High Summer

A reading

Photo: Claire Pepper

Take a deep breathe in and feel it —
the sun’s slow journey across the sky

These words come to me as a mantra in the weeks surrounding the longest day of the year.

Keep opening and opening and opening
there’s time
so much space to breathe into

Last weekend writer

Alice Vincent

and I held our first ever savour sessions x balance practice on a beautiful morning at London’s lush Chelsea Physic Garden in high summer. Our members gathered at the intersection of writing and yoga, balance and practice, and as we spoke, led, breathed, stretched, and wrote, I could feel the common thread — noticing. 

Exhale completely
keep going
there’s time
bones dropping 
jawline, shoulder space, belly center, arches —
softening
releasing to earth and to origin 
settling

“When you pay attention, life looks a lot different,” Alice said during her writing workshop. And so it does. It also feels a lot different. 

When’s the last time you felt the difference before or after a stretch? Or in the moments between sleeping and waking? Or holding a hand in yours? To feel it, you have to notice, which is a kind of listening to the world and to ourselves that changes everything.

Stretch out into the balance and linger
there’s time enough
time still
your wingspan is responding — 
Can you feel it?

It feels like this is what this expansive, energized season is asking of all of us — to slow down, breathe deeply, and pay attention. This is the entry point to noticing. What could possibly create more space than that?

Summer’s invite and promise
it whispers
stay with it
together 
practice

I shared this reading to close our yoga practice and I feel held by it here, in summer. I hope you do, too.

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