If you ever listen to Krista Tippett and her On Being interviews, you will be familiar with her opening question to almost all of her guests. ”Tell me about your spiritual life as a child.” These stories always go right to the heart of their life narrative. Either they pushed away from the heartland of their upbringing, or found a new way to live with the heart of their ancestors, or they claimed the inheritance of their kin and let the lifeblood pulse through their heartfelt passion. What nurtured your heart as a child? What losses did you suffer? What filled your heart with fear? Who taught you the stories of your ancestors? Our foundational narrative reveals a lot about the person we have become. You can see the growth rings that have layered over the original shape of our heartwood as it formed.
In my Tuning In Practice, I have been attending yoga classes 4 or 5 days a week. My body is deliciously alive when strength and stretch are in concert with my breath. Inhale and reach your arms towards the sky, exhale and release your body into a forward fold. Inhale as you plant your hands on the mat beneath your shoulders, exhale as you send your legs back for high plank. Take a breath, let your belly expand, then your side body, then your chest. Feel the air from your hip sockets to the hollow of your throat. In almost every class the instructor, at least once, invites us into child’s pose. It is usually a resting position, but it can also be a very active stretch. Sink your hips back into your feet and stretch your fingertips a little further with each breath. Allow your spine to lengthen and feel your breath fill your back body. I had never really considered my back body as a place for air, but in this position the lungs definitely fill my back body. My head drops onto the floor and my whole awareness moves to find my heart chakra on the back body.
Sometimes, sharing stories about your childhood is like discovering a part of your body that has been neglected for awhile. It works, it does its job, but maybe that part of your childhood has become the ’taken for granted’ scaffolding upon which your life has been built. Maybe it is an organ that grew strong and reliable or developed a curious tick in your adolescent years. And it isn’t until someone invites you into child’s pose, that you feel again this relic of your upbringing. In the pose of a child your heart center is exposed between your shoulder blades, a vulnerable spot that you cannot curl around and protect as easily as your chest. In child’s pose, all of your secrets are available.
It is this work that both builds me up and tears me apart. I dis-member myself as I investigate every joint and ligament and back-body that has been holding me upright for all these years. And then I re-member myself with breath, ruach, pneuma, spirit. Inhale and exhale through all these broken and vulnerable human parts stretched to their limit and singing praise for some attention. I can feel the strength and the wounds that never quite healed right. I re-member myself from childhood to adulthood and trace the alignment of my story from the sole of my bare foot to the crown of my head. Stack the joints, root into the earth, reach for the sky, and breathe.
