JOIN US THIS LENTEN SEASON
FOR SIX CONTEMPLATIVE COMMUNION SERVICES
To Cultivate Happiness
A LENTEN JOURNEY
Breath as a Path of Transformation
Reflection Live Music Silent Contemplation
The Sacrament of Bread and Wine
Metropolitan will offer a Contemplative Communion Service
on each of the Six Sunday Nights in Lent 2014:
March 9, 16, 23, 30; April 6, 13
7:00-8:30 PM the Sanctuary
Senior Pastor Charlie Parker, and Drema McAllister-Wilson,
Minister for Congregational Care, will lead this liturgy of healing
and renewal with Bruce Caviness as organist and Music Director.
This service is for all who seek a deeper encounter with the Holy Spirit.
Come to one or all of these evening celebrations sponsored by our
Ministries of Worship and Caring with support from the United
Methodist Women (UMW) of the Metropolitan Cooperative Parish as
their annual “Call to Prayer and Contemplation.”
Daily Lenten Devotions
Ash Wednesday March 5 to
Holy Saturday April 19, 2014
ALSO OFFERED DURING LENT 2014:
Every Wednesday, 8:30 AM, the Sanctuary: One-hour
Meditation group organized by Drema McAllister Wilson, Ann
Cochran, Mary Jo Marchant, Betty Rogers
Metropolitan Memorial United
Methodist Church
3401 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
Lent 2014
Breathing is our most fundamentally natural act: it is the first
thing we do when we enter the world, and the last thing we do
when we leave. It happens all day long, every single day of our
lives. And yet, breath is also one of our most powerful tools for
focusing our spirits, quieting our minds, and listening to the voice
of God. Because of this, all spiritual traditions across the globe
include a focus on breath as a resource for prayer.
As we enter this holy season of Lent, we will be spending some
time focusing – both physically and metaphorically – on our
breath. We are going to slow down our breathing and, by doing
so, slow down our pace. We are going to step away from the
constant busy chatter that is always in the background of our
minds, and listen a little more closely to what God might be saying
to us.
This Lenten devotional is a gift to help you bring some focus to
your breath: to the ways in which breath has been a metaphor for
God’s movement and to the ways in which your actual breathing
can help you to be more attuned to God’s movement. Take
advantage of these weeks to breathe a little more deeply, a little
more slowly, and to give yourself space to hear God’s voice.
Lent is about letting go of the business and clutter, and to focus
on “the one thing needful.” Claim this great gift. Create a little
room in your life for God to move. And in this way prepare
yourselves for the new life coming in Easter’s resurrection.
Blessings,
Rev. Dr. Charles Parker, Senior Pastor
Reflections
Reflections
A LENTEN JOURNEY
Breath as a Path to Transformation
These daily Lenten devotionals invite you
into a daily practice of cultivating greater
awareness of your life-giving breath and its
power to nurture, calm and heal.
You might
 read the passage slowly, silently or
aloud
 contemplate
or “rest in the
meaning” of the words
 enter a time of silence
 explore some act of self-expression
such as writing a journal entry or
making notes in this booklet
 close with prayer or meditation
Or you might explore your own ways for
reading these words with your heart into a
deeper encounter with the healing power
of your own breath.
Blessings on your journey.
Entering A Daily Practice
For Cultivating Breath Awareness
Ash Wednesday March 5
One of the best-known verses in the Bible is Genesis 2:7, “And the
Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a
living soul.” This verse sets a pattern for the rest of the Bible,
where breath is often equated with life itself. In fact, references
to breath or breathing are frequent in the Bible, with many
allusions to God as the giver of breath (and life) to humans and
animals.
The respiratory system has many distinctive design features,
which show forth the providence of God. Breathing also illustrates
our human vulnerability and complete dependence upon God.
One easy experiment to show this is to try to hold our breath. For
most of us, air hunger becomes painful well within a minute, and
we would die in just a few more minutes if completely deprived of
air. So, our breathing apparatus is one of our most vital systems—
absolutely necessary to sustain us from moment to moment.
―“The Breath of Life: God’s Gift to All Creatures,” David Demick
Holy Saturday April 19
I have traveled many moonless nights
Cold and weary, with a babe inside
And I wonder what I've done
Holy Father you have come
And chosen me now, to carry your son
I am waiting, in a silent prayer
I am frightened, by the load I bear
In a world as cold as stone
Must I walk this path alone?
