Day Three: Breath

Word of the Day: Breath

Image of the Day: White Geese at Annandale

Token of the Day: "The Megamogs" by Peter Haswell.

Breath not breathe - i don't know why! was Gail's comment and indeed if you do a Google search you will find that the first thing it asks is: Did you mean "breathe"? and there are very few references to breath. And yet breath is life, it is fact, and it inspires (oh, there's another breath word!).

I hear in my head the words i so often say in my exercise classes: Focus on your breath, the rise and fall of your chest, the inflation and deflation of your lungs, expansion and contraction of your rib-cage... I guide participants through a relaxation exercise, breathing in energy, health, peace, calm... breathing out fatigue, illness, pain, anger, frustration. We give the breath colour and visualise the colour travelling round our body... And exactly how much of this do i do for myself?!

Breath, ruach, pause, selah!

Wingbeat, heartbeat

lungs fill, ribcage lifts

lungs empty, ribcage falls

in, out, up, down

- all in a breath.

Goose-breath, goosedown

skein of geese, gooseberries

in formation - what a gaggle!

have a gander, goose-step

good for the goose

good for the gander.

Seeing, no - first hearing, geese flying overhead is always awe-inspiring, spirit-filled, breath-taking. They communicate in a series of honks, wingbeats cut the air, slice clouds into rainbows. And i believe i can see their breath creating new clouds which then stream behind them, avian vapour trails.

Feather on the Breath of God - beautiful, haunting music by Hildegard von Bingen which i first encountered thanks to Simon Bates who played it on Radio One and got so many enquiries about it that he had to keep announcing what it was for several days following. Both the music and the mystic have been blessings in my life. Have a look at this link which i have just discovered: http://www.callalilynetworks.com/home/shop.php/articles/philosophy/a-feather-on-the-breath-of-god/p_46.html

Seeing a white feather suggests that an angel is near, that a loved one who has died has visited... Geese as angels, angels in the form of geese. We humans as goose feathers on the breath of God.

ruach is the Hebrew word for breath, air, wind, spirit. Its Greek equivalent is pneuma and the Latin is spiritus. It is used to refer to that which sustains the life in a nephesh (which means soul, the complete life of a being, usually used in the sense of "living being"/breathing creature).

Blow through me breath of God

blow through me

like a pipe, like a flute, like a reed,

making melody -

the cosmic song in me,

Breath of God.

Song by Miriam Therese Winter, copyright Medical Mission Sisters, 1987

from "Woman Prayer Woman Song"

I could write all day about breath but i will close with this:

Ruach of YHWH

Breath of I Am Who I Am

blow through my being

bring my essence to life

that each breath i take

is filled with hope

and each breath i give

is filled with peace.

I am Nephesh, spiritus, corpus

my pneuma is Your breath

pure, loving, joy-filled.

May my life return!

Breathe on my dry bones

Raise my soul from the dirt!

I long to be Your White Goose in the heavenly skein,

Your Unicorn in the Blessing.