Inhale presence, exhale sharing
Been studying the Chinese poet Li-Young Lee for my writing class. My writing teacher Jack Grapes often will give his long-standing students a writer to work on. The idea is to immerse yourself in a writer and then write a journal entry, with your own voice, but inspired by whatever author you are working on. Throughout the years I have worked on: Mary Oliver, Claribel Alegria, Sharon Olds, Rainer Maria Rilke, Charles Bukowski, Anna Akhmatova and others. It is one of my most favorite homework ever. I get to learn about a writer and watch how my own writing is transformed by them.
So I have been reading Li-Young and came upon a beautiful excerpt of him discussing the breath. I wanted to share it with you, dear readers!
"I've been thinking about something for a long time, and I keep noticing that most human speech- if not all human speech- is made with the outgoing breath. This is the strange thing about presence and absence. When we breath in, our bodies are filled with nutrients and nourishment. Our blood is filled with oxygen, our skin gets flush; our bones get harder- they get compacted. Our muscles get toned and we feel very present when we're breathing in. The problem is, that when we're breathing in, we can't speak. So presence and silence have something to do with each other.
The minute we start breathing out, we can talk; speech is made with the outgoing, exhaled breath. The problem that this poses, though, is that as we exhale, nutrients are leaving our bodies; our bones get softer, our muscles get flaccid, our skin starts to loosen. You could think of that as the dying breath. So as we breathe out, we have less and less presence."
Li-Young Lee interviewed by Tina Chang
What an exquisite way to interpret and see the breath! The breath as an ongoing paradoxical dance between presence and absence; between silence and communication; between being Self-Aware and Self-Expression.
May we have both today.
May we be aware of our true Self and of our own unique expression.
May we honor other's presence as well as their sharing.
Off to writing class and then to celebrate my best friend's birthday.
Have a wonderful day of inhaling and exhaling.
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