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.
This past week I received my Daily Om which is often just what I need to reflect on for the day. Living life in these times can be challenging, as it feels we are in the midst of one of the most powerful shifts on all levels that has ever been experienced. It is an honor to be alive at this time….and it is also a time in which we can be pulled out of our center and off of the path that we have chosen by the daily stimulus that comes at us from every side.
To “be quiet” within ourselves, at least for some moments every day, is a practice which sustains our authentic being and fuels the manifestation of our dreams. Emptying out by just being and breathing can be the juice that brings us back home to the heart and soul of our being….and melts the self imposed barriers to being present for this life that we have been given.
May 11, 2011 Hovering around the Sun Avoiding the Center
Quiet time each day is so important, but many are so out of practice that it’s almost unnerving to be in stillness.
“It’s funny to imagine our lives as something we spend a lot of time avoiding, because it seems like that would be impossible to do. Our lives consist of everything we engage in, from showering to sleeping, but also a lot of busy work that distracts us and keeps us from looking at our lives. Experiencing our life from the inside means taking time each day to simply be alone and quiet in the presence of our soul. Many of us are so out of practice that it’s almost unnerving to have a moment to ourselves. As a result, we may have stopped trying to carve out that time to take a seat at the center of our lives.
One of the reasons it can be uncomfortable to sit with ourselves is because when we do, we tend to open ourselves to an inner voice, which might question the way we’re living or some of the choices we’re making. Sometimes the voice reminds us of our secret, inner yearnings, dreams we thought we had forgotten. When we already feel overwhelmed by our busy schedules, the idea of hearing this voice can be exhausting. However, its reflections are the chords that connect us to our authentic selves, and they are the very things that make our lives worth living. When we continually avoid connecting with our life, we risk losing out on the very purpose of our existence.
To begin the process of being more present and less absent in your life, you might want to set aside just a few minutes each day to simply sit with yourself. This doesn’t mean watching a movie or reading a book, but taking time each day for self-examination to avoid the avoidance, to be with yourself in an open way. After a while, you may start to enjoy this part of the day so much that you make less busy work for yourself, so that you can spend more time at the center of your own life, rather than hovering like a planet around the sun.”
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!
The 80 and 90 year old women and men that I see frequently in the medical clinic never cease to amaze me. Many are still driving, living on their own, dress beautifully (and colorfully!) and have a zest for life reflected in their curiosity, creativity, sense of humor, and varied interests that I find contagious! I often ask them how old they feel inside and I often get the answer of at least 50 years younger than their actual age.
I remember when I turned 50, and was having a very difficult time of it. I asked a beautiful woman in her 70’s how old she felt inside and she paused a bit and then said – well I do believe I feel about 24, until I pass by a mirror and happen to glance at my image she laughed. It was then that I realized that aging is an inside job – and how healthy and vital we remain through the years that we are given is a great deal in our hands, our minds, our hearts – and our practices.
90-year-old Andora Quimby started weight training at age 78!
Here is a portion of a blog post on Living To Be 100 from David Dowell – Creator of OomphTV (who has a mother in her 80’s that teaches yoga and has recently launched, with her daughter, a business called The Green Buddha)
Be sure to look for Breathing Spaces additional “secret”!
***************** Today I ran across an article from Health magazine. Apparently those born after the year 2000 are more likely than ever to live to 100, according to research from Denmark. Good news for the kids, but what about us grown-ups? Genetics do play a big factor in how long you live (thank you grandparents), but only somewhere between 20% and 50%, depending on the experts you ask. That still leaves over 50% up to YOU! Walter Bortz II, MD, a clinical associate professor of medicine at Stanford, suggests how you can improve your odds of a long life and reduce disease.
We can call this The Walter Bortz II, MD, Secrets to a Long Life: *Bulk up on fruits and veggies, +5 years (plant based whole foods diets reduce disease) *Exercise five days a week, +2 to +4 years (move and elevate your heart rate for a half-hour a day, minimum) *Reduce stress, up to +6 years (from meditation to music to movement to art therapy. Find something that work for you. *Get a hobby, +2 years (provides a sense of accomplishment.) *Floss, +6.4 years (removing harmful bacteria reduces stroke and heart attack risks.) *Vacation, +1 to +2 years (leisure is a great stress reliever!) *Sleep seven to eight hours nightly, +2 years (sleep assists cell repair.) *Have sex, +3 to +5 years (releases feel good hormones and burns about 200 calories, too!) Thought you would like to know!
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*BreathingSpaces Addition:
Breathe Consciously and Fully, +7 years (assists body/mind/heart/spirit to stay vital, energetic, and in balance/harmony! Also great stress reliever and disease buster!! )
After all is said and done my vote is for quality, and the above “good habits” can certainly contribute to that. By the way, it is never too late to start! Let us know if there are additional practices that you would add!
BREATHING SPACES 