This is a companion poem to the post on this blog of 04.01.24 entitled Wellness, Mindfulness, Relaxation or Meditation. It explores in verse the nature of the silent headphones and our experience of our own intensified breathing sound.
Put on quietened headphones to hear your own breathing,
drawing in air and then pouring it out.
in those profound moments your headphones can offer
stillness to ponder what life is about.
Reflect for some minutes on air and your breathing:
all of Earth’s creatures take similar air
of nitrogen, oxygen^ mixed with small traces
of other gases, globally shared.
And where does the air that we breathe every moment
come from and go to? It’s borne on the wind:
in wild adverse weather it travels great distance
on calm days its movement is naturally trimmed.
So celebrate air and its movements as wonders,
nurturing life on our planet benign.
Let‘s daily be thankful for these on life’s journey:
gifts to us all in creation’s design.
And having said thanks for continued existence,
return to the deep sounds of taking each breath
and ponder the mystery of life you’ve been given
in your wondrous journey between birth and death.
Conclusion 1*
Before you take leave of the sonorous rhythm
resolve that you’ll always be grateful for air?
and for the way it envelops our planet
held fast by gravity everywhere.
OR
Conclusion 2*
But mystery and silence might draw you much further,
from day-by-day rhythms to unbounded time,
from out of your depths a surprising up-welling
a longing to enter the presence divine.
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*The poem deliberately has two possible endings. If, for you, this poem with its associated breathing exercise is woven into a bodily well-being programme, then you will probably be more comfortable with Conclusion 1.
For some, however, the exercise might be part of a prayer/spiritual practice. In this case, Conclusion 2 might be the more helpful reading.
In either case, you might like to follow the link immediately below which leads to a celebration of our five senses
LINK: https://crossandcosmos.blogspot.com/2016/04/for-amazement-by-beauty-celebration-of.html
^Note: Air comprises 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% argon,
0.04% carbon dioxide, 0.5% water vapour.
The 4th January posting on Mindfulness, Wellness. referred to in the opening sentence above, can be found HERE
Footnote: If you’re fortunate enough to have a quietened room, you can experience a degree of this effect by cupping your hands round your ears - but that inevitably will leave you less relaxed. If you haven’t any such space, an open church might provide the quiet and a pew or seat in front of you that would enable you to rest your arms and take a more relaxed posture.
