take a pause, now

Day Five

You are Alive

Pause and know this….

You are a human BEING, not a human Doing

1. 

When I was just a wee junior in college, I’d transferred to Stanford. This was a step down for my family, and even then I was realizing, though not with the happiness and freedom I now have, that we all have to live the life We are meant to live.

Not the life our parents, or society, or so-called friends, or even our mate, imagines that we should live.

And in the fall of my junior year, a friend asked me to a study group on a book called, Gestalt Therapy. A bright orange book, with three authors, this book had theory and practices.

One of the practices changed my life.

I was a smart guy, and used to being in my head with plans and thoughts about the past and scheduling the next class and homework. I didn’t really know how to be present, except in sex or in sports.

And the book said to try this:  “For five minutes, just write down, or say…. 

‘Now I am aware….’

and fill in the blank.”

This is easy.

This is a delight.

This brings us to the present, because we are always aware of something.

And then later, once I’d moved to the country with my new wife, and we lived on land with apricot trees and pine trees up a hill, and we created a garden, I became very clear that getting out in nature was a path to peace, harmony and happiness.

Even later, in Sonoma in the late 1990’s, there was a group sharing event once on month. People sang, or recited poetry, or gave little speeches. The time limit was five minutes, so everyone go a turn.

I wrote pseudo poems and realized that I always wrote three and they were always about either

Now

Nature

Love

This, I realized, was my holy trinity.

And so, this is your exercise for today.

And for the rest of your life.

Enlightenment Game #1:

Take a pause.

Go outside if you can.

Sit, or stand or walk in nature.

Be present.

Don’t think about plans. Don’t think about what you’ve just done.

Just be present.

You might want to do the game of “Now I am aware…” and finishing it.

Or you might want to simply sit in as much stillness as comes to you.

Make sure you follow your breathing.

This is very calming.

This is great evidence that you are alive.

Feel your body in gravity.

This is very calming.

On Earth we are always in gravity on this planet Earth.

Look out at trees, or leaves, or the sky, or clouds.

See nature.

Let it in.

Do nothing.

Just BE.

This is wonderful. This is a gift.

Pause.

Sit or walk outside if you can.

Sit or walk very slowly inside.

Be present to your body, and your breathing and to gravity.

Take this as a chance to be a human BEING.

This is your right.

Take this pause, take this break often.

You deserve it.

And it will refresh you.

And even if it didn’t, you deserve it.

Enjoy being yourself.

Right now.

anxiety, and undoing anxiety

we get anxious sometimes
afraid
we want to get smaller
( hide)

curl up in a ball,
clench everything together,

pull in, in,
as if returning to the fetal
curled up
place

we hunch over,
we pull our bellies in
chin down,
clench jaw

all that stuff

we stop breathing

it's not a good feeling after a
short time,

but, what is there to do?

well,
I teach a three level response to
stress/
anxiety/
fear

and let's just play here
with the body path to
transforming this:

here's the deal:

start by making it worse:

pull in tighter,
really

crunch way way in,
tighten everything you can,
hold your breath
and then go the other way,

unfurl

and
don't make the unfurling better,
though it might feel better

sense them both:
the curling in
and the opening up

and what does that mean:

here we go, a movement lesson:


Sit in a chair,
forward, so your back is not leaning back

curl forward
which means,

lower your chin toward your belly
roll your pelvis back and tuck your tailbone under you
slump your sternum

pull in your belly
tighten your jaw, your eyes, your fists,

pull your fists in tight,
toward your belly
tighten your asshole

get all crunched
in

and stay there a bit

sense this shape,
this feeling

then,
go the other way,

let your belly loose and forward
arch your back
raise your sternum

lift your head a little ( not too much)
relax your jaw and fingers

let your hands raise up over your head
let your arms widen a little
let your mouth open a bit
twist a little to the left one time, and then
after crunching again,
twist a little to the right

don't get fast

go slowly

at the most expanded,
hang out there
and sense what that is like

go back and forth through eight or ten crunches

and get more and more into feeling the transition both ways
and feeling deeply the end point

experience your breathing

enjoy the differences

enjoy the shift in your mood
cheers
Chris

feet

our feet are as far from our heads as we can get

many a person, perhaps even you, has realized that
being in our heads
think think think

is a way that often avoids life, love and connection

( yeah, yeah, there are problems
to be solved

good
when they are there to be solved
think

and then....

what about the rest of the time)

so
here's a game for today


put your attention as full
time
as possible

on sensing both feet

while you read this
while you do the next thing
while you talk
while you think

and especially
when you are interacting with your partner

in your half hour of love and sex before dinner

in the talking
in the ten minute naked makeout
in sex that is two way
in sex that is one way

in all of these
attempt

with joy and humor
and
intent

to have attention
on three places:

your feet
your heart
your breathing

if sex is involved,
then my all means enjoy your genitals
and mouths
and tongues

oh, yeah:

and look into each other's eyes
in all the activities
except the one way sex


ha, what a nice
assignment

but
don't forget

dive in
feet first