The Place We Meet

It doesn’t matter whether you’re teaching the class or walking in for the very first time—whether you’ve been practicing for three weeks or thirty years. In my class, we all begin our practice in exactly the same place: standing quietly, eyes closed, settling into our own breath.

Then I say,

“Together, let’s inhale… exhale.”

There is something profoundly humbling about knowing that experience doesn’t exempt us from the beginning.

No amount of skill allows us to bypass the first breath.

Picture it.

Twenty people standing quietly before class.

Twenty different jobs.

Twenty different sets of worries.

Twenty different personalities.

And yet, when everyone closes their eyes and breathes together…

It isn’t uniformity; it’s unity.

They’re participating in one practice. One rhythm. One shared moment of presence.

In most areas of life, experience separates us. The expert stands apart from the beginner. The teacher stands apart from the student.

But this practice has a way of dissolving those distinctions.

For a few breaths, titles disappear. Experience disappears. Achievement disappears.

There is only awareness, presence, and the willingness to begin. 

-Rhiannon