9th Session ~ Breath & Witness

Today's session hosted writers from

Oregon, California, Baltimore, Germany, South Africa, Zimbabwe

and of course England and all over Scotland (including the isles of Easdale & Cumbrae)

We returned to one of the simpler practices mindfulness with the support of breath that is one you might more easily be able to do on your own, even if you can't access the audio link. Adrienne led us in with the poem "Breath" by Peter Adams. You can read it here on a rather wonderful looking blog called Heart Mind.

Our writing process for today, the idea of relaxing into the idea that this magnificent world of ours needs little more than our witnessing ... and that is what we do with our writing. The concept was rather eerily predicted by Aileen Paterson in a Water Story session earlier in the day, so we started by reading her piece:

What Matters

by Aileen Paterson

What matters is the rain on my window, the grey dark sea rippling in to the shore, the streets deserted and the sound of cars swooshing through flooded streets.

What matters is the way the light in the sky still seeps through grey white clouds, even in the middle of a storm.

What matters is the pen in my hand, my words, what matters is to keep writing, to keep having a voice, to speak your truth.

What matters is this silence. This pause. A space for thought. What matters is stopping doing anything.

Be still. Create the space you need. Stop the onslaught of thoughts, your need to achieve. Your being here is enough. Breathe into this new way of being.

Our actual writing prompt your head to the wind was taken from:

Postscript

by Kay Carmichael (her book "It Takes a Lifetime to Become Yourself")

Thought you wrote some poems?
You were wrong.
Powered by pain,
half scream, half song,
they kept your head to the wind,
drove you through the storm.
The poems wrote you.

**********************************

And now for some of 

YOUR WRITING:

Under the Crescent Moon Blows the Wind

by Catrice Greer

Is it possible  

that in the frequency 

you found in me 

the grounded parts of yourself 

thundering 

whole, uncracked

open circuits, fuse broken

by distorted unsafe currents

back in safe mode

kundalini coiled 

waiting 

you found me awakened 

fluttered, atrial  

beating ohms

feeling for you

in this virtual space

pulses speaking

our ebbs, flows, synergies

blown through, amplified 

crested in our pixilated silences, 

we see better

we get 

closer 

you’ve written your ballad into me

call & response 

could it be 

me, lyrical, etched  

into this time again

entwined 

you sing the song 

my electrified marrow’s 

been waiting to hear

gather itself

And it is written 

on the inside of me

growled in an echo serenading 

deep in the night that sings me to sleep 

pulsating a lullaby

rocking me sound 

We can’t say our goodbyes

No, not this time

We’ve only just said our lifetime of hellos

I need you here

in the crests and troughs 

riding high, pinned low,

blown through 

boundless

in this digital hyperspace

shuttling past hurts

no night or day

no need for time or to keep 

pace with light

we ride this current 

Twin energies synched 

we recognize our hertz

combine altitudes, we go 

counterclockwise

higher 

And I hear the crackle of you 

astral traveling

feel you gust through me in the night 

your electric on my tongue 

I taste you 

and you touch me when you think

I cannot hear 

you thinking me 

there

3-dimensional seduction 

uncoiled 

elevated vibrating 

you find your way inside me 

willingly unbraced

ungrounded

where we

sing our songs 

electronic duets

time travelers 

across oceans 

time, space

channeled 

charged

PROMPT: TAKE YOUR THOUGHTS BEYOND….

by Mo Szulejewska

Take your thoughts beyond… 

But no, don’t do that, what’s the point, where’s the adventure in that?

Take your thoughts…… No. 

Let your thoughts take you. Beyond your limits, your world, your experience.

Embrace the journey, throw yourself into it, allow your thoughts to be both guide and companion.

What wonders might you see? There’s a whispery, grey feather shaped cloud that looks so insubstantial, hovering and moving slowly in the pale blue sky above – what would it be like inside that cloud? What would it feel like, what would it smell and taste like? Would the texture be soft and downy or cold and hard as steel? Would it be warm, heated by the sun’s rays or cold, cooled by the surrounding air? Or would it have its own unique temperature zone generated from its own existence?

And what would you see – looking down at the land below? But would you want to look down? Where’s the excitement in looking at where you have already been and already know?

Look above, look around – lands and shapes and worlds beyond imaginings.

Let your thoughts take you to those undiscovered, unimagined and otherwise inaccessible places where anything and everything is possible.

Let your thoughts take you…..

Ravine

by Hilaire (inspired by RAIN practice)

Down here, it is quiet.

The violent rush is over.

You may lie here

breathing

experiencing 

extremes of cold 

and heat

light and dark

listening to your body

slowly mending itself.

Hurry has vanished.

Ants busy themselves

around your stillness.

You will not climb 

from this place.

When feeling returns

test your steps

on the narrow path.

Keep steady ahead.

Hold the shrinking ravine

deep inside.

