The fifth in our ten-part series, An Espresso of Breath – exploring the still moments between inhale and exhale, between sip and soul.
Moment in Hand
Breathe out now.
Just ease on into this moment by allowing the air to leave you ever-so slowly. As you are ready, release and let go of the unfinished, unspoken, and undone. Empty the old brew, the stale liquid of too much thought, too much tension, too much tight control. Just as the fresh brew offers the next yummy sip, now your next breath offers you the gift of a full, meaningful moment.
Breathe in now.
Intentional, steady, even meditatively. Gently, without force let your inbreath flow. Notice it travel upwards – softly, yet so surely. This is your moment in hand Just breathe in.
Breathe out again. Release. Hold an empty mug in your hand.
Breathe in again. Receive. Cradle a full mug in both hands.
Nothing else – only this moment really matters – just breath and the feel of the warm cup held in your palms. Notice the soothing heat radiating into your fingertips as you cradle the mug, and breathe in the steaming aroma of the brew. Notice the air leave and arrive in your body and being as you breathe out, and then in. Feel how body falls and settles in as you continue to breathe out, and how it rises and lifts as you breathe in again, and now again.
Brew. Savor. Sip. One moment – in your hand, literally and metaphorically. Lean into it. Breathe in and out with it. Gifts in hand – sweet and blessed.
In hand. Moments cannot actually be rushed. They are in time, always. And, they are timeless as we choose them to be. In and of themselves, moments in hand are exquisite gifts of such enormity. Cradling even one – perhaps this one – moves you into that timelessness, those gifts – the momentum of the highest kind.
Moment in Hand. “You belong in this very moment. You belong in this breath – and in this one. You have always belonged.” Sebene Selasse
This very moment in hand: breathe, brew, be, belong to it and to yourself. Notice what is right here. Strength in stillness, not in striving. Presence in this pause, not in persistence. Cradle it. And, as you do, be held by it. Your body sighs in relief. Your heartbeat slows in gratefulness. An, your mind softens and flows, as your breath steadies.
Breathe out now.
Release. Soften. Spill out.
Breathe in now.
Savor. Strengthen. Pour inward.
This is the rhythm of being, and of being alive in this very moment in your hands.
In Breath and Being, Heidi
— Written by Heidi M. Weiker, Sister, Storyteller, and Voice of Stillness at Espresso Momenti