i can't breathe

This past week, I found myself thinking about COVID19 and the death of George Floyd, the fact that overnight we went from pandemic to protests, virus to violence, quarantine to curfews. I was just growing comfortable with the numbness to my daily wake up call being the report of local and national new corona cases and deaths. Suddenly, news coverage completely shifted to images of the demonstrations here in DC and across the country. Though it may seem like these are separate events, I believe that many of us understand that there are connecting links between the two. Perhaps the most subtle of these is breath.

“I can’t breathe,” is an action that is all too familiar to me. In January 2019, I woke from a nap unable to catch my breath. My struggle was far from what happens to the detained when an unfazed serve and protect lowers his full body weight into his knee, places it on the neck of a Black man, and deliberately holds it there for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. My moment cannot be compared to those in hospital beds around the world who may not even know how many days they’ve been on a respirator, may never go home. What I do know is what it’s like to lose what is a natural function for most.

The act of breathing is essential to life, is something too many of us take for granted. Breath work has played a major role in my work life; it is the opening and closing of every workshop I facilitate. Unfortunately, the murder that unfolded before all of our eyes has made us aware of just how precious breathing is. When I'm able to begin facilitating again, I know my approach will now take on a deeper meaning. Each time I speak the words, “take a deep breath as you inhale,” I will do so in memory of George Floyd and all the Black, Brown and Yellow people, named and unknown, whose breath was taken by a knee, a gun, or a noose.

I can’t breathe. As long as you can do so, remember and…

keep your peepers open!

#sunday #sacredsunday #blogpost #blogging #blogger #wearewomenwriting #blackwomenwriting #photographer #photo #photograph #photography#outdoorphotograph #GeorgeFloyd #icantbreathe #BLM #enoughisenough #justice #pandemic #COVID19 #coronavirus