I met a horse and we shared breath.
A few days later, I opened an email a friend had sent weeks ago and discovered this poem by Drew Dellinger, called "Hymn to the Sacred Body of the Universe"
It starts out with the words,
"Let's meet at the confluence
Where you flow into me
And one breath swirls
Between our lungs... "
Showing posts with label breath. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breath. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
A Horse Breathes On Me
I was feeling dispirited yesterday, because of recent developments in my life.
I decided to go for a walk. I find that being outside of four walls really helps when my emotions are taking a belly flop.
And in rural New Mexico, where I now live, I find it pretty well impossible to stay down for long when I go outside. Mountains, big fluffy clouds, hummingbirds, sunflowers growing along the roadside... it's enough to make me want to learn to use my camera! (That's another long story.)
I crossed the acequia (beautiful, rock-lined irrigation stream) near my home, walked across a meadow, and followed a driveway that passes by a horse pasture.
Two of the horses looked up and clearly signalled that they were curious about me. I love horses, so I decided to return the favor. I walked towards the fence marking their space and started telling them how beautiful they were... two gorgeous chestnut horses, gleaming in the sun, one with a narrow, lightning shaped blaze on its forehead.
I guess they liked the sound of me, since they ambled on over to the fence, poked their heads over and started sniffing me and generally checking me out. I started to stroke the one closest to me. It was somewhat interested, then started to move on.
The second horse was very interested, though. It responded to a few strokes along its neck by putting its mouth and nose right next to my throat and treating me to ten or fifteen rounds of the sound and warmth of its breath, exhaled across my throat and face.
I am new to the country and new to horses. My instincts said, no problem, so I stood there fairly calmly, receiving the beauty of its breath with all the presence I could muster. And of course, I also registered the fact that I don't know much about what to look out for when spending time up close with a horse, and its big teeth were right next to my throat. My decision in the moment was to stay for a while.
I was mesmerized enough that I can't exactly remember now who backed off first, but I bet it was me.
The horse and I hung out a little longer from a farther distance, looking at one another. I continued telling that horse how beautiful I thought he/she (gender was not revealed in this encounter) was.
I discovered on this visit that horses have impossibly exquisite eyes! I was amazed by the shape, by the quality of the light reflected by their eyes, and by the integration of power and tenderness I saw in their eyes.
Those horses returned me to my equilibrium, and I was able to take several productive actions over the rest of the evening.
This morning, I searched the web and found inspiring information about the qualities horses demonstrate and can teach us.
I also found this video that brought me to tears through its exploration of horses and the connection between them and the human spirit.
I decided to go for a walk. I find that being outside of four walls really helps when my emotions are taking a belly flop.
And in rural New Mexico, where I now live, I find it pretty well impossible to stay down for long when I go outside. Mountains, big fluffy clouds, hummingbirds, sunflowers growing along the roadside... it's enough to make me want to learn to use my camera! (That's another long story.)
I crossed the acequia (beautiful, rock-lined irrigation stream) near my home, walked across a meadow, and followed a driveway that passes by a horse pasture.
Two of the horses looked up and clearly signalled that they were curious about me. I love horses, so I decided to return the favor. I walked towards the fence marking their space and started telling them how beautiful they were... two gorgeous chestnut horses, gleaming in the sun, one with a narrow, lightning shaped blaze on its forehead.
I guess they liked the sound of me, since they ambled on over to the fence, poked their heads over and started sniffing me and generally checking me out. I started to stroke the one closest to me. It was somewhat interested, then started to move on.
The second horse was very interested, though. It responded to a few strokes along its neck by putting its mouth and nose right next to my throat and treating me to ten or fifteen rounds of the sound and warmth of its breath, exhaled across my throat and face.
I am new to the country and new to horses. My instincts said, no problem, so I stood there fairly calmly, receiving the beauty of its breath with all the presence I could muster. And of course, I also registered the fact that I don't know much about what to look out for when spending time up close with a horse, and its big teeth were right next to my throat. My decision in the moment was to stay for a while.
I was mesmerized enough that I can't exactly remember now who backed off first, but I bet it was me.
The horse and I hung out a little longer from a farther distance, looking at one another. I continued telling that horse how beautiful I thought he/she (gender was not revealed in this encounter) was.
I discovered on this visit that horses have impossibly exquisite eyes! I was amazed by the shape, by the quality of the light reflected by their eyes, and by the integration of power and tenderness I saw in their eyes.
Those horses returned me to my equilibrium, and I was able to take several productive actions over the rest of the evening.
This morning, I searched the web and found inspiring information about the qualities horses demonstrate and can teach us.
I also found this video that brought me to tears through its exploration of horses and the connection between them and the human spirit.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Disoriented or Upset? Part 3
Breathing is a form of collaboration with natural/physical/biological intelligence that you do 24/7. If you let it, breathing can teach you vast and profound vistas of how to partner your soul's intention (the tourist ; ) with the wisdom of bodily (natural/physical/biological) intelligence (the tour guide ; ).
Sometimes you are more consciously engaged with breathing. Sometimes you are thinking about other things and your body intelligence just keeps going, bringing that necessary air in and out.
How would it feel to acknowledge your natural/physical/biological intelligence for keeping your breath going, even when you are focused on other things?
How would it feel to acknowledge your natural/physical/biological intelligence for keeping billions of things going, even when you are focused on other things?
What a relief, we don't have to depend on our conscious, verbal awareness to keep our life processes going, second by second!
Our natural/biological/physical intelligence is 100 percent committed to the life process already. And wants to do the work involved. Yes, getting out of the way can feel new, different, and unwinding/unhinging of the past to the point of causing disorientation and upset. (See previous post.) Sometimes it's not possible to learn something better without transiting through some disorientation and upset. In everyday parlance, it's called "getting out of your comfort zone."
My personal favorite approach to breathing in harmony with natural/physical/biological intelligence these days is found in the work of Leslie Kaminoff, of The Breathing Project yoga studio in NYC.
Here's a six-minute introduction from Leslie Kaminoff to some foundational ideas related to learning how to breathe in harmony with our body's structural design:
Sometimes you are more consciously engaged with breathing. Sometimes you are thinking about other things and your body intelligence just keeps going, bringing that necessary air in and out.
How would it feel to acknowledge your natural/physical/biological intelligence for keeping your breath going, even when you are focused on other things?
How would it feel to acknowledge your natural/physical/biological intelligence for keeping billions of things going, even when you are focused on other things?
What a relief, we don't have to depend on our conscious, verbal awareness to keep our life processes going, second by second!
Our natural/biological/physical intelligence is 100 percent committed to the life process already. And wants to do the work involved. Yes, getting out of the way can feel new, different, and unwinding/unhinging of the past to the point of causing disorientation and upset. (See previous post.) Sometimes it's not possible to learn something better without transiting through some disorientation and upset. In everyday parlance, it's called "getting out of your comfort zone."
My personal favorite approach to breathing in harmony with natural/physical/biological intelligence these days is found in the work of Leslie Kaminoff, of The Breathing Project yoga studio in NYC.
Here's a six-minute introduction from Leslie Kaminoff to some foundational ideas related to learning how to breathe in harmony with our body's structural design:
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