A Heart for Compassion.

Recently, I was taking a class with Liz Koch & Sarah Bryden (whom, if you don’t know who these women are, I highly recommend a cup of tea and an afternoon of exploration). They were discussing Myth, Bone, Body. Of course, I was all in! This is my Love language ~ Body// Soma, Story and Creation. My curiosity deepens my self- practices, as well as my work with clients.

I was so intrigued by Sarah’s teachings (Liz’s too!), that I decided to sign up for one of Sarah’s online Qigong classes. I had no idea what to expect, only that there was a tug to attend. I heeded the desire.

In class, we preceded to come into movement and practice. Sarah was kind enough to let me know that I need not feel like I had to do anything ‘right.’ The invitation was to simply allow my body to feel the fluidity of the movements.

There’s so much more I’d love to say about this class, yet, the piece that feels the most profound and important to share is this: at one point, Sarah made the statement “have compassion for the Heart.”

At this, I burst into tears. It was the first time I felt my Heart as a living, breathing, beating BEING inside of me. I thought of everything SHE has been through~ EVERYTHING. Every person my HEART has loved and lost, every dream she has held that has disintegrated, every desire that has yet to be met, every person she has held and cared for, every baby she has rocked to sleep, every friend she has loved and let go of, every lover she dreamed of marrying, every hope, every wish. And then I thought of my mother, and the big gapping hole that existed between us when she was alive. That hole and loss like the rupture of an earthquake that I am still in collapse from. I thought of ME. I realized that all of these feelings make up ME.

And I suddenly recognized that I and my Heart are ONE. That I am the chest, the vessel, the rib basket the Body, that carries my precious beating Heart. And in that class, and in that moment, I had compassion for my Heart. And I wept. I put my hands on my chest and I held her like I would hold a grieving child~ because that is what I am right now, a grieving child and daughter whose mother has died and has left a well of grief and sorrow in my aching beating chest. In my Heart.

And in this compassion for my Heart, I recognized that SHE has been with me from the beginning, and she will be with me until the end. And for the first time ever, I held her and had compassion for the life she has lived.

Liz Koch:

https://coreawareness.com/

Sarah Bryden:

https://theelementalself.com/about/

Photo by Camilo Jimenez Unsplash