Today is the first Friday in August and my first day of school, but it’s also time for an Inkling challenge. This month Catherine wanted to give us something easy to write. She thought about sports. I am not all that sporty, but I do have a poem in the anthology Rhyme & Rhythm: poems for student-athletes (Archer Books. 2021). It’s a duplex poem about swimming.
As I contemplated this challenge, I turned to my weekly yoga class. I am going to miss this class during the school year. I love the instructor and the way she speaks to us. I’ve always thought it was like poetry. So on Wednesday, I recorded the class. This poem is a transcription with poetic license. I decided to play with having no punctuation and using space and line breaks to pause. Does this work?
The Sport of Mindfulness
Breathing is healing
relaxation
brings the body together
all cells communicate together
Breathe and communicate
into one focus. breathNotice if your thoughts move
into a pattern bring yourself back
to your anchor
your breathBack and forth a tennis match with yourself
building a new skill purposeful
intentional thinkingLean into the stretch spread your fingers
press into the palm open your musclesStay with the breath
Challenge yourself
Focus ride the waves
of discomfort Then it starts to feel goodExhale pose
thank you colon
thank you liver
thank you spleen
gallbladder pancreas
Thank you for all your hard work
Toxins moving out releaseCome back to the breath
The sound of the wind sound of the music
Sensation of being in the room among friends
No responsibilitiesNature is abundant
Bring awareness to your abundance
You are abundant thriving We are all thrivingWe all meet at the center
For Susan Grain
Namaste.
Margaret Simon, draft
See how other Inklings met this challenge:
Linda Mitchell
Molly Hogan
Catherine Flynn
Heidi Mordhorst
MaryLee Hahn
Reflections on the Teche 
Dear Margaret, you’ve written a beautiful meditation! Thank you. I especially love thanking the organs for how they support us all the time. xo
Your poem captures breath and a sense of centered calm exquisitely Margaret. I like the spacing, it invites breath and allows it to circulate around and captures so much of what yoga and meditation offer. Thanks for bringing me there as I missed much of my practice these last almost 3 weeks while caring for my husband with Covid and rebound.
Oh, Margaret, that does work. I loved breathing in and out slowly while reading your poem this morning. Great topic for your sports poem. I like the shoutout to a tennis match, as well. Very effective for your Inklings challenge.
[…] Mordhorst @ My Juicy Little UniverseLinda Mitchell @ A Word EdgewiseMargaret Simon @ Reflections on the TecheMary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of ReadingMolly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort […]
I love that mindfulness can be a sport, a craft we must practice. Thank you!
I haven’t practiced yoga in awhile, but I was right there in my old class while reading your poem. The absence of punctuation makes everything flow, just like yoga. Breath. Breathe. Namaste. Thank you.
Hi Margaret: I just realized how much I miss yoga, and here you remind me of it, and to always come back to the breath. The in and out. And the spreading of the fingers, the openings…Thanks!
Oops! I mistakenly put my reply after Patricia’s comment. Here it is again.
I haven’t practiced yoga in awhile, but I was right there in my old class while reading your poem. The absence of punctuation makes everything flow, just like yoga. Breath. Breathe. Namaste. Thank you.
I LOVE it without punctuation! I think you could take out all but the initial capital letter in each stanza if you wanted to pare it down and make it even more “breathy.” My favorite stanza is #4 with the gaps you added. They make me take a deep breath there. Lovely. Namaste.
I added more gaps that didn’t work in WordPress. I could see them in the editor version. Thanks.
This peacefully captures the focus on breath even for those of us who haven’t spend a lot of time with yoga. I’m reading THE BODY KEEPS THE SCORE and I like the author’s definition of mindfulness: “Being able to hover calmly and objectively over our thoughts, feelings, and emotions.” Your poem demonstrates this!
van der Kolk, Bessel . The Body Keeps the Score (p. 103). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Like Mary Lee, I love how you played with space in the fourth stanza. It’s really effective! I’m also, as I am so often, struck by how you seem to effortlessly find the poetry within your daily life. Such a lovely, mindful take on the prompt!
This is beautiful, Margaret! I agree about the fourth stanza, but for me it’s those two final stanzas. “Bring awareness to your abundance” is something I need to remind myself of always. Thank you for sharing this poem of grace and peace.
Your poem “meets at the center” and brings a sense of calm, Margaret. Lovely.