Making Space with Each Inhale

Once I had a discussion with my daughter reminding her to breathe if her "body felt worried.” When I can, I try to remind her to listen carefully to the parts of her body that feel tight. A lot of the time she just talks over me (she’s chatty), but that night I remembered this quote from Ida Rolf: “The body is solid material wrapped around the breath.” I thought it would be a good piece of imagery for her to hold onto––and it was. She closed her eyes and focused on her breath, while I talked to her about her lungs and how we can make space with each inhale. As adults, we still need these reminders, though we can draw upon somatic education and the lessons of Moshe Feldenkrais to help guide us. At any moment we can remind ourselves to “wrap our breath” around our shoulders, ribs, collar bones, pelvis, torso; our whole self.