Offer Yourself the Generosity of Space

Written by Kyle Schauenberg

Life has a way of offering us circumstances that create an impulse to recoil.  We pull back, contract and feel tightened up.  If we stay in this contracted state, we might even begin to feel small or like we are not enough. 

It's so often that this is the point when we begin to fight tension. We wish it away, combat it or get hard on ourselves for feeling stressed. However, being in conflict with tension actually grinds it in more deeply. 

This is exactly the time to offer yourself the generosity of space.  A gentle approach will start to infuse softness into your tense and recoiled places. 

Rather than feeling like you're trying to fight with tension, meet it with an honest acknowledgement.  Let it exist, and even become curious about it. 

In this way, you are giving tension freedom to loosen, soften and even teach you about itself.  You are in a gentle conversation with your tension.  You are offering yourself a chance for the tension to release. 

Meditation:

As a meditation, begin with a few clearing breaths.  Notice the way that breath itself starts to create space within you.  Take your time with this. Luxuriate into the space of your breathing body. And as you breathe, remember your spacious nature.

Then, allow your attention to touch on the places where you feel tight.  This might be muscle tension or emotional tension.  It could be the memory of an event or a projection of a future event.  Let anything that feels tense surface into your awareness.  It's okay.  The spaciousness you're creating will start to diffuse these tense energies.  Your intentional acknowledgement is creating space. 

Flow like this in your meditation: creating space with your breath and allowing your tension to surface into that spacious environment.

PHOTO BY: JOSHUA EARLE