Hold Your Space – palms up and out!
Another week and another sunday morning yoga class gave Birdelini and I food for thought. This times it’s about holding on to your own space, owning and nourishing that space however expansive or tiny it may be. It refers not to marking out your territory but to truly holding your own self/space with no harsh negative judgments, an acceptance of your space and peace with your space. In the winter “our space” sometimes feels tighter and more constricted. It’s not really. It’s our innate human nature of “winterizing”- we tend to stand less tall, fold into ourselves more, rounded shoulders and slouching. In the cold we bundle up, look down, and walk fast to our destinations. That’s pretty close to tight-fisted living. (see last weeks post). Holding your own space goes hand in hand (all puns intended) with open palm living. You need to understand you can’t micro manage your space, you need to let is be, to fill, expand, and contract as needed. You certainly don’t need to try to control anyones else’s space, for that is really fruitless. Your space is what it is- your space, don’t judge it or others and the sides of your space will be so much smoother.
I poked around on-line a bit and found this at Spiritual Awaking Process. I thought he did a nice job of talking about this issue.
“Holding Space: Some Key Attributes
Let me try to break this down a little bit. Here are a couple key characteristics to holding space, and I’ll give an example to help solidify what I’m talking about. Some components are:
- Letting go of judgment
- Opening your heart
- Allowing another to have whatever experience they’re having
- Giving your complete undivided attention to the situation/other person
Those are really the key elements of holding space. You’re not trying to influence the situation. You’re not trying to fix it, win at it, or affect any kind of outcome. You are simply being with it fully so that it can work itself out. This doesn’t mean becoming a victim to it. Quite the contrary actually, you’re very powerful in this space, and it certainly doesn’t mean being hurt physically by another. By when you’re deep into a space like this, you are far more immune to any “emotional” hurt than you might realize…” ( read more)
