Hello and welcome.
My name is Uriah.
I'm a mindfulness coach,
A yoga instructor,
A storyteller,
And a radiologic technologist.
I want to tell you a story today about being supported and supporting one another.
I want to illustrate how giving and receiving is intertwined and corresponds to providing and nourishing.
So let's take a moment to come into our bodies and breathe.
Find a comfortable seated position.
Pull the navel in and up and spine up,
Shoulders relaxed,
Down the spine,
Away from the ears,
The head and face at ease.
All the muscles of the belly are relaxed,
Back is relaxed,
Clavicles and shoulders at ease.
Muscles of the arms and legs,
Hands and feet are relaxed and letting go.
Breathe in through the nose,
In the navel and up the spine,
And out the nose.
Breathe in through the nose for three seconds,
One,
Two,
Three.
Hold your breath,
Three seconds,
One,
Two,
Three.
Exhale out the nose,
One,
Two,
Three.
Again,
Inhale,
Hold,
Exhale.
Inhale through the nose,
One,
Two,
Three.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three.
Slowly breath down,
Shoulders drop behind the ears,
Down the spine,
And body is relaxed.
A couple of days ago,
I was driving down a busy street in the city.
I stopped at a stoplight.
There was a car in front of me.
There's people walking around on the sidewalks.
There was a man crossing the street.
He was an elderly gentleman.
He was blind and he had a cane.
He was alone.
He was tapping his way across the street,
And he began to look confused.
He would go to one side and the other and stop,
And he seemed to be lost.
Then he began to walk towards incoming traffic,
And he was clearly in danger.
I was concerned,
As I'm sure people around me were concerned as well,
But there was not much I could do but send intention for him to safely cross the street as I was in my car.
As soon as I did that,
A young college boy ran across the street to help him,
Put his hand on the man's shoulder,
And softly spoke to him,
Guiding him across the road during a green light.
So as soon as they crossed the road,
There was a sense of ease that you could feel just in the whole neighborhood.
He was being supported.
There was support,
And everyone could really feel that,
And I think even more so after the two and a half years in the height of this pandemic where we had a lot of isolation and we all need communal support so much more than we did before.
There's so much more of an awareness around it,
Around that need.
So I was very grateful that he made it to the other side,
And I kept driving.
I reached the other side of the city in about 15 minutes and parked my car walking to a restaurant.
As I was walking,
There was people around me on the sidewalks.
It was a nice sunny day,
And there was a man running towards me and just to the left of me,
And he was jogging,
And he had somebody in tandem with him.
He had a wooden rod he was holding,
And there was a blind man behind him,
Another different blind man,
And he was running with him.
They were jogging together,
And that was a beautiful sight on its own,
But seeing each of these blind men in different parts of the city within such a short time of each other was extraordinary.
The first man needed dire support right away.
He was in danger,
And he was overwhelmed,
Needed intervention,
And got it.
And the second man was being supported the whole time and was not in danger,
But had that support left,
He would be.
He would not be able to run by himself.
So what I gathered from these events is that there are times when we need support.
I mean,
We always need support.
We need different kinds of support.
Most of all,
We need support from ourselves,
For ourselves.
You know,
When we sit and we take time each day,
It's important that we do it every day.
To take 5,
15 minutes,
Some take an hour sitting and breathing,
And that supports us.
That supports you like nothing else can.
All other support is additional.
All other support is welcome,
Like a light.
So as we recognize that we need support,
Support comes.
As we give,
We're able to receive as long as we make space for it each day in our breath.
And as we give and receive,
We are nurturing and providing.
To nurture is the female's primary characteristic,
And to provide is the male's primary trait.
Both male and female provide and nurture.
And we do so in balance with our own needs and the needs of each other.
And each person is going to have a different amount of nourishment and provision according to their according to their needs.
When we learn and have awareness around how much nourishment and provision we need,
Then we can give and receive,
You know,
Without worrying too much about it.
When the obstacles become less and less,
And as we breathe and take time for ourselves,
Then this space of consciousness,
Of spirit,
Becomes less of a blind spot.
You know,
Our flesh is our skin we can touch,
But the spirit and consciousness,
It's something that takes doing and takes inconsistency and then leads us,
Leads our way.
And then we're supported.
And these men supporting these blind men,
It's just like consciousness and spirits supporting us.
The first man was overwhelmed and needed support immediately and got it.
The second man had support constantly,
Consistently and was enjoying exercise,
Running,
Being supported,
Clearly on his path,
As we are.
As we continue,
You know,
To find these spaces of breath and stillness,
Then our day is smooth.
Our obstacles are less.
Less stress builds in the body and then the stress that does build in the body is able to be moved and able to be integrated because our thoughts are not being stuck in the muscles they're moving.
Because we have balance in the body,
We're supporting ourselves and allowing ourselves to be supported and supporting others.
I hope this story helped to bring some awareness around supporting and being supported and nourishing and providing for and being provided for.
Have a wonderful week.
Namaste,
My friends.
Till next time.
