What took you so long?

[Lisa Walford]

Last Wednesday I read a portion of a longer poem. This won't take you long to read, I promise. And this epitomizes why I love the pranayama practice! As Thich Naht Hanh might say, I am breathing in, and now I am breathing out. The head and the heart can rest for awhile. 

Join me this Wednesday at 

https://centerforyogala.com/

or

www.cfyla.com

The Anatomy of Peace

                                             ~ john roedel (johnroedel.com)

my brain and heart divorced

a decade ago

over who was to blame about

how big of a mess I have become

eventually,

they couldn't be in the same room

with each other

now my head and heart

share custody of me

 

I stay with my brain during the week

and my heart gets me on weekends 

they never speak to one another

    - instead, they give me

the same note to pass to each other every week

and their notes they send to one another always

says the same thing:

"This is all your fault"

on Sundays

my heart complains about how my

head has let me down in the past

and on Wednesday

my head lists all of the times my

heart has screwed things up for me

in the future

 

they blame each other for the

state of my life

there's been a lot

of yelling - and crying

so,

    lately, I've been

spending a lot of ttime with my gut

who serves as my unofficial therapist

most nights, I sneak out of the

window in my ribcage

and slide down my spine

and collapse on my

gut's plush leather chair

that's always open for me

~ and I just sit sit sit sit

until the sun comes up

 

last evening,

my gut asked me if I was having a hard

time being caught between my heart

and my head

I nodded

I said I didn't know

if I could live with

either of them anymore

"my heart is always sad about

something that happened yesterday

while my head is always worried

about something that may happen tomorrow,"

I lamented

my gut squeezed my hand

"I just can't live with

my mistakes of the past

or my anxiety about the future,"

I sighed

my gut smiled and said:

"in that case, you should

go stay with your

lungs for a while,"

I was confused

  - the look on my face gave it away

"if you are exhausted about

your heart's obsession with

the fixed past and your mind's focus

on the uncertain future

your lungs are the perfect place for you

there is no yesterday in your lungs

there is no tomorrow there either

there is only now

there is only inhale

there is only exhale

there is only this moment

there is only breath

and in that breath

you can rest while your

heart and head work

their relationship out."

this morning,

while my brain was busy reading

tea leaves

and while my heart was staring

at old photographs

I packed a little

bag and walked

to the door of

my lungs

before I could even knock

she opened the door

with a smile and as

a gust of air embraced me

she said

"what took you so long?"