Mine was obviously out of balance the last week. Perhaps most of this year.
Know what I’m talking about?
The energetic channel for sadness is the lung/large intestine meridian pair, mostly the lung: the interface between you and the outside world. It resides in the upper body and finds balance through the breath. Of course. Postures that open the chest and arms help release blocks there. Even forward folds with a focus on expanding the back of your ribs, relaxing the neck and shoulders, can help open this channel. Makes sense, right? The breath is our first and last interaction with the outside world. And it’s easy to shorten it when things don’t feel so great. Sadness and grief knock the air from your happy existence. They take the joy away. It’s the excuse to not go anywhere, let go of healthy habits and blend moodily into a backdrop of ennui and self-absorption. It’s all about me. The world is a wasteland. It can become a trap as sadness makes it easier to say, “I’m too sad about it all to do anything.”
That’s not where joy, change or bliss reside.
They live in the moment when we start again, the moment of balance in our lung meridian that brings confidence and clarity, even, deep inhales and exhales. Despite the pain and grief, if we stay a little longer with our feel good habits we can let go of what doesn’t feel so good. Staying longer means sitting with whatever it is and consciously letting go – on and off the mat. Letting business as usual, like the negativity and hopelessness associated with sadness, take the back seat.
That’s when I give myself permission to seek those things that make my life blissful. “Been writing,” I answer when someone asks where I've been. Long moments in supported yoga poses help me fully let go. Or methodically moving through a familiar flow, no thinking, just moving, frees me. I bike to the beach, soaked in seaweed but still magnificent if you lift your gaze toward the horizon and open your heart and lungs. Looking upward, standing tall lets you see that the sun still sparkles on the waves. The world has not crumbled. There is still loads to love and to save. I retreat to the woods to find peace even if I cry as I breathe in the green. Or I simply bike for a favorite coffee, steaming hot, a friendly face serving me. I breathe in humanity rushing by. Perhaps I smile at one or two. I connect. With people. With nature. With the world.
Connection helps us find us again.
Ask yourself, what postures bring you joy? How can you open your chest and lead with the breath into the day. Most often, it’s small daily miracles that bring us back and allow us to exhale. A deep sigh is medicine. Repeating it, focusing on the breath we may find sadness passing, or at least diminishing. In its place enters gratitude and a deep appreciation that life is a miracle. So, inhale deeply. Sigh it out slowly. Let sadness and grief leave the body to replace them with gratitude and the energy to be the change we need in the world. Try it and tell me how it goes.