Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Exhale



Experiment:
Take a deep, deep inhalation and once your lungs and belly are full, hold it. Hold it, feel the tension and the growing burn. A little longer. As long as you can.

And release.

That... that's it. Feel that? That's what the world needs. It's easy to get so damned involved with horizontal life - with all its anxieties and troubles and appointments and excitements - that you are knocked out of balance, all bloated with crap and needing to exhale. As I said in a previous post, it's a kind of contraction "anytime we live from the level of Ego. It's like a muscle tightening up when we desire something or get caught up in ourselves. It's relaxing that contraction that allows us to spread out, surrender, release..."

YOUR TURN: Books? Beer? Backrubs? Hot Baths? Yoga? Sex? Porch swings? Swimming? Bike riding? Dancing? Napping? Laughing? What helps YOU uncoil, expand, release and open?

8 comments:

anonymous julie said...

Cycling, cooking, making clay stuff. Reading before bed.

Celeste said...

Hawaii. Yoga. Sitting on the beach in Hawaii. More Hawaii. Taking a nap on Waikiki beach with my husband.

You'd think I'd want to move there, but I don't. Would ruin it.

Hope to go again next year.

Keene and Melanie Red Elk said...

Hey Trevor, Its Keene and Melanie. We started a blogspot as well.

For me (Keene) it's running to good music, good beer in a good bar with my great girl, singing.

isaiah said...

Driving unknown roads, walking beside the creek in Laurel Canyon, white- watering the French Broad, playing a 12- string guitar, singing harmony, drinking great wine, listening to my son laugh, attending a kick-ass concert with my wife, trying to live the spirit of Christmas every day, knowing all that we are cannot be contained by what we are feeling at any moment...

Great post, Trev- Thanks for reminding me to exhale.

Trevor Harden said...

Thanks for your responses, everyone. This is great stuff!

Anonymous said...

looking out the window at green leaves on trees, the breeze causing them to dance...driving with the windows down in the summer time at night...drawing, drawing, and more drawing...a really good, hard laugh with my husband...our kitties little faces rubbing on mine...basically, just focusing on the little things and letting all the supposedly "big" things go.

Anonymous said...

I like the feeling of 'lostness' that you get when you visit a new town or drive unknown roads, or read a new book and you're not sure what the next page will bring, or a walk in the country when it's raining, or life in general - an awesome adventure of exploring where God is at work. Makes we realise my stature in a vast universe. Oh yes, and like you, deliberate meditative breathing. Ciao

jbmoore said...

Reading a good book such as a history or science fiction novel. Pratchett is best because he evokes much laughter with his wit. A computer game doesn't hurt either. Sometimes it's humbling to be beaten by a machine. Enjoying the company of a friend is nice as well.