To Fall

Words

Rainer Maria Rilke – The Book of Hours

‘Each thing –

Each stone, blossom, child – 

Is held in place

…

If we surrendered

to earth’s intelligence

We could rise up rooted like trees.

…

This is what things can teach us: to fall,

Patiently to trust our heaviness.

Even a bird has to do that before he can fly.

The Book of Hours – Ch 2- vs 16 – translation Joanna Macey

 The Book of Hours – Ch 2- vs 16 – translation Joanna Macey

I chose this poem for that week’s Wednesday class as we explored Half Moon Pose, Ardha Chandrasana. This is a standing balance, in which – in the full expression of the pose – you have to look to the side or up, which for many increases wobbling on the standing leg. This phenomenon made me think of Rilke’s words ‘patiently trust your heaviness’  and that it is okay to fall. 

It certainly takes time to learn this pose until you feel stable in it, it does not matter if on your journey with it you fall or have to drop down a hand or leg to the floor to regain your balance. Patiently try again. With time you will become more and more stable and fully discover its joy: the wide openness of the chest, the tingling sensation of partly feeling like a bird, maybe a swallow, which is cruising precariously through the endlessness of the sky … but still knowing that you are connected firmly to the ground, held in place by the laws of gravity.

The poet Rilke lived for a while in the neighbouring village to where my mother grew up, in Worpswede, near Bremen in Germany. My mother still remembers seeing his wife, the sculpturer Clara Rilke-Westhoff, pushing her bike through the village. This geographical coincidence first brought me to reading his poems and remarkable biography, ‘A ringing glass’ from Donald A Prater.  – Watch out – I am sure I will use one of his poems again :).