Be with me now, be with me now
Do you wonder when you watch my face
If a wiser one should have had my place?
But I offer all I am for the mercy of your plan
Help me be strong, help me be strong
Help me be strong, help me
[Chorus]
Breath of Heaven, hold me together
Be forever near me, breath of Heaven
Breath of Heaven, lighten my darkness
Pour over me your holiness, for you are holy
Breath of Heaven
―”Breath of Heaven,” song by Jessica Simpson
Good Friday April 18
Matthew 27:50
Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and
breathed his last.
Thursday March 6
In the [canon of the Hebrew Bible], the word ruach generally
means wind, breath, mind, spirit. In a living creature (nephesh
chayah), the ruach is the breath, whether of animals or
humankind. God is the creator of ruach: "The ruach of God (from
God) is in my nostrils" (Job 27:3). In God's hand is the ruach of all
humankind is the principle of life that possesses reason, will, and
conscience. The ruach imparts the divine image to humans, and is
the animating dynamic which results in human nephesh, i.e. in a
personal existence.
When applied to God, the word ruach indicates creative activity
and active power. The Spirit of God also works in providence, in
redemption, in upholding and guiding his chosen ones, and in the
empowering of the Messiah.
As the ruach is to the created nephesh, so the Ruach Elohim (Spirit
of God) is to God Himself, part of God and identified with God.
Ruach may be understood as the author of the animating dynamic
of the created order, the underlying Principle of creation, and the
One that imparts the nephesh to the entire universe.
"The Ruach of God was hovering over the surface of the waters."
(Genesis 1:2)
"Behold, my Servant whom I uphold...I have put my Ruach upon
him." (Isaiah 42:1)
"And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he
opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: The
Ruach of YHVH is upon me, because he has anointed me." (Luke
4:17-18a)
―From the Ruach Studies Portfolio
Friday March 7
Holy Thursday April 17
Breath; Breathe; Breathing: Breth, Breth, Breath'-Ing:
In the English Versions of the Bible of the Old Testament "breath"
is the rendering of neshamah, and of ruach. These words differ
but slightly in meaning, both signifying primarily "wind," then
"breath," though the former suggests a gentler blowing, the latter
often a blast.
As applied to persons there is no very clear distinction between
the words. Yet in general one may say that of the two, neshamah
is employed preferably of breath regarded physiologically: "vital
breath," hence, the vital principle: "Soul (animal) life"; while
ruach (though it, too, sometimes signifies "vital breath") is the
word generally employed where the breath is regarded physically-breath or blast as an act or force--and so is related to the will or
the emotions, whence the meaning "spirit"--- also sometimes
"thought," "purpose" . . . .
Yet when employed of God they signify not of His own life, but of
that imparted to His creatures. "Breathe" in English Versions of
the Bible of the Old Testament requires no remark except at
Psalms 27:12 ("such as breathe out cruelty"), from yaphach, "to
breathe hard," "to snort" (compare Acts 9:1). In the New
Testament "breath" (pnoe) occurs once in Acts 17:25 in the sense
of vital principle, the gift of God.
"Breathed" is employed in John 20:22 as our Lord's concrete
symbolism of the giving of the Spirit. In Acts 9:1 Saul's "breathing
threatening and slaughter" is literally "snorting," etc., and the
nouns are partitive genitives, being the element of which he
breathed.
― Essay on Sacred Breath by J. R. Van Pelt
... If the dead can come back to this earth and move unseen
around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish
day and in the darkest night—amidst your happiest scenes and
gloomiest hours—always, always; and if there be a soft breeze
upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or if the cool air fans your
throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
― The Left Hand of God, Paul Hoffman
Wednesday April 16
I needed to talk to my sister
talk to her on the telephone I mean
just as I used to every morning
in the evening too whenever the
grandchildren said a sentence that
clasped both our hearts
Saturday March 8
Genesis 2:7
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became
a living being.
Did you know?
