I posted this free writing exercise about a year ago, but I feel that it speaks to the theme of our lectures in YTT last night: managing our prana instead of managing our time. Prana is our energy that ebbs and flows throughout the day, the week, the month. We probably are aware of dips in our energy in the middle of the afternoon when we grab that cup of coffee or cat nap at our desk. The coffee or the nap is a prana ritual we create to honor the needs of our body. In the Christian culture, we have a prana ritual of observing the Sabbath so that we create space and time for celebration, reflection and refueling. Observing the rest does not come naturally to me so to make sense of why I needed rest at this point of my life, I used a free writing exercise to explore the idea.
Here is a free writing that I wrote at a workshop titled, “The Yoga of Writing and Creativity,” with Albert Flynn DeSilver in May 2016. We were to pick 1 or 2 words from a list he gave us. I picked water.
The water within me
gushing, big wave, leaves the heart chamber
rushing with power and energy, explosive crashing
clear blue
white and frothy
running and rushing to momentary stillness
laps back into with quiet calm
not pushing against but a calling
a drawing, a magnetism that isn’t to be fought against
where strength meets vulnerability
release and giving into the moment
free to rush with power
free to retreat with the same energy directed at the release
it looks weak. it looks less powerful but the strength is built by this lapping back into itself
I am not giving in or giving up
I am gathering.
What points in the day do you “gather” and at what points do you “rush with power?” How do the two work together for you? What prana rituals have you created to honor the needs of your body?
Amber Mattingly 