The heart has more chambers than we think we know it has. Its cavities extend beyond the boundaries of where we think they are.
Hundreds of ventricles fill the lungs alone and entwine and permeate each rib.
A series of runs up the they weave themselves into the brain, through the muscles, unfurling, even, into the digits and beyond.
The question is how to open them? How to set the beating when so much of our flesh is still dense with forgetfulness?
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The heart has more chambers than we think we know it has. Its cavities extend beyond the boundaries of where we think they are.
Hundreds of ventricles fill the lungs alone and entwine and permeate each rib.
A series of runs up the they weave themselves into the brain, through the muscles, unfurling, even, into the digits and beyond.
The question is how to open them? How to set the beating when so much of our flesh is still dense with forgetfulness?
Let things open them: the sound of a bell, certain fruits, certain gusts of wind, the weight of your own breathing, the lullaby of other bodies in the room with yours.
Collect these like bunches of grapes, and feel the opening, the new pulse.
Feel how, when all the chambers of your heart are open, the heart's true blood pours forth , milk and honey, sweet white light.
Beth Taylor Schott
Beth, Ancient Ease of the Heart, teaches writing at University of California at Santa Barbara. She and her husband David practice with the Still Water Sangha in Santa Barbara, California.
