I walked into the bead store and told her I broke the thread on another one.
“You’re pulling too hard,” she told me.
“I don’t know my own strength,” I said.
“You teach breathing, right?” she asked.
“Yes…” I said with a growing understanding.
“You have to give the beads space to breathe!”
And in that moment, I saw the interconnectedness between all that I do.
Perhaps you have heard, because it has been said so many times by so many people, that how we do one thing is how we do everything.
I was knotting beads with some of the thickest silk cord and snapping it because I was pulling so hard. I was trying so hard to make these pieces “perfect” that I forgot what matters most – space to breathe.
The same applies on the yoga mat. You can try so hard to come into each pose “perfectly” (which is usually some false notion of perfection and not related to what is best for your body, your being), but if you can’t breathe, or if you find yourself working so hard that you are holding your breath, you have lost sight of the sacredness of the practice.
When I try to write, when I force myself to sit down and type when the ideas are not ready to be released to the page or the screen, it feels like a struggle. Because I am not allowing the ideas to have space to breathe.
Space to breathe. That is the practice. That is Sacred Becoming.
It really can be that simple. It can be a mantra meditation practice. It can be one sweet deep inhale and exhale before your morning lemon water or coffee. It can be a closing of the eyes midday when you need to refresh and revitalize yourself.
There are so many ways to come into your breath, into your being, and to give yourself the space you deserve.
