Inner Rhythm, Sept 7th, 2017

“From Interiority To Conversation And Back”

As I was walking up Waddell Canyon on the North coast of Santa Cruz, away from the noisy, busy Highway 1 Labor Day weekend scene, I began to feel greeted and really welcomed by the natural beauty around me. I paused at the wetlands, and as the breeze made music through the tule and cattails, I received the invitation into my own breath, and into my own center. Still aware of the highway noise, I wondered how far, how deep into the canyon I would have to go to immerse myself in the quietude I was longing for. As I descended the other side of a gentle rise in the trail, I felt and heard the machine noise fall away and was greeted by the sound of a gurgling spring, the breeze in the trees, and again, my own breath. I was reminded of one of my favorite poems.

“… but this time alone 

the invisible line

where

you could mark exactly 

when you began to hear 

the sounds of the road 

and the machines of the blank

cries of everyday commerce,

so that for a moment you could 

retrace that one single step 

back into the Glen 

and immerse yourself 

instantly 

in the quiet 

source of revelation 

you had felt 

only a moment before, 

as if underwater, 

as if slipping back 

into the river 

of silence running between 

the tree-lined walls 

and then you could practice 

leaving and 

returning in your own body, 

through your own breath, 

inward and outward, 

descending and 

entering and reentering the silence 

and shelter of your own 

narrow valley of aloneness, 

from interiority 

to conversation 

and back…”

Sligo Glen: Walking Out Of Silence

by David Whyte