You would like the book The Hidden Life of Trees, if you haven't already read it. Beautiful book that outlines exactly what you say here, how they are all connected and how they nourish each other through this hidden network underground. It's magical. And I'd never thought about that connection with lungs, what a beautiful analogy you draw and really something to think about. Currently having a cold and coughing quite a bit, so it made me think what am I holding or bringing in with every breath?
After my Mom died, I got used to breathing in my chest. It took a full month of outdoor yoga after she died to even get my belly to expand when I took the air in. "It tells the lungs to stay small, just in case. It closes the space where trust used to live. It convinces the body that receiving is dangerous, and releasing isn’t allowed." I believe going back to my mat saved me, for no other reason than it helped me breathe again. To trust something, anything, and to find a place, a physical space, where air was allowed. Thank you for this. I felt it.
I had this same experience through my divorce. my lungs felt so much smaller in those months, and if I didn't have my yoga mat practice, I quite likely would've stayed small in so many other ways. During those months, my practice transcended the physical as I really learned how breath was everything.
“Grief is a kind of wound,” I told Norah, “but not the kind you stitch closed. It’s a hole. Things that were were once very alive for you, things that rooted themselves deeply into who you are at your core, they are no longer there. And your body still wants to hold them.”
You would like the book The Hidden Life of Trees, if you haven't already read it. Beautiful book that outlines exactly what you say here, how they are all connected and how they nourish each other through this hidden network underground. It's magical. And I'd never thought about that connection with lungs, what a beautiful analogy you draw and really something to think about. Currently having a cold and coughing quite a bit, so it made me think what am I holding or bringing in with every breath?
The Hidden Life of Trees is one of my most referenced texts!
It's such a great book, completely changed how I look at the forest around me!
After my Mom died, I got used to breathing in my chest. It took a full month of outdoor yoga after she died to even get my belly to expand when I took the air in. "It tells the lungs to stay small, just in case. It closes the space where trust used to live. It convinces the body that receiving is dangerous, and releasing isn’t allowed." I believe going back to my mat saved me, for no other reason than it helped me breathe again. To trust something, anything, and to find a place, a physical space, where air was allowed. Thank you for this. I felt it.
I had this same experience through my divorce. my lungs felt so much smaller in those months, and if I didn't have my yoga mat practice, I quite likely would've stayed small in so many other ways. During those months, my practice transcended the physical as I really learned how breath was everything.
Wow and thank you:
“Grief is a kind of wound,” I told Norah, “but not the kind you stitch closed. It’s a hole. Things that were were once very alive for you, things that rooted themselves deeply into who you are at your core, they are no longer there. And your body still wants to hold them.”