Defy Gravity

As I write this, the wind is blowing, up to 100 kilometres per hour and it’s pretty frightening. I’m in Jerusalem and praying (a good place for that) that the winds will calm before I fly home tomorrow! I started thinking about the wind and how mysterious it is. The very air that we breathe, that is generally unseen (smoke, fires, dust and smog notwithstanding) relates to Spirit for me. When I am in sync with my spirit, it is easy to trust. The trust that I must have — trust that I will get home safely and that all is well in my world — gets tested at times like this. We may like to think that we are in control of our lives, but a simple thing like extreme weather can blow that philosophy to pieces.

Breath and spirit are linked and this is reflected in many languages including English. The words spirit, inspire, respiration and more all come from the Latin words spiritus (breath, spirit) from spirare or ‘breathe.’ Spirit also refers to our mood or the alcohol we drink to deal with our moods! Of course one way to access our “Spirit” is through our breath. We can mindfully and simply meditate by following our breath. Breathing in; breathing out. Our breath can both calm an anxious mood and help us access that trust that will, in turn, calm our spirit further. So to get to our Spirit we need to use our spirit (breath). The opposite is true as well. When we can’t catch our breath, because we are anxious or worried, we can call on our Spirit to help calm our lives, whether physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

All of this brings me to Oz. Maybe it was the recent revisiting of Wicked that blew into town last month, maybe it was my Australian colleague’s invitation to do a workshop in Oz, but most likely it’s the wind that continues to howl outside. As I walked, head down in the wind, praying a house wouldn’t land on my head, I remembered Dorothy who had the ability to return home all along. She had the ability — seemingly through the ruby slippers that she wore — but she had to go through the journey to get to that place where she could access this ability that was within. The shoes were only a symbol. The journey home that I refer to is the journey home to our Spirit. Sometimes external forces or experiences, symbolized by the wind and other things in life, help us get there, and sometimes we just breathe ourselves home (meditation or internal forces). Other times, we can use the help of synchronicities and I often use the inspiration of music that pops up on the radio (or on my iPod shuffle) to help me catch my spirit/breath and these lyrics from Wicked popped up for me and can help you get there too.

“Something has changed within me, something is not the same… It's time to trust my instincts. Close my eyes: and leap! It's time to try defying gravity. I think I'll try defying gravity! And you can't pull me down!”

May the winds of Spirit help you defy gravity and reach the heights your soul is meant to travel!