I started taking squash lessons a couple weeks ago. Mostly for a fun new hobby, but in my honest moments, I know I really care about being good. So there I was last week, red-faced against a wall, when my coach stopped the rally and gently informed me I looked like I was in pain. I was. Not from the exercise, though, from how badly I wanted to not be bad.

That's when the Huxley line surfaced, the one I've carried around for years — lightly, child, lightly. I've always loved it and strive to live it. It turns out you can know a thing intellectually and still stand in a gym clenching your jaw at a rubber ball. What he means in Island isn't that we should care less. It's almost the opposite, that the caring gets heavier and clumsier when we grip it too hard, and that there's a way to hold even the things that matter most without strangling them.

I'm turning this over now because it isn't really about squash, and I suspect you might know the feeling too. There's so much talk of big shifts coming, especially on my astrology algorithm, and my instinct is to brace, to try harder, to get through whatever's next by sheer force. But I'm starting to wonder if that's backwards. Maybe there's something we're each holding a little too tightly right now, and maybe the invitation of this moment is just to loosen the grip a little, not to care less, but to stop bracing. So if you're feeling it too, this is me hoping you go easy on yourself this month. Loosen your jaw. Unclench whatever you're clenching. I'll be right there with you, missing shots and trying to remember my own advice.

Join me at the end of the month for a group Breathwork session where we will let it be easy.

Breathwork is an active meditation technique that uses the breath to purge the body and nervous system of emotional debris.  It is part catharsis, part socially sanctioned adult temper tantrum, and part consciousness altering.  The experience moves stagnant emotional energy and facilitates release of strong emotions like anger and sadness.  It can help you to find a home in your body and your heart and help you learn to trust yourself.  It may leave you feeling softer, open and less burdened.

Possible benefits of breathwork: 

• Release of stuck or stagnant emotions in the body

• A heart opening to greater love

• Access to greater creativity and expression

• Deeper connection to self, guides, ancestors, the natural world, and Spirit 

• Increased compassion, understanding and authentic connection in relationships

• Renewed energy and clarity

• Heightened intuition and receptivity 

• Decreased anxiety, frustration, overwhelm, depression, and confusion

Cost: $33