Your head to the wind

by Priscilla Webster

My head, receiver of knocks and blows
and sudden assaults from stairs, the
floor, the brother with the huge thumb,
the ground, the rounders bat.
My strong hardy head which recovers
each time and smiles again
with the help of the wind -
that knocks and blows and suddenly assaults
on mountain tops, on the biking road and on
the cliffs over the sea.
That strong hardy wind which cleanses
even as it never fails. My wind smiles.

Prompt: The kindness of memory

anonymous

She stretches as she clambers down from the car seat - waking up after dozing off during the two-hour journey. She turns into the wind so her hair lifts back from her face, and looks down the narrow path, high wall on one side, house on the other. The path is wet and she jumps over the puddles to reach the back of the house and the steps. Every second stair has a flower pot at one side - geraniums, she discovers, when old enough to be interested - and the familiar scent grows as she climbs towards the kitchen door. She is three steps from the top when it swings open to reveal arms outstretched and a beaming smile. Granneeeeeee!

*******************************

Thanks to you all ...

... for your heartening feedback as always:

Kath: Missed the awful loadshedding (power cut) today! Good to be back.

Annan: Hi everyone! I need to sign off in an hour due to work here…hope that’s ok?

Adrienne Hannah: of course annan

Kay: lovely   thankyou Adrienne  kx

Sheila: thank u Adrienne

Larky: My sister’s name has the stress on the first syllable:  ANN-an.

Giovanna: thank you Adrienne, I needed that!

Lapidus Scotland: your head to the wind

Hilaire: Beautiful imagery Anja

Catrice: Beautiful Anja!  <3

Sonja: So lovely! Thank you!

Anja: Thank you!

Catrice: @Susan, Wow!!

Giovanna: “caught out by the tempest” wonderful Susan

Anja: I could feel the storm coming, Susan!

Susan: Thank you

Anja: That ending, Catrice, wow!

Sonja: That was so fabulous!

Hilaire: Yes great ending!

Catrice: Thank you everyone.

Catrice: @Sandra ! Wowza. Powerful!  You have such a powerful voice in your work!

Catrice: Beautiful and peaceful poem.

Sandra: Thank you Catrice!

Anja: And the wind would batter at my burdens- that’s just wonderful!

Catrice: Lovely last line Giovanna.  Paired and sparkling!

Sandra: Beautiful images Giovanna. Thank you!

Anja: Yes! Catrice, you and I are a sucker for those last lines:-)

Giovanna: Pared! Thank you Catrice, I’d so love to be able to read your work

Giovanna: Thank you

Catrice: Thank you, Giovanna. I think Bev put a poem on the blog.  I’m working on publishing. So far, some work in the @afro.com.

Catrice: Oh pared!  Nice.

Giovanna: Brilliant, I will go looking for you

Anja: I loved that, Bev!

Sonja: I love the hot air reference to politicians LOL!

Catrice: Quite smart, Bev.  Love it!

Yvonne: What a beautiful session. Lovely to see you all. Love to all .... Bye from me xxx

Adrienne Hannah: bye Yvonne great that you were here

Britt: Brava, Priscilla!!

Catrice: Lovely !  From head wind to heart wind.

Sonja: I have to go to a meeting, Thank you so much for the invitation and the community! Looking forward to more time with you all! xo

Britt: Bye Sonja!!

Sandra: Me too. Headwind to heartwind is  beautiful image

Giovanna: CAn we organise a virtual Med/Write social at the end of this block? It would be lovely to chat with you all.

Britt: Here here, Giovanna. 

Sandra: Great idea!

Catrice: Great idea!

Sheila: 🍺

Anja: Lovely idea

Hilaire: Another enriching session - thank you Bev & Adrienne & everyone for sharing!

Britt: Your words fed my soul, thank you, everyone. 

Susan: Another great session! Thank you everyone

Sandra: Thank you so much Bev and Adrienne. I love these sessions!

Anja: Thank you to Adrienne and Bev for another lovely session and thank you to everyone for sharing your wonderful words here.

Louise's: a wind blowing session - I’m full of air and light on my feet... thank you all

Catrice: Thank YOU!  I love these sessions!

Kath: thank you, wonderful again

Larky: Thank you for changing the time so we could give this a try!  Thanks for all the shared encouragement.

Michele: So great to see you all. Thank you for all the inspiring writing.  Michele

Sheila: amazing quality of words from everyone no wind at all x

Jo: I missed your input, Kay.

Jo: Thanks, everybody else … humbling

Kay: a wonderful session    thankyou so much everyone   very special     thanks bev & Adrienne for making this happen    kx

Lesley: The mindfulness was wonderfully relaxing, much needed in these difficult times.  And thank you to everyone for sharing your meaty, thoughtful and inspiring words. x

Anja: And search of connections

Michele: I agree, lovely mindful practice, Adrienne.

Catrice: Good point Anja.

Michele: from Michele, Adrienne.

Susan: I need to leave now - thank you all. See you next week

Hilaire: Thanks again - see you all next week x

Catrice: Thank you, this has been quite lovely. Pleased to meet everyone.

Anja: Hoping to join next week, in case I can’t, here are my contact details, annickyerem@gmail.com

Jo: Thanks all