In the morning it is my practice, whatever the weather, to do the Sufi healing breaths outside among the cedars. I stand facing the direction which for me corresponds to each element. These directions vary with different earth based traditions. I draw my directions from a personal history of Wicca, but breathe them in the traditional Sufi order. Thus two paths combine and intertwine. I start facing north and the magic begins.
When I breathe in the earth, I feel what is solid within. Sometimes I am a skeleton, standing rooted in the earth. I take in the tall trees and the mountains and feel their strength moving down through me. In my mind's eye, I journey to another place where I am also at home. Here fields stretch out from wooden fences and quietness reigns. I return at peace with the land.
Facing west I honor water; breathing in the moisture of all that is green. On the outbreath my back and shoulder muscles relax. They melt into the flow of the river and I become that river. My body welcomes rain falling. The cells absorb it. Washing me clean, it continues downward to nurture the soil.
In the south I seek fire. Breathing in fire and allowing it to transform to light, can be a challenge on a cloudy mid winter day. But once I feel my heart beat pulsing through my body, I am warmed with passion. This energy rises upwards and light radiates out.
Completing the circle with the east and air I discover lightness. It enters my body through all the skin pores and it fills my lungs. Sometimes the lightness draws me up and above the landscape, always east toward the river, which runs below the mountain. Flying back over houses, farms and woods, I stand in my trees again, feeling light and ready for the day.
These breaths are my sustenance, preparing me in part for whatever shall come; enabling me to stand my ground connected to the natural world and to who I am.
Radha
When I breathe in the earth, I feel what is solid within. Sometimes I am a skeleton, standing rooted in the earth. I take in the tall trees and the mountains and feel their strength moving down through me. In my mind's eye, I journey to another place where I am also at home. Here fields stretch out from wooden fences and quietness reigns. I return at peace with the land.
Facing west I honor water; breathing in the moisture of all that is green. On the outbreath my back and shoulder muscles relax. They melt into the flow of the river and I become that river. My body welcomes rain falling. The cells absorb it. Washing me clean, it continues downward to nurture the soil.
In the south I seek fire. Breathing in fire and allowing it to transform to light, can be a challenge on a cloudy mid winter day. But once I feel my heart beat pulsing through my body, I am warmed with passion. This energy rises upwards and light radiates out.
Completing the circle with the east and air I discover lightness. It enters my body through all the skin pores and it fills my lungs. Sometimes the lightness draws me up and above the landscape, always east toward the river, which runs below the mountain. Flying back over houses, farms and woods, I stand in my trees again, feeling light and ready for the day.
These breaths are my sustenance, preparing me in part for whatever shall come; enabling me to stand my ground connected to the natural world and to who I am.
Radha
