Boat Across the River
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Moment to Breathe
I’m always running around;
there’s so much to do, I know
I’m forgetting to breathe.
It feels so good
when I do remember.
Do you ever feel like your lungs
are in the way
of breathing?
Like they’re holding
you back?
I want to breathe in
a breath
that never ends!
two year old sees an egret
White egret
standing in the water
looks like the crests of the waves
breaking around him.
The stormy air still thick
the egret flies away
my daughter says,
“Look at the bird
swimmin’ through
the air.”
The Surface of the Waters
Currently, I am on vacation in Florida — the birds are everywhere in Cedar Key. The roof of our house appears to be some form of sea gull rookery…they fly right up to the top balcony and catch bread crusts that we throw out to them.
The wind was really blowing last night. We are right on the water, and as I rested in bed at night and in the dark, I could hear the wind and waves in constant motion outside the window. I keep thinking of the phrase from Genesis 1:2 that says, “The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” I picture the Holy Spirit, even with my belief in the Big Bang Theory and evolution, flying through the darkness over the smooth, almost endless, surface of the oceans.
I imagine the Spirit of God moving over the water like the wind. Or like the birds, flying low, as close to the water as they can get. But I imagine the Spirit moving over the surface of the waters as having been massive like the wind: roiling, boiling, the physical world materializing out of spirit as it moved.
I have not seen the ocean in two years, and have been having dreams about her weekly for the past few months. I don’t know if the ocean is so calming because its incessant motion and activity is a constant distraction from one’s thoughts, or if it’s because the sea is a reminder of the beginning of time on Earth. There is something soothing about remembering the water’s timelessness — its ancient, primal, nearly eternal rhythms of life.
The Show
Went to an outdoor concert last night with J. and R.; the band played their songs with accompaniment from the city’s symphony orchestra. It really couldn’t have been much better…
I was with good company, the lyrics were thoughtful, her voice was unparalleled in range and raw talent, and the beer was cold on a hot summer night. The heat index during the day was something like 100 degrees or more. As we sat on the lawn, watching a spectacular sunset, the cicadas purred along in the trees — these are some lucky trees, benefiting from great music all summer long…
After intermission, billowing storm clouds shaped up in the distance, making for a dramatic show of lightning as the band rocked out. The warm wind swept across the fields, caressing our faces as we sat in camp chairs, and I was perfectly happy; she encored with a cover of Hallelujah (Rufus Wainwright) and all of it put together was as holy as any religious service you could attend.
Breathing Exercise
I spend a LOT of time putting my daughter down for naps and bedtimes. She takes about an hour to fall asleep at night, and it varies for nap time. I have to lie next to her on her twin mattress on the floor and pretend to be asleep or she will never stop playing around in her room. Besides silently appreciating all the funny things she is doing, I focus on my breath and enjoy it. It feels so good to breathe!
There’s a Buddhist story, and you can count on me not to remember the details…but a teacher asks his student what he thinks the most important thing in life is. The student says some thing or other, and the teacher responds by dunking the guy’s head underwater and holding it there for awhile. When he lets the student come up, he asks him the same question. This time the student says, “The breath is the most important thing.” Without it you wouldn’t be alive at all.
There’s a nice exercise that a former yoga teacher (Hi Bryan!) taught me and that is to lie on your back and take a few breaths. First, breathe into your belly and feel your stomach rise with your hand. Next, feel your breath as it moves from your belly into your chest. Finally, place your hand at the base of your throat and feel as your breath moves into your throat. It’s a nice reminder of your breath constantly moving through your body at all times of your life on Earth. We so rarely think about this important little detail that makes our lives possible. It’s funny what we forget about.
A Concentration of Energy
I think when you focus your breath, you focus your energy. I think breath has a lot to do with energy. And I like that people who have had near death experiences often describe the event as being in the breath of God. It seems like a connection between breath and energy, if God is something like pure loving energy with a mind.
I was thinking about examples of where concentrated energy bursts into something new — like where something unseen bursts into something seen…just brainstorming here, for the fun of it!
1) Fire — which needs oxygen to burn: when you start a fire you blow on it, or “fan the flame” to really get it going. You breathe on it.
2) The Big Bang Theory — the bursting forth of Creation from apparent nothingness; the Creator breathed life into the “void”.
I don’t know what the point of this post is.
I was just thinking! Trying to make connections. : )
Currently
A sky full of white fluffs
moves along together ~
like they’re going somewhere ~
like ocean currents ~
underwater winds ~
like everything moves ~
But I suspect
that inside every
column of motion
is the calm unblinking eye.
