This afternoon I did my conscious movement ritual from here. I LOVE to move in and with nature or, rather, be moved by nature as I breathe her in and become inspired.
It really is quite something to let the breath fully enter the body.To let the breath initiate movement. I become more intimate with myself and all that I am holding inside on all levels from physical to emotional to subtle.
It’s interesting that the societal habit tends towards moving fast and breathing shallow. There doesn’t seem to be time, with the pace of life many live, to pause, to receive, to feel and allow. I found some sticky stuff inside me today as my breath entered my deep belly and, through it, through the simple act of breathing and tracking the breath with my open attention, I felt it move and lived it into art through the vehicle of my body.
There is such an invitation with the breath to open up to the wild array of, often unprocessed, feelings that inhabit the body. To include a conscious movement practice with this – a practice in which One becomes receptive to the needs of the body as it is and responds to it mindfully, with care and respect – offers an opportunity to move into a deeper and more intimate meeting with Ourselves. For what is mindfulness but to be with what is? And what is life but to glide with the continual and ever changing pulse of creation?
This is why I love to listen. To listen and then respond. When I listen I can respond with greater authenticity. When I impose an idea of how things ‘should’ be upon myself, be it through movement or breath or any aspect in my life, then I feel a separation between body and mind. The mind is ‘doing’ something to the body as oppose to body and mind in fluid relationship with each other.
Moving in nature, breathing with nature, being in nature is such a great reminder to pause, to rest in awe and wonder and to rest in not knowing what the next moment may bring. I return to myself as nature because that is what I am (and so are you). Our bodies, composed of the elements. Our hearts beating with the pulse of the Universe. Our minds spacious as the vast and open sky. And Life dancing its way through us, creating symphonies with every blink of an eye.