at birth – that we will be inspired to reconnect with all that gives us life and become once again the guardians of Earth….instead of the destroyers….remembering that there is an intelligence that resides in every single living thing. and we are deeply and irrevocably connected.
……“We are now living at a time when all cycles and systems of life are out of balance, including our system of perception itself. We do not “perceive” life clearly at all and thus, we as a society make choices that are based on endless illusions. And illusions lead to disasters. There was a time not so long ago, for example, when human beings walked more humbly on the Earth and under the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. Before the “Age of Reason,” a person walked into a forest filled with the awareness that the forest was as aware of him as he was of it. He shared the ground with the forest and all the creatures who lived there. They were not his for the taking, for the slaughtering, for dominating. In times gone by, people lived in a type of consciousness in which even the slightest movement of the wind meant something – perhaps heaven was piercing the veil between dimensions, speaking in a soft breeze, moving a branch or a leaf in order to communicate a message, or a warning, or signal its approval. The stars that filled the sky at night were not just pretty, shining objects, but proof of a celestial homeland, the blanket of the Divine covering humanity. Every living creature had purpose and meaning, a place in which it was given a natural dignity because it was created by a God no one doubted existed.
Of course human beings were still human beings in those days before the Age of Reason introduced a love of logic and a God who (obviously) had scientific reasons up “his” celestial sleeve for why all things happen as they do in this whole big universe. Civilization was also a dark and dreary place back then, with disease and the plague, and endless wars … Oh wait, am I describing then or now? Oh, I’m describing their version of then, not ours. Though they also had war, and they also had epidemics, and they also had starvation, what they did not have that has driven our civilization to the brink of madness is an epidemic of narcissism blended with an epidemic of blind doubt about the existence of the cosmic structure that holds together this fragile place called Earth. Back then, no one doubted the existence of this invisible reality. Today, that doubt is an epidemic and the absence of respect and reverence for the Earth is reflected in the choices governments and corporations make as well as individuals.
Is Mother Earth angry? Don’t be silly. A cosmic force hardly gets angry. But a cosmic force is seeking balance, just as your individual body seeks balance when it has been struck with a toxin. What is the difference?
The Earth will continue to have an increase in earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, and whatever else is required to reestablish balance in Her environment. She is a living organism that is, in effect, rebooting Herself. Only the human community has the idea that we somehow live apart from the Earth, that the Earth does not respond to our breathing, to our thoughts, to our actions. It’s incomprehensible, to be sure, to even hold such a perspective. But the Earth is that sensitive.
Recycling, I assure you, is not enough. Consider the Earth as a family member instead, as a Being that sees you as clearly as you see it. And you are on the “Earth” as much when you are standing in the midst of New York City or London as you are in the middle of a forest. You are still “on the Earth”. Standing on concrete or in a building does not make it any less “Earth” except if you hold to the perception that what qualifies for the “Earth” is out of the city in green or desert nature. But that’s an illusion. How can you ever be off or away from the “Earth”? It’s precisely that perception – that Nature is in the country but not in the city – that maintains the illusion of separateness. You may prefer to be in the country but you always are on the Earth.” …….
-Carolyn Myss
Thank you to Lynn Walker for passing this on to me...
Come back to the remembering of a world where all was intimately interconnected with the natural world, and magic prevailed throughout the land. Travel with 12 year old Tilly and 13 year old Zack in an adventure of a life time – an adventure that reminds us of who we are and how far away from that we have fallen to. You won’t be able to put it down…I couldn’t!
When we come together with another life form we share the breath in the air that surrounds us. We take of the same breath so to speak. Down through the millennium this has continued. In fact we are breathing and sharing the recycled air of the dinosaurs, the very first humans, the dolphins, and the trees.
In many of the classes, workshops and retreats I have facilitated in the past I often had people sit back to back and feel their own breath first, then connect with the breath rhythm of the other without changing theirs. Almost everyone noticed, in a short period of time, that the breath would synchronize and become one.
Perhaps it was one to begin with… Through this interconnected basic biological process we can feel each other, and with acute knowing understand what is within the other – even if we do not consciously acknowledge it. What if each of us joined another – or others – in sharing a peaceful breath rhythm with each other? Would the world change?
Remember these wise words from Thich Nhat Hahn as we breathe in each others presence:
You are me, and I am you. Isn’t it obvious that we “inter-are”? You cultivate the flower in yourself, so that I will be beautiful. I transform the garbage in myself, so that you will not have to suffer. I support you; you support me. I am in this world to offer you peace; you are in this world to bring me joy. –Thich Nhat Hanh
…and catch yourself before you make that next complaint. Instead, breathe in union with another for a moment…or two….and become the lake…..
An aging master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, and so, one morning, sent him for some salt. When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it. “How does it taste?” the master asked. “Bitter,” spit the apprentice. The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.” As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?” “Fresh,” remarked the apprentice. “Do you taste the salt?” asked the master. “No,” said the young man. At this, the master sat beside the young man and said, “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things…stop being a glass. Become a lake. -a Hindu story
ANNOUNCING! Global Breathing Events: On Wednesday, March 9th from 12PM – 3PM (PST) and 8PM – 11PM (GMT) Do As One is collaborating with Tree of Life Celebration to come together in the breath celebrating unity consciousness. As we enter into the Ninth Wave of the Mayan calender we invite you to join us in the Universal Breathing Room on DoAsOne.com!
and…
On Sunday, March 20th from 12PM – 3PM (PST) and 8PM – 11PM (GMT) Do As One invites you to breathe together and usher in the Spring and Fall Equinox. People around the world will be celebrating the change of seasons by uniting in one breath.
It takes only one breath to commit to stilling that single moment into a creative listening space. A space that brings the depth of what it is to live and love NOW. What better gift can we give to ourselves, each other, and our planet in a time when there is so much stimulation to distract us from the importance of simply listening…being present.
Creative Listening by Wilferd A. Peterson. One of the most important habits of a creative thinker is to be a good listener. Stand guard at the ear-gateway to your mind, heart, and spirit. Listen to the good. Tune your ears to love, hope, and courage. Tune out gossip and resentment. Listen to the beautiful. Listen to the music of the masters. Listen to the symphony of nature–the hum of the wind in the treetops, bird songs, thundering surf. . . Listen critically. Mentally challenge assertions, ideas, and philosophies. Seek the truth with an open mind. Listen with patience. Do not hurry the other person. Show them the courtesy of listening to what they have to say, no matter how much you may disagree. You may learn something. Listen with your heart. Practice empathy when you listen. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Listen for growth. Be an inquisitive listener. Ask questions. Everyone has something to say which will help you to grow. Listen creatively. Listen for ideas or the germs of ideas. Listen for hints or clues that may spark creative projects. Listen to yourself. Listen to your deepest yearnings, your highest aspirations, your noblest impulses. Listen to the better person within you. Listen with depth. Be still and listen. Listen with the ear of intuition to the inspiration of the Infinite.
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As you still the breath a gateway to Creative Listening unfolds. Watch for the many forms that this practice can take. It can be the self listening that these men did….
TC Bank – Dream Rangers
…or simply receiving the Words of Love from your local community…and Saying It Forward
BREATHING SPACES 