I called her phone rang four times
you can imagine my breath stopped then
there was a terrible telephonic noise
a voice said this number is no
longer in use how wonderful I
thought I can
call again they have not yet assigned
her number to another person despite
two years of absence due to death



Your lungs have about 800 million alveolar air sacs
It only takes about 1½ seconds for your heart to spread
blood over a lung area of half a standard tennis court and
then shunt it back into circulation. This happens about
100,000 times every day, usually totally automatically.
The weight of the total blood circulated through your
lungs each day is around 8 tons. In an average lifetime, this
is double the weight of the giant aircraft carrier USS
Nimitz.
― “I Needed to Talk to My Sister” by Grace Paley
Yet:
 The work of breathing at rest only takes some 3–5% of the
body’s energy consumption.
 To ensure smooth breathing without gasps, the basic
nerve impulse controlling it is a “ramp” signal that begins
weakly and increases steadily for about two seconds, then
stops for three.
―Jerry Moore M.D.
WEEK ONE: FIRST BREATH
Tuesday April 15
Sunday March 9
. . . Then God sat down
On the side of a hill where He could think;
By a deep, wide river He sat down;
With His head in His hands,
God thought and thought,
Till He thought, "I'll make me a man!"
Up from the bed of the river
God scooped the clay;
And by the bank of the river
He kneeled Him down;
And there the great God Almighty
Who lit the sun and fixed it in the sky,
Who flung the stars to the most far corner of the night,
Who rounded the earth in the middle of His hand;
This Great God,
Like a mammy bending over her baby,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till He shaped it in His own image;
Then into it He blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
Amen. Amen.
― “The Creation,” John Weldon Johnson
For once not arguing,
we divide among ourselves
the things she left; her mother's mother's
swan brooch, her pilled and odorless
brown coat, sturdy Timex,
the night shirt she mended
with clashing thread.
The morning before, I sat
by my mother's bed
to ask her what she would like
the paper to say about her
life. It was like being read a story
backwards, the reader becoming
the child afraid to fall asleep.
With the shift nurse helping
and some baby oil, and trembling
the way he did the day he slipped it on,
my father bends over
the quieted body I thought I saw breathe,
and slides off her wedding ring.
―"Personal Effects,” Frannie Lindsay
Monday April 14
After three days of sitting
hard by the window
following grief through
the breath
like a hunter
who has tracked for days
the blood spots
of his injured prey
I came to the lake
where the deer had run
exhausted
refusing to save
its life in the
dark water
Monday March 10
Job 33:4
The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty
hath given me life.”
In January of 1971, I entered my first intensive retreat. . . . . The
first instructions were to be aware of my breath. The simplicity
was shocking.
AnapanaI as it is called is a fundamental practice for a number of
reasons. The breath is natural and uncontrived. When I first
began practicing, I would become anxious about the next breath,
as though I had to create it. But if I said to myself, “You’re
breathing anyway, you might as well just be aware of it,” I could
relax. Being aware of the natural breath, we bring forth ease of
mind and body. . . .
and there it fell
to ground
in our mutual
and respectful quiet
I realized that I could simply settle back into the present. It felt
startlingly balanced and completely right, as though I were
returning to a natural home that I had been unknowingly missing.
pierced
by
the pale diamond
edge of the breath’s
listening
presence.
. . . Awareness of the breath serves as a clear mirror, not for or
against anything, but simply reflecting the moment, without the
obstruction of concepts and judgments. We can freely let pass
whatever arises in the mind, as we maintain attention on the
breath. . . Returning to the breath, as we continually let go of
these judgments, we give birth to compassion for ourselves.
― “Sitting Zen,” David Whyte
― A Heart as Wide as the World, Sharon Salzberg
Tuesday March 11
WEEK SIX: LAST BREATH
Palm Sunday April 13
I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I
am, I am, I am.”
― The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
And then we ease him out of that worn-out body with a kiss, and
he's gone like a whisper, the easiest breath.
― Mark Doty
I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be
between the musician and his instrument. He has to fill it, this
instrument, with the breath of life, his own. He has to make it do
what he wants it to do.
And a piano is just a piano. It's made out of so much wood and
wires and little hammers and big ones, and ivory. While there's
only so much you can do with it, the only way to find this out is to
try; to try and make it do everything.
―Sonny's Blues, James Baldwin
It's what makes the pancake hold still
while you slip the spatula under it
so fast it doesn't move, my father said
standing by the stove.
