......nothing

Dear Yogis,

My visiting cousin asked me last night when she arrived back  “what did you do today? “ Nothing.  I actually did nothing……… How often can you say that?

It’s February.  Not a lot going on. This weekend and next held blank space on the calendar so I consciously chose to do nothing yesterday. Zero plans.  Zippo.  No ‘to-dos’.  And I watched. 

Alarm went off at 6:19 to meditate. Did my usual 30 minutes, then laid back down and drifted in and out of a dreamlike state until I felt ready to open my eyes. Rolling over I looked at the clock – 9:01.  Wow!

Bundling up I decided to take Phoebe for a run even though it was 25 degrees. Headed out to weave through the neighborhood streets but heard the river calling and thought, why not. So down we went.  The sky a perfect blue and the air so clear and crisp. A flock of geese huddled together for warmth as the trees watched us all. We paused to take it in.

Back home I sipped tea while I worked on my jigsaw puzzle.  For two hours……  Each winter I do a 1000 piece puzzle. Usually a challenging one and  I noticed yesterday how present you must be to do a puzzle.  Focused, aware, patient. I watched as my mind would suggest that I should check Facebook.  Or, that this would be a good time to pay all of those bills on your desk. Each time I exhaled….and went back to the puzzle. Choosing being over doing.

My sister called and I could curl up on the chair and talk for ½ hour without any sense of what I should be doing.  A long shower followed by a leisurely walk through the woods where Phoebe could run free.  Sixty four minutes of walking, my phone informed me.  I should head back and start dinner.  I exhaled and instead watched my dog, who was a deer in her past life by the way, run like the wind and hurdle downed trees with grace and ease.  Arriving back I curled up on the couch with my book. My cousin returns and we sit and laugh late into the night.

Yesterday was my extended pause between breaths.  The void. The space of nothing. 

Let's try this together.  First get yourself grounded and settle into your chair. Draw your spine upward and become aware of your breath. The sense of rising and filling as the inhale traces a line up through the center of your body, and the feeling of letting go, becoming heavy as the exhale traces the line back down. And then there it is. A pause. After each and every exhale there exists a most magical pause.  Close your eyes and watch this. 

That pause is still and quiet.  Empty and deep. Yet while it contains nothing, it is the source of everything. The source of your next inhale, your next thought, your next action. It is the hush of winter. Our deep sleep at night.  The dark of the new moon and that suspended moment in time where the low tide releases itself to flow of the incoming tide. Watch it……feel it. 

In my breath work I gradually lengthen this pause. Arriving in it and staying a while, tapping into its power.  Yesterday I lived in it for the whole day! A conscious choice to swim in the sea of pure potential. 

I know, I know…..I can’t do that, I am too busy….the kids….the events…..the email…..work…… blah, blah, blah.  Perhaps you can’t do a whole day, but what about an hour?  What about 15 minutes?  What about closing your eyes and arriving in the pause between breaths for 5 minutes? Or even 5 breaths……..Each moment there will give you two back. What was created from my extended pause? New ideas, connections, awareness of where I am in life. A slowing of my breath.

And during an evening walk I heard it rise from the still dark quiet. The hoot of the owl in our woods. They have returned. Thank you Universe!

My bills can be paid tomorrow,

SARAH