Noticing
breathing in, i know i am breathing in.
breathing out, i know i am breathing out.
allow.
stones, rocks, ledges, formations presenting, supporting, joining, containing, bracing, everlasting and everywhere.
nature’s verdant nuzzling up, creeping over, growing in between, standing up, molding, moving, grazed upon, blanketing, suckling the harshness, or is it the other way around?
both energies are present and in abundance: male and female. here it is raw, elemental, unspoilt and excellent company. i have graduated to a higher “degree” of witnessing and participating in community. without which stems a kind of social starvation, too extreme(?), o.k., then, arrogance for sure, and in which lies the absence of an essence fundamental to soul-life.
there is time here and there is space here and it is not pressed. it is not hurried.
the Abbey through time has been care-takingly preserved, stone by stone, crosses and markers, altar and sacristy, and the Iona community flourishes there. the Nunnery nearby, on the other hand, exists primarily in ruins with the care-taking and preservation existing in the grounds and the vibrant colors in the flower gardens. the walls eroding yet skyward, the sheila unseen by most but watching over and seeing through.
allow.
breathing, it’s easy, right? like paying attention. is there, or is there not, any point in placing our attention on our breath? as our tether between what is seen (body), and what is not seen (source of life force), there runs our breath: up and down, in and out, rising up and falling away. wave of life. this is the body-map’s “thin-place”.
here, the personal and the indigenous thin places are dancing together. time stretches out in an enormous curve. place is dramatic and gentle. this place knows waiting, watchful waiting where one single, small action makes it way to another of the same and progress is made.
what exists here is the space within which creativity/adaptability, knowing what to do and when to do it, is born and dies back into until called upon again. it must have a place to rest. as we do. admittedly, i am just beginning to learn. the lungs have sufficient moisture, the mind has sufficient relaxation, the body has sufficient vitality, the heart has not only sufficient, but increased capacity for goodwill and that is healing.
healing may occur in all places, but healing does not occur in all places.
space and time.
allow.
the colors are not only stone and green. there is also blue and pink, and black and white, and gold and brown, and these colors of the earth and air and sea are welcoming. and then there is the tone present in the people of the isle and its guests. more healing. more restoration. what happens here is not happening by force but by something else; a consciousness. how are our chest bones, spine, shoulders, neck and head riding the waves of the breath right now? what is the quality of our in-breath?
our out-breath? is there advantage to focusing here? i say yes.
allow.
mind relaxes. body responds. movement stirs. the cycle of nature and our own nature begins to synchronize and something occurs. what is it?
stuck is stirring. hard is softening. what is hidden has the covers being lifted. heart is massaged back away from the precipice of fear and toward love, which certainly must be intelligent, which must be foremother to creativity: open, knowing, receptive, able when it is time. community is the grounds-keeper, gate-keeper, and way-shower.
artisan, fisherman, scholar, baker, storyteller, teen-ager, crone, person walking along noticing: breathing in and out, telling stories. eyes moisten, often. connections are made. this is re-membering. this is when the teaching that took place takes place. this is experience. experience does not occur in a state of distraction.
experience is eyes wide-open, senses- alive and and making sense of life. distraction is partial and dim-witted and not “thin”, but weak. it is a compromised state of too much happening at one time. this is not what is happening here, now.
allow.
lost parts are being found. retreat is removing obstructions from pathways. there is a flow returning. the meter is changing. breath is dancing in between my ribs differently. integrity is perhaps first established in the quality of our breathing.
allow.
entanglement. think jewelry. all in a jumbled up knot. contracted space. the harder the pull, the tighter the knot. create space in the center, touch and move tiny parts gently. take the time to create this spaciousness. tightness begins to alter. loosening occurs. knots free up with ease not effort, not extreme effort.
allow.
on this isle of iona, there is something markedly “different”. time is a carving here. space is the place you rest into, and the ancient sits quietly and solidly with you.
this ancient, elemental place births refreshed life, renewed life, an appreciation and an expanded view. center is returned to its rightful place. gate open. mind and heart calmer and clearer. possibility may take root in this take-time, breathed-into body-earth.
i am not running cross-country. i am running cross-culture: i am slowing down.
i am catching my breath. i thought i’d never ask…..
allow.
i came here to be still. it’s as easy as noticing our breath (conscious breathing) and paying attention. it is not easy. it is simple, but not easy. it is unpopular.
i came here to be still. it is what i have said all along.
it is what i said when i was asked, “if you could envision one thing that you would journey to do, what would that one thing be?”
i would go to the “right place” at the “right time” and learn to slow down, to be still, to rest and re-member. i am here. and i am here now.
this iona is inexplicably, but reciprocally somehow respondent to what lies deep. it’s hide and seek at its best.
i am dancing. i am not leaping. i am stepping, and i am stepping simply, and i have good partners. we are remembering the steps when we were as the stars and the waves are. we are being. and it is spacious. this must be health.
anchored, aligned and aspiring: clarity arises. it is a simple dance.
breathe in. i know i am breathing in.
breathe out. i know i am breathing out.
allow is such a gentle partner.
tonight i have been invited to share facilitation of the evening service at the Abbey. the service is “inner space”. imagine that. i must have imagined that. we will dance a simple “dance”, one with our hands and our breath. it is for everyone. the “technique” will be to be present with the individuals that are there: to attend with intention, and to breathe.
tomorrow we part for edinburgh and begin our way home. i will leave my walking boots here.
Trish