All motion stopped when he died.
With his last breath the earth
lurched to a halt and hung still on its axis,
the atoms in the air
coming to rest within their molecules,
and in that moment
something slid beneath me
so fast I couldn't move.
― “Moment of Inertia,” Debra Spencer
Saturday April 12
I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan's poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.
― “An Irish Airman Foresees His Death,” William Butler Yeats
Wednesday March 12
Ezekiel 37:5:
Behold I will cause breath to enter you.
2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. So
that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped
for every good work.
Amma Syncletica said: In the beginning of the spiritual journey,
there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for
those who are advancing towards God and afterwards,
ineffable joy. It is like those who wish to light a fire. At first their
breath is choked with smoke and tears, until they obtain what
they seek. As it is written, "Our God is a consuming fire; so we
also must kindle the divine fire in ourselves through gasping
breath, tears and hard work.
Abba Hyperichius said: Praise God continually with spiritual hymns
and always remain in prayer and in this way you will be able to
bear the burdens that come upon you. A traveler who is carrying a
heavy load pauses from time to time and draws in deep breaths; it
makes the journey easier and the burden lighter.
― From Sayings of the Desert Fathers
Thursday March 13
Friday April 11
John 3:5-8
Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of
water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God.”That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit.
....
Do not be amazed that I said to you, `You must be born again.'
The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but
do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is
everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Psalm 33:6
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the
Breath of His mouth all their host.
O Breath of Life, come bend and break us,
Humbly we confess our need.
Then in your tenderness remake us,
Revive, restore, for this we plead.
O Breath of Love, come breathe within us,
Renewing thought and will and heart.
Come love of Christ, afresh to win us
Revive your people in every part
―Excerpt from Hymn “O Breath of Life,” Bessie P. Head
.
Thursday April 10
The Shakuhachi flute is not like a recorder: it has no mouthpiece
as such, and simply blowing in one end will not produce a sound.
To play a note, your lips and mouth must become part of the
instrument (how appropriate for an instrument also known as the
Zen flute!). And it is this "oneness" of instrument and player that
permits so much flexibility in pitch, tone, color, and loudness of
playing.
Friday March 14
Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu
Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion
or cultural system. I am not from the East
or the West, not out of the ocean or up
from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
composed of elements at all. I do not exist,
Part of the discipline of mastering the flute is learning to deal with
the frustrations inherent in learning to play it. That is why much of
its study is dedicated to "forging the mind-body" - developing the
intuitive, spiritual side of the performer as much as the
musicianship itself.
am not an entity in this world or in the next,
did not descend from Adam and Eve or any
Playing the shakuhachi in this context is called suizen, or "blowing
Zen." To blow Zen, one requires great breath control; yet, after
years of training and practice, the shakuhachi player strives not to
try to control the breath at all. Instead the breath is observed.
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,
The player "watches" the breath with a concentration that
consumes both the observer and that which is being observed the player "becomes" the breathing.
―from a newsletter of the Shakuhachi Society of British
Columbia
origin story. My place is placeless, a trace
of the traceless. Neither body or soul.
first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.
― “Only Breath,” Jalaluddin Rumi
Saturday March 15
Wednesday April 9
God acts within every moment
And creates the world with each breath
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what Thou dost love,
And do what Thou wouldst do.
He speaks from the center of the universe,
In the silence beyond all thought.
Mightier than the crash of a thunderstorm,
Mightier than the roar of the sea,
Is God’s voice silently speaking
In the depth of the listening heart.
―Psalm 93: A Book of Psalms Selected & Adapted from the
Hebrew, Stephen Mitchell
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until with Thee I will one will,
To do and to endure.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Blend all my soul with Thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with Thy fire divine.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
So shall I never die,
But live with Thee the perfect life
Of Thine eternity.
―Hymn “Breath on Me Breath of God,” Edwin Hatch
Tuesday April 8
WEEK TWO: BREATH WITHHELD
Sunday March 16
The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in
your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of
right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s
plain, common work as it comes--- certain that daily duties and
daily bread are the sweetest things in life.
―Robert Louis Stevenson
Who will tell whether one happy moment of love or the joy of
breathing or walking on a bright morning and smelling the fresh
air, is not worth all the suffering and effort which life implies.
