Breath

“I can’t breathe.” George Floyd pleaded with his captors; a voice now heard around the world. Protesters and reporters struggling to breathe, running from pepper spray and tear gas. Covid-19 patients – struggling to breathe. How is your breath? These times can leave us breathless and anxious as we contend with a personal and collective future even more uncertain than ever. Meditation practice can offer a place of steadiness during turbulent times. It can ground us and offer a place of refuge. Please remember the benefits gained from practice ... shoring up your practice will help you meet the coming months with greater ease, strength and resilience. Mr. Floyd called for his mama as he took his last breath. I wish I could have been there as a stand in, to bring a mother’s firm and unwavering voice and presence to that moment. To try to save his life. I’m sure that I’m not alone; his cry had to trigger maternal instincts of mothers everywhere. The time is ripe for mindful and compassionate action. To tap into the compassion beneath the anger and fear and to commit to being, as Gandhi said, “the change we want to see in the world.”  Being the change, as we do what we can to bring about the world that we want, the world that we envision. Real change. A better, kinder, more equal world. Our help is needed.