I look at her eyes watching me, like a cat. They crinkle softly at the corners when she smiles and says “Close your eyes and choisiana* ( a word which roughly translates as : “focus inwards“)
I sigh with a mixture of desire to explore my own body and the slight resistance that for some reason comes naturally to me. Leaning back against the tree I hear her clear her throat and find myself straitening back up again.
‘When you’ve grasped the exercise you can use the Hermiosa to sit against. Until then the upright will make you remain here”. (Hermiosa was our name for the mammoth tree that acted as a canopy of shade from the hot sun)
Sighing again I sat upright, knowing my exhale was simply for show. I was 15 in this vision, attempting to exert myself and make my voice heard.
Closing my eyes again I looked inwards. Seeing the vast cavern of I that was like a vacuum for my Soul self. Stepping away from the gateway I knew that would take me outwards to the cosmic I focused on simply breathing.
“Choichi, choisah” : inhale and release. I felt soft fabric pressed against my eyelids and allowed any light to be blocked out, bringing my awareness deeper within my body. “Choichi… choisa” My body relaxed outwardly yet an arrow of energy became a solid pillar filling my core from my crown to my root.
Sensing the energy shift, my mother took my hand and told me to calm. Keep breathing, remain here, and placed my palms onto thighs.
“Hear the rhythm of your breath,” she said. “Follow it as far as you can to the base of your form. Raise one finger when you have found the end of the breath.”
“Hear the rhythm of your breath,” she said. “Follow it as far as you can to the base of your form. Raise one finger when you have found the end of the breath.”
Alessandra Sagredo
I exhaled deeply and sank within myself, down into my body, until I found the pool of energy that rested at my root. (“Kriali” for women, “Krial” for men)
I raised a finger and felt my mother begin to fill my ears with a mossy substance. Comfort overtook me. Before she finished blocking out the sounds around me she said, “now listen. Hear your body, don’t leave it, don’t lose it, be in it, and know it. Mate your mind to body to Soul.”
