Welcome. We have crossed a threshold. This is a place of peace, of silence, of being.
The heart beats steadily in its own unique rhythm. Blood flows in one direction and the other. The breath comes and goes and weaves a connection between inner and outer worlds. Guarded by the breastbone, the lungs embrace the heart in its activities. The bony pelvic girdle listens to the movements and sounds of our abdominal organs. The cell membranes are masters of permeable communication, and the nervous system pays attention to us without us ever asking it to. Our metabolism digests experiences and transforms them into a compost of vitality. Every single cell is devoted to its own special purpose.
Everything is serving us. Everywhere, life flows, paving the way, finding detours—it is unstoppable. Our being does not end at the boundary of our skin—it pulsates far beyond it and is in constant conversation with everything around us. Our tissues relate to Earth’s gravity; we share our microbiome with everything we touch; our breath synchronizes with the breath of the people around us. And everything we touch—wood, rocks, tree bark, another person’s skin—touches us back at the same time.
How much of our presence can we devote to this great harmony? Can we listen to each other in a reciprocal relationship? Where can we get out of the way just a bit more? And by the same token, where can we give something of ourselves just as generously, trusting that in so doing, it will not become less but more? With every break, more space is created. Darknesses arise, change form in our awareness, and are released into the body of the earth as collective medicine. And so we bid farewell again to our place and step over the threshold, knowing that our cells know.
Translation Laura Liska
Illustration Gilda Bartel
