Allowing the Exhale
“We all need some gentleness now.
We all need some healing.
We all need a rest".
~Lorna Bevan
Life has been dense and intense, to say the least, for the past 5 months. Each week of this time of pandemic feels as though it passes through a lifetime with endless opportunities to grow, heal, and let go of that which no longer serves.
Sitting down to write and connect with you all every 2 weeks I am always blown away at the magnitude of what has unfolded. For me, personally, my life has turned upside down with grace and admittedly some shock, almost overnight.
These past few weeks have gifted me with some space to solo climb a peak as well as a gorgeous hike to some high alpine lakes (I am not traveling so I am trying to take advantage of my local landscape while I can!), I have completed my graduate work after an extended and arduous educational journey, and am now unexpectedly welcoming my beautiful son into my home full-time.
As I adjust personally to my new reality, I am aware of the importance of allowing the exhale, inviting in the simmer of lifes events and circumstances, and the need for quiet, grounded connection with myself and those close in.
This blog is in recognition of this need and is a short and sweet dip in of connection.
It feels to me as though we have all been holding our breath to some degree – literally or figuratively. May this sharing be a reminder and an invitation to exhale, to rest, to acclimate, to spend some time in quiet, and to reconnect to yourselves in any way that may have become elusive during this time of crisis.
Honoring the rhythm of life and its varying landscapes is important in cultivating balance and ease in our being. There is, of course, always a time to push and to give great effort. And, there are times when we must counter the force and allow our systems to unwind and release.
I have been feeling that pull in the past few days and was affirmed in my reading the above quote, that it is indeed time to rest. It is time to exhale and regroup in preparation for the second half of this wild year.
We all have varying needs around this and perhaps my words are a gentle prompt in your own process of inquiry.
Where are you feeling the tension in your life? In your body? In your heart?
What do you need to do in order to invite in that sense of exhale? What does that look and feel like for you?
What can you relax and let go of so as to not carry it forward into this next cycle? What is complete and needs releasing?
What is your body calling for? Rest? Movement?
Perhaps you need to take some time to yourself to be quiet. Perhaps what you are needing is more connection to support the process.
I invite you to use this time to really tune in to yourselves, your bodies, and your hearts. To allow the full exhale of your breath to melt any tension in your body and encourage whatever needs to be let go of to release.
To truly tend to YOU with gentleness, unwavering care, and unconditional love.
As the winds of change blow through us and around us both individually and collectively, may we take this moment to pause, to breathe deeply into ourselves, and allow the exhale and the dust from the past many months to settle a bit…if even for moments.
We are all in this together.