From time to time I like to participate in Instagram yoga challenges. Posting a different yoga pose each day keeps me connected to my yoga community and also fuels my creative outlets.
I jumped into one this week called #posesandpoems and each day calls for a yoga pose AND some writing. Yesterday asked for a six-word story about my life and today requested some words to follow this prompt: With only the moon as my witness…
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Here are some words pieced together from countless cold winter nights spent walking outside under the light of the moon:
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With only the moon as my witness, I breathe in the cold and still night air.
Treetops silhouetted black breathe out against the purple hues of sky.
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Thoughts dare to speak up.
Questions demand their fair share of airtime.
I breathe in.
The trees breathe out,
holding steady space as my mind swirls, shifts, and then gratefully settles.
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The crisp sharp crunch of snow under my boots works in tandem with the frozen quality of my nostrils to signal that familiar near-zero temperature.
No insulating clouds.
No distracting winds.
Just me, the snow, the stars, the trees, the cold alpine air, and one reliable and steady orb of witness.
Writing and Laughing 
I, too, appreciated the breathing-tree relationship. I look at the bare trees in our neighborhood and marvel at the similarity to our own cardiovascular and nervous systems. Everything is connected! Thank you, too, for the sensorial description; it has been a warm winter here in central Texas, and I long for alpine temps.
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Your words leave me with a deep sense of peace; I particularly like the connection to the trees, you breathing in, trees breathing out … like yoga …the word than comes to mind is “balance.” I am often outside in the dark with a new puppy and the moon has been so lovely, the stars so bright. Your post reminds me of these still, deep moments.
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Oh, thank you. Peace and balance are exactly what I associate with being outside on those cold moonlit nights. Enjoy those walks with your new puppy!
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