―Erich Fromm
Ezekiel 37:4-14
Again He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones and say to them, `O
dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.' "Thus says the Lord God to these
bones, `Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to
life. `I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you
with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will
know that I am the Lord.'"
So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a
noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its
bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew
and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then He said
to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the
breath, `Thus says the Lord God, "Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe on these slain, that they come to life."
So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them,
and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great
army. Then He said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole
house of Israel; behold, they say, `Our bones are dried up and our hope
has perished. We are completely cut off.' "Therefore prophesy and say
to them, `Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will open your graves and
cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring
you into the land of Israel." Then you will know that I am the Lord, when
I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your
graves, My people. "I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to
life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the
Lord, have spoken and done it," declares the Lord.'"
Monday March 17
Monday April 7
Start living now. Stop saving the good china for that special
occasion. Stop withholding your love until that special person
materializes. Every day you are alive is a special occasion. Every
minute, every breath, is a gift from God.
To be grateful is to recognize the Love of God in everything He has
given us - and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is
a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it
brings with it immense graces from Him.
―Mary Manin Morrissey
Gratitude therefore takes nothing for granted, is never
unresponsive, is constantly awakening to new wonder and to
praise of the goodness of God. For the grateful person knows that
God is good, not by hearsay but by experience. And that is what
makes all the difference.
Anger is like a storm rising up from the bottom of your
consciousness. When you feel it coming, turn your focus to your
breath.
―Thich Nhat Hanh
If you want to juggle eight flaming bowling pins, like the flying
Karamazov Brothers, you’d practice with the pins a long time
before you set them on fire. And you’d probably start with just
two. That’s why we start with the breath.
– Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There: A Mindful Retreat, Sylvia
Boorstein
―Thomas Merton
WEEK FIVE: BREATH OF PRAISE
Tuesday March 18
Sunday April 6
Breathing just a little
life flows
without thought
of each moment passing
away
draining into the next
every drop of anticipation
sucked dry
of life's rich bounty
unfolding
in the unexpected joy
of being alive.
Breathing together
of all things
I find myself
awakened
revelling in every drop
of anticipation
dripping wet in the ripe, rich fruit
of life
flowing
effortlessly
into the unexpected joy
of being alive.
― “I Am Breathing,” Mary Oliver
Don’t let your throat tighten
with fear. Take sips of breath
all day and night. Before death
closes your mouth.
There is no love in me without your being,
no breath without that. I once thought
I could give up this longing, then thought again,
“But I couldn’t continue being human”.
― “From Unseen Rain,” Jalaluddin Rumi
Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which
unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes
scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind
again.
―The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh
Wednesday March 19
Rather than allowing our response to affect our breathing, we can
learn instead to let our breathing change our relationship to the
event.
― Cyndi Lee
Enough. These few words are enough.
If not these words, this breath.
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to the life
we have refused
again and again
until now.
Until now.
― “Enough,” David Whyte
Saturday April 5
Get some sleep.
Be friendly. It will help make you happy.
Take a deep breath.
Hope for everything. Expect nothing.
Take care of things close to home first. Straighten up your room
before you save the world. Then save the world.
Be nice to people before they have a chance to behave badly.
Don't stay angry about anything for more than a week, but don't
forget what made you angry. Hold your anger out at arm's length
and look at it, as if it were a glass ball. Then add it to your glass
ball collection.
Wear comfortable shoes.
Do not spend too much time with large groups of people.
Plan your day so you never have to rush.
Show your appreciation to people who do things for you, even if
you have paid them, even if they do favors you don't want.
After dinner, wash the dishes.
Calm down.
Don't be too self-critical or too self-congratulatory.
Don't think that progress exists. It doesn't.
Imagine what you would like to see happen, and then don't do
anything to make it impossible.
Forgive your country every once in a while. If that is not
possible, go to another one.
If you feel tired, rest.
Don't be depressed about growing older. It will make you feel
even older. Which is depressing.
Do one thing at a time.
Be good.
Be honest with yourself, diplomatic with others.
Do not go crazy a lot. It's a waste of time.
Drink plenty of water. When asked what you would like to
drink, say, "Water, please."
