Last year, about this time, I experienced the strangest weather ever. It was a “defy gravity” kind of moment. The wind was blowing, up to 100 kilometers per hour, and it was mixed with rain, fog and bits of dirt that filled the air. It was extremely frightening. I was in Jerusalem and praying (a good place for that) that the winds would calm before I flew home the next day!
I started thinking about the wind and how mysterious it is. The very air that we breathe, that is generally unseen (smoke, fires, dust and smog notwithstanding) relates to the mental realm of thought but also to Spirit for me. When I am in sync with my spirit, it is easy to trust. The trust that I had to have last year—trust that I would get home safely and that all would be well in my world, certainly got tested at a time like that. We may like to think that we are in control of our lives, but a simple thing like extreme weather (and Mother Earth is giving us plenty of extreme weather to contend with) can blow that philosophy to pieces.
Breath and spirit are linked and this is reflected in many languages including English. The words spirit, inspire, respiration and more all come from the Latin words spiritus (breath, spirit) from spirare or ‘breathe.’ Spirit also refers to our mood or the alcohol we drink to deal with our moods! Of course one way to access our “Spirit” is through our breath. We can mindfully and simply meditate by following our breath. Breathing in; breathing out. Our breath can both calm an anxious mood and help us access that trust that will, in turn, calm our spirit further. So to get to our Spirit we need to use our spirit (breath). The opposite is true as well. When we can’t catch our breath, because we are anxious or worried, we can call on our Spirit to help calm our lives, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually.
All of this brings me to Oz. Maybe it was a recent revisiting of the music from Wicked, maybe it was my Australian colleague’s invitation to do a workshop in Oz, but most likely it was the wind that continued to howl for quite a while last year. Everything was blowing horizontally, and I remember walking, head down in the wind, praying a house wouldn’t land on my head. It was then that I remembered Dorothy who had the ability to return home all along. She had the ability– seemingly through the ruby slippers that she wore—but she had to go through the journey to get to that place where she could access this ability that was within. The shoes were only a symbol. The journey home to which I refer, is the journey home to our Spirit. Sometimes external forces or experiences, symbolized by the wind and other events in life, help us get there, and sometimes we just breathe ourselves home (meditation or internal forces). Other times, we can use the help of synchronicities and I often use the inspiration of music that pops up on the radio (or on my iphone when the music is in “shuffle” mode) to help me catch my spirit/breath and these lyrics from Wicked popped up for me and can help you get there too.
“Something has changed within me, something is not the same… It’s time to trust my instincts. Close my eyes: and leap! It’s time to try defying gravity.
I think I’ll try defying gravity! And you can’t pull me down!”
May the winds of Spirit help you defy gravity and reach the heights your soul is meant to travel!
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