Beloved Light Bearers,

Thank you for staying with the "first two days" of our virtual series, Holy Discomfort and Profound Hope, the days of Resistance and Struggle.  It is not easy.  Indeed, it is deeply uncomfortable.  But the truth and the grace of life is that we are not stuck here, and that perhaps these first two days will open us up, deepen our perception, to new possibilities.

On the "third day" --- and yes, do you hear some echoes here with any other pattern with which you may be familiar?  Ha!-- we begin to move into Profound Hope.  That will be our movement in our next gathering, on Thursday, March 27.

Below are links for some of the rich variety of offerings our community has brought forward to share with one another thus far.  Some of the offerings I will bring forward a little down the road.  I know there is an abundance.  So pick and choose what holds resonance for you at this moment. I invite you to respond, reflect, and share further resources in the comments here on the blog.

In the meantime, I share with you a video offered by one of our folks.  It is a taize song that can help us to hold the space in the midst of all things.

Jillian Pranksy

"When we land, arrive, and relax, we create space.  In this space is the power to choose our response, in which is our growth and freedom.  It is our experience of aliveness." - Jillian Pransky

I consider Jillian to be one of my most important mentors and teachers regarding how to walk, be, and take action in the midst of the choas.  She is who taught me LARLAR.  
​

​Jillian's website is here: https://www.jillianpransky.com/.
​She also wrote a wonderful book, Deep Listening: A Healing Practice to Calm Your Body, Clear Your Mind, and Open Your Heart.

Victor Frankl

"Between stimulus and response there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Victor Frankl

Victor Frankl was a neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and holocaust survivor. 

"The Guest House"
by Rumi

Text translation by Coleman Barks: https://grateful.org/resource/guest-house-rumi/
Artistic interpretation by Zen Pencils: https://www.zenpencils.com/comic/rumi/

Friends,

As we continue to walk this journey that is the present moment, I share with you a quote from Victor Frankl -- neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor. 

​In the midst of the dense darkness that is seeking to infiltrate and to choke out care for neighbor, particularly advocacy and support for the most vulnerable amongst us, this image, "Create," by artist Melanie JS Weidner, supports my staying grounded in the practice of breath prayer.  It is breath prayer that roots me in the real presence of Light that shines in the darkness that the darkness cannot overcome.  It is breath prayer that enlivens the whole of me ---  hands, heart, feet, voice, ears -- intentionally to choose actions of profound love in this moment.

Will you join me in this practice of breath and gaze and action?

Much love, and gratitude for the Light of Love that shines and acts through you.  
Julia

Beloveds,

As you continue in your practice of noticing when you are holding your breath, and all that surrounds this noticing, I share with you a poem of Danna Faulds' from her book, What's True Here.

​
This is what I have to say to you. Your first and last
and only task is to stay open to the divine flow of
grace in and through and all around you. It’s
everywhere, this grace, from the gifts of nature to
your own creative juices running free. Give yourself
to this mystery without needing to know outcomes.
Risk falling, because you can always get back up.
Risk failing, because you can always begin again.
Give yourself without restraint into the vast
embrace of love that never wanes, even when your
attention wanders, even when you lose faith.

The way is lit from within no matter if sun and
moon are both hidden from view. This divine light
shines all the time, your own personal beacon, like
a lighthouse flashing in the night. Stay open to the
divine flow of grace this day and the next step on
your journey will be so obvious you’ll laugh at any
​former confusion or resistance that held you back.

​

​It struck me today---- a bizarre phenomenon that I have noticed over my years of teaching yoga.  To be honest, it holds over the years of my own practice as well.
 
It is this--- When leading a yoga practice, I notice that many students, I’d even say most, particularly in balancing poses, simply stop breathing.  In all my years of teaching, I cannot think of a single class where I have not observed this phenomena, even with my endless encouragement and mantra throughout the practice, "Breathe."
 
Without the moving breath, I notice how the practice of many students freezes and tightens, it becomes a practice of intensity without the grace of spaciousness, "hardening" on many levels.
 
But when students breathe----- Wow!!!  What emerges is a deep fullness and fluidity that bubbles up in the whole of their being, whether they are holding a shape in stillness, or even when they "fall out." Over time we even begin to giggle when we fall out in our practice.  Hahahaha!   We laugh together, reground, and begin again.  Oh it is so refreshing and glorious.  Grace upon grace right in the very core of our being and in our sharing of that experience.
 
Practice:  Notice this week when you have stopped breathing.  Notice without harshness, without judgmentalism.  Just notice with curiosity and great compassion.  What does this not breathing feel like?............ Then release into the inbreath……. Does anything change or shift?...... How does this relate to anything?
 
I look forward to sharing our noticings and our wonderings with one another.
 
With much love,
Julia

Breathing Space, I have learned, is the womb of life’s sacred journey. Filled with the creative heartbeat of God, Breathing Space is the key to justice and compassion, truth and unity, healing and great love. 

This is a learning, a pearl of great price, a dripping of the honeycomb, that has emerged in the course of my life, now fifty plus years in the making. Will you join me in this exploration?

Each week we will explore an aspect of the depth of Breathing Space and a simple practice to support our exploration.

Posts will be made each Thursday morning here on the Incarnational Grace website, and shared on Facebook. I would love to invite you into a conversation and a journey. If you would like, you can leave comments here below each post, or comment on Facebook. I look forward to engaging with one another on this transformative journey.

Love,
Julia