Take out the trash.
When there's shooting in the street, don't go near the window.
Love life.
―"How to be Perfect,” Ron Padgett
Friday April 4
Wage peace with your breath.
Breathe in firemen and rubble,
breathe out whole buildings
and flocks of redwing blackbirds.
Breathe in terrorists and breathe out sleeping children
and freshly mown fields.
Breathe in confusion and breathe out maple trees.
Breathe in the fallen
and breathe out lifelong friendships intact.
Wage peace with your listening:
hearing sirens, pray loud.
Remember your tools:
flower seeds, clothes pins, clean rivers.
Make soup.
Play music, learn the word for thank you in three languages.
Learn to knit, and make a hat.
Think of chaos as dancing raspberries,
imagine grief as the out-breath of beauty
or the gesture of fish.
Swim for the other side.
Wage peace.
Never has the world seemed so fresh and precious.
Have a cup of tea and rejoice.
Act as if armistice has already arrived.
Don't wait another minute.
― “Wage Peace,” Mary Oliver
Thursday March 20
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious
breathing is my anchor.”
―Stepping into Freedom, Thich Nhat Hanh
I pass the spot where I almost died
in a car crash; it happened fast—
a stick turned into a snake.
Our arms and hands pulled us out of it,
our body cells wanting to live
while our minds' dumb generals
slept at headquarters.
How easy it was to meet and talk with her—
the other driver, our sideswiped cars
askew at the roadside, moored in grass.
It was gentle, intimate:
we were brother and sister
conspiring against dying.
The heart took a deeper breath.
We knew ourselves one
with the sparrows and flies,
and the red-haired trooper
who wrote our information in his notebook.
The trees looked new, and her face
I was almost in love with:
young, incredibly interesting.
― “Passing the Spot,” Robert Winner
Friday March 21
I have left my wife at the airport,
flying out to help our daughter
whose baby will not eat.
And I am driving on to Kent
to hear some poets read tonight.
I don't know what to do with myself
when she leaves me like this.
An old friend has decided to
end our friendship. Another
is breaking it off with his wife.
I don't know what to say
to any of this---life’s hard.
And I say it aloud to myself,
Living is hard, and drive further
into the darkness, my headlights
only going so far.
Thursday April 3
When we focus our attention on the passage of breath, we break
the usually continuous flow of thoughts of attachment, hostility
and so forth, whatever they might be. This causes such thoughts
to subside for the moment. Thus, by occupying the mind with our
breath, we cleanse it of all positive and negative conceptual
thoughts and thus remain in a neutral state of mind unspecified as
either constructive or destructive.
This is the meaning of the line in the root text, "Thoroughly clean
out your state of awareness." This unspecified or neutral state of
mind, cleaned out of all positive and negative conceptual
thoughts, is the most conducive one to work with. Because such a
state of mind is unburdened and supple, it is easier to generate it
into a constructive state.
--The Tradition of Mahamudra, H.H. the Dalai Lama with
Alexander Berzin
I sense my own tense breath, this fear
we call stress, making it something else,
hiding from all that is real.
As I glide past Twin Lakes,
flat bodies of water under stars,
I hold the wheel gently, slowing my
body to the road, and know again that
this is just living, not a trauma
nor dying, but a lingering pain
reminding us that we are alive.
―”Following the Road,” Larry Smith
You know that our breathing is the inhaling and exhaling of air.
The organ that serves for this is the lungs that lie round the heart,
so that the air passing through them thereby envelops the heart.
Thus breathing is a natural way to the heart. And so, having
collected your mind within you, lead it into the channel of
breathing through which air reaches the heart and, together with
this inhaled air; force your mind to descend into the heart and to
remain there.
―Nicephorus the Solitary, 13th century Byzantine monk
Wednesday, April 2
The soul is a breath of living spirit that with excellent sensitivity,
permeates the entire body to give it life. Just so, the breath of the
air makes the earth fruitful. Thus the air is the soul of the earth,
moistening it, greening it. . . .
There is the Music of Heaven in all things and we have forgotten
how to hear it until we sing. . . .
Underneath all the texts, all the sacred psalms and canticles,
these watery varieties of sounds and silences, terrifying,
mysterious, whirling and sometimes gestating and gentle must
somehow be felt in the pulse, ebb, and flow of the music that
sings in me.
