‘How fast can you get back to your breath?’ – my favorite yoga teacher would ask this as he ends an intense session, easing practitioners into a Savasana. When your heart rate is up and your muscles are tense, how easily can you go back to a state of calm?
We’ve all had different experiences in the previous year. Some of us have lost – money, our jobs, people we love. Some of us have seized the opportunity to learn new skills, hone our crafts, look inward and reflect. In many ways, it was tough, and the tough parts came in waves and in varying intensities. In these moments, our breath becomes short. Even worse, we forget to breathe.
That said, here is my new year’s wish:
Dear You,
This year, I hope that you (and I) find the courage to begin again, and do so in a state of calm. For every breath in, I hope that you inhale love. And for every breath out, you exhale with gratitude, letting go of what was. I hope you accept what is, and that somehow you find peace in it. And I hope, if you ever find yourself tense again, that you manage to get back to your breath, into the state of calm with which you began.
Have a lovely new year.
P.S. I’ve been writing new year’s wishes every year since 2012, and have skipped the last 2 years. In a way, this is me, beginning again.
2 replies on “For You, this 2021: A State of Calm”
Have a lovely new year too, Vids.
SO TRUE! I know you, like countless other countries around the world you had a “real” lockdown and I don’t think for one second it was like a holiday – it was and in some cases still is, debilitating, frustrating and depressing according to friends who went through similar. We didn’t on the other hand have a lockdown of any kind, sure there are restrictions and the situation here for the most part was/is well handled, numbers weren’t crazy, there was a consistent message – we put our masks on and we carried on. We went to work, we didn’t stop, it seemed perfect?! Or at least it did initially or looking outside in, it is .
We are great, we got this sh*t, we don’t need no lockdown, we got this sh*t locked down!!! YET, despite the “comparatively” low volume of cases to elsewhere in the world and regrettable losses incurred, coupled with worrying spikes, recently we are finally (fingers crossed) back on a downward trend again. That said, the risk to life and livelihood is still very present and real and will be for some time…
AND, I don’t know whether I am being dramatic (maybe) but I got really burnt out at the end of last year – super tired, stayed up too late, drank too regularly (not excessively), didn’t exercise, got irritable, lost motivation to work etc…generally felt properly meh – it wasn’t a fun last 2-3months…
I think we didn’t give ourselves time to breathe, we didn’t stop, we didn’t stand still, we didn’t let the magnitude of what was ahead filter through. We took a long break over XMAS and New Year and finally did that necessary BREATHING and decompression – I think it’s helped a little to recover, recenter and readjust to whats ahead this year!
Sorry for the TLDR, helped to write it down if nothing else – need to BREATHE with purpose more regularly this year!
Namaste ?? Jon