A Trace of the Traceless

Only Breath

Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu

Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion

or cultural system. I am not from the East

or the West, not out of the ocean or up

from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not

composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

am not an entity in this world or in the next,

did not descend from Adam and Eve or any

origin story. My place is placeless, a trace

of the traceless. Neither body or soul.

I belong to the beloved, have seen the two

worlds as one and that one call to and know,

first, last, outer, inner, only that

breath breathing human being.

-Rumi

I love this poem. It speaks to the power of the breath; its capacity to unite two seemingly different/separate parts or things or beings. We can feel it during practice. When the breath and the body move together, the mind and body become one. We also embody its binding forces when we sit together and simply breathe.

Emotions all have their own breath pattern. Sadness brings a shorter sigh of an exhale followed by a long inhale. Grief is a jagged, slippery, stutter of an exhale. Anger is expressed through short, rapid breaths that create heat and explosive energy. Joy can feel like one long inhale followed by a long exhale or an exhale that initiates a belly laugh. Fear either quickens the inhale or holds onto it.

Conscious breathing can anchor you, prevent you from being pulled into your own or someone else's emotional storm. It can dispel the illusion of separation and open up channels of understanding and deep listening in order to hear and see more clearly.

Rumi knew this more than 700 years ago. Originally from the Greater Khorasan in Greater Iran, he was not only a poet, but also an islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic. His influence reached beyond national borders and transcended the ethnic divisions of Iranians, Tajiks, Turks, Greeks, Pashtuns, and other Central Asian Muslims. His poetry is widely translated because it speaks to a common experience.

Breathing is just as he described, "My place is placeless, a trace

of the traceless. Neither body or soul. I belong to the beloved, have seen the two worlds as one".

When and if you feel the pull of division, hear the chant "us versus them", see the quick pulse of another person's anger, take a deep breath. Let it out slowly, feel the fluid connectivity of the world around you and inside of you, and know that you too belong to the beloved.

Sending love from my mat to yours.

Namaste,

Kathryn