Saturday, March 22
Those who will not slip beneath
the still surface on the well of grief
turning downward through its black water
to the place we cannot breathe
will never know the source from which we drink,
the secret water, cold and clear,
My new song must float like a feather on the breath of God.
nor find in the darkness glimmering
the small round coins
thrown by those who wished for something else.
― Hildegard de Bingen, a 12th Century German Benedictine
Abbess, mystic, philosopher, composer
― “The Well of Grief,” David Whyte
Your breathing should flow gracefully, like a river, like a water
snake crossing the water, and not like a chain of rugged
mountains or the gallop of a horse. To master our breath is to be
in control of our bodies and minds. Each time we find ourselves
dispersed and find it difficult to gain control of ourselves by
different means, the method of watching and sensing the breath
should always be used.
― The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat Hanh
WEEK THREE: BREATH OF CREATION
Sunday March 23
I know plenty of people who find God most reliably in books, in
buildings, and even in other people. I have found God in all of
these places too, but the most reliable meeting place for me has
always been Creation.
Since I first became aware of the Divine Presence in that lit-up
field in Kansas, I have known where to go when my own flame is
guttering. To lie with my back flat on the fragrant ground is to
receive a transfusion of the same power that makes the green
blade rise. To remember that I am dirt and to dirt I shall return is
to be given my life back again, if only for one present moment at a
time.
Where other people see acreage, timber, soil, and river frontage,
I see God's body, or at least as much of it as I am able to see. In
the only wisdom I have at my disposal, the Creator does not live
apart from creation but spans and suffuses it.
When I take a breath, God's Holy Spirit enters me. When a cricket
speaks to me, I talk back. Like everything else on earth, I am an
embodied soul, who leaps to life when I recognize my kin. If this
makes me a pagan, then I am a grateful one.”
― Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church: A Memoir of Faith
Tuesday April 1
There is one way of breathing that is shameful and constricted.
Then, there is another way: a breath of love that takes you all the
way to infinity.
― Jalaluddin Rumi
In the beginning was – breath. Breath is life, movement. For Ilse
Middendorf, it became the source of all being and the salt in the
soup of life. Her renowned therapeutic method is “the experience
of breath.” It was her dream to become a dancer. But her
parents, who were textile traders in the Saxon town of
Frankenberg, decided otherwise.
Ilse was born in 1910. When she was twelve, she was in the
garden when suddenly a voice within her said, “You need to
breathe.” Her research was based on the reforms of the
gymnastics movement and physical therapies in Germany. It was
from Cornelius Veening, a Dutch depth psychologist and breath
therapist, that she learned not to separate breath from the
moment of feeling it. Breath is “now.” “Breath – is.”
Intuitively, she found her way, “the experience of breath,” which
addresses the wholeness of human beings. In Gerd Conradt’s film
Ilse Middendorf Atem - Stimme der Seele, we see her in her 99th
year, shortly before her death in 2009, small, delicate and almost
transparent. Like a dancer, she lets breath turn into movement.
Fine and permeable, fluency shimmers through every pore.
We see her in her breath therapy sessions, energetic and
listening. She was a master at deeply moving people and
“aerating unawareness” with greater awareness.
―Tribute to the memory of Ilse Middendorf
Monday March 31
Monday March 24
A lifetime is not what is between
the moments of birth and death.
Genesis 1:30
And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and
to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the
breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was
so.
A lifetime is one moment
Between my two little breaths.
The present, the here, the now,
That's all the life I get.
I live each moment in full,
In kindness, in peace, without regret.
―Chade Meng, Taoist poet
The practice is simply this: keep coming back to your breath
during the day. Just take a moment. This will give your mind a
steadiness and your breath a gracefulness....
There's so much to let go of, isn't there? Your nostalgia and your
regrets. Your fantasies and your fears. What you think you want
instead of what is happening right now. Just return to your
Breath.
Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
― Yoga: The Poetry of the Body, Rodney Yee
O Great Spirit,
Whose breath gives life to the world,
And whose voice is heard in the soft breeze:
We need your strength and wisdom.
Cause us to walk in beauty.
Give us eyes ever to behold the red and purple sunset.
