Winged Breath

Today, practice was good. It took me a while to settle, as it often does. Then I found that for some odd reason it was easier to keep my attention on my breath if I focused on my back.

As I felt the breath expanding and contracting my muscles and ribs, I saw the fleeting image of a stretching bird - wings unfolding on the inhale, wings tucking back in on the exhale. It was a lovely, brief image (I'm learning not to hold onto those images lest I start thinking about them) and after that, my breathing slowed and I was only aware of the lift of inhaling and the pull toward Earth of exhaling.

I also had in mind as I went to sit this morning the notion that in focusing on my breath, I was actually making room - opening up space - for my mind to "bloom" into its natural unlimited state.

Love these good days!