Daily Nourishment for February 25, 2024: Breath, Uncertainty, and a Prayer by Gertrude the Great
Daily Nourishment Read Time: 45 seconds
Pause/Prompt/Practice Time: 12 minutes
“They tell me breathing is everything.”
— Yesenia Montilla
Pause.
Take six deep breaths with a six-count inhale and a six-count exhale. This six-count inhale and six-count exhale will help integrate your body+mind+soul. All religions from the beginning of time have prayers that use a six count inhale and six count exhale structure. (Read more in Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art by James Nestor.)
Prompt.
Practice.
Here’s a quote by Montilla about the poem above:
“I started this poem at the beginning of the pandemic. I am part of an incredible women’s writing group led by the incomparable Cheryl Boyce Taylor and she had tasked us to write through the uncertainty.
I could not help but make the correlation between the inability to take in breath—a symptom of COVID-19 and the loss of breath at the hands of the police—a reality of being Black in America. This was before we knew that this virus would take us in such higher numbers compared to white folks. This was before George Floyd and all that has happened and continues to happen and will continue to happen as we try to get free.”
Set a timer for seven minutes and respond to these questions:
What were you uncertain of during March of 2020? What are you uncertain of now? What will you be uncertain of in four years?
Want More?
A prayer from the 13th century by Gertrude the Great:
Be my honor, Lord,
My joy,
My beauty,
My consolation in sorrows,
My counsel in uncertainty,
My defense in everything unfair,
My patience in problems,
My abundance in poverty,
My food in fasting,
My sleep in vigilance,
And my healing in weakness.
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Upcoming Workshops & Gatherings
February: February Co-Writing schedule and registration options are ready.
February: Online Thoughtful Readers Gatherings with Erik Fuhrer(2/25)
Today’s Daily Nourishment was provided by Charlotte Donlon.
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