Make us wise so that we may understand
what you have taught us.
Help us learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.
Make us always ready to come to you
with clean hands and steady eyes,
So when life fades and breath ceases, like the fading sunset,
Our spirits may come to you without shame. Amen.
― Traditional Native American Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Tuesday March 25
Once again, we are reminded that awakening, or enlightenment is
not the property of Buddhism, any more than Truth is the
property of Christianity. Neither the Buddha nor the Christ
belongs exclusively to the communities that were founded in their
names. They belong to all people of goodwill, all who are
attentive to the secret which lives in the depths of their Breath
and their Consciousness.
― Compassion and Meditation: The Spiritual Dynamic between
Buddhism and Christianity, Jean-Yves Leloup
Let Your Mind Settle Like A Clear Forest Pool. To begin
meditation, select a quiet time and place. Be seated on a cushion
or chair, taking an erect yet relaxed posture. Close your eyes
gently and bring a full, present attention to whatever you feel
within and around you. Let your mind be spacious and your heart
be kind and soft. As you sit, feel the sensations of your body.
Then notice what sounds and feelings, thoughts and expectations
are present. Allow them all to come and go, to rise and fall like the
waves of the ocean. Be aware of the waves and rest seated in the
midst of them. Allow yourself to become more and more still.In
the center of all these waves, feel your breathing, your lifebreath. Let your attention feel the in-and-out breathing wherever
you notice it, as coolness or tingling in the nose or throat, as a
rising and falling of your chest or abdomen. Relax and softly rest
your attention on each breath, feeling the movement in a steady,
easy way. Let the breath breathe itself in any rhythm, long or
short, soft or deep. As you feel each breath, concentrate and
settle into its movement. Let all other sounds and sensations,
thoughts and feelings continue to come and go like waves in the
back ground.
― “Sitting Meditation,” author and meditation teacher Jack
Kornfield
WEEK FOUR: BREATH OF RELEASE
Sunday March 30
Acts 2:1-4; 14-17:
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in
one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like
the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where
they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among
them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages,
as the Spirit gave them ability…..
Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed
them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be
known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not
drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.
No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ‘In the last
days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your
young shall see visions and your old shall dream dreams.’”
Saturday March 29
It is a common belief that we breathe with our lungs alone, but in
point of fact, the work of breathing is done by the whole body.
The lungs play a passive role in the respiratory process. Their
expansion is produced by an enlargement, mostly downward, of
the thoracic cavity; they collapse when that cavity is reduced.
Proper breathing involves the muscles of the head, neck, thorax,
and abdomen. Chronic tension in any part of the engaged muscles
interferes with natural respiratory movements.
Breathing is a rhythmic activity. Normally a person at rest makes
approximately 16 to 17 respiratory incursions a minute. The rate
is higher in infants and in states of excitement. It is lower in sleep
and in depressed persons.
The depth of the respiratory wave is another factor which varies
with emotional states. Breathing becomes shallow when we are
frightened or anxious. It deepens with relaxation, pleasure, and
sleep. But above all, it is the quality of the respiratory movements
that determines whether breathing is pleasurable or not . . . .
The importance of breathing need hardly be stressed. It provides
the oxygen for the metabolic processes; literally it supports the
fires of life. But breath as "pneuma" is also the spirit or soul. We
live in an ocean of air like fish in a body of water. By our breathing
we are attuned to our atmosphere. If we inhibit our breathing we
isolate ourselves from the medium in which we exist.
―The Voice of the Body, Alexander Lowen
Wednesday March 26
Stand still.
The trees ahead and the bushes beside you are not lost.
Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still.
The forest knows Where you are.
You must let it find you.
“Lost,” An old Native American elder story rendered into modern
English by David Wagoner, in The Heart Aroused - Poetry and the
Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America by David Whyte
Thursday March 27
At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.
Breathe into me.
Close the language-door
and open the love-window.
The moon won't use the door,
only the window.
....
No more words. In the name of this place we drink in with our
breathing, stay quiet like a flower.
So the night birds will start singing.
― Night and Sleep, Jalaluddin Rumi
Friday March 28
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill-more of each
than you have-inspiration
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time to eternity…
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensional life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
― “How to be a Poet (to remind myself),” Wendell Berry