This is Georgia O”Keefe’s cow.  Can you see/feel the tongue, the big eye of her cow and your own at the same time? Try it.

What interests me is awakening to the animal in myself and in others.  Being an animal among animals.  What I mean by that is a sensing, feeling awareness that is about presence, resonance and attunement — feeling into each other in a cellular, neuroceptive way, rather than at the level of personality and reactivity.

It also means actively cultivating my herdness, not being too special, and finding our how others in my herd smell and move.  Not thinking about it too much, but feeling it a lot.  I am talking about opening.

That takes practice and also a kind of unstylish courage.  Right now I am looking out at our friend Carlos who is doing some repairs on our heating system.  Carlos is a big man with a wonderful dense, stocky physicality.  If he were in my herd (and he is) I would feel good grazing near him, keeping him in my peripheral vision because he is so nicely connected to the earth – a warm, safe presence.  More of that, please.

How to do it?  Be quiet.  Stop talking. Stop thinking about and start feeling into.  Begin with breathing.  Don’t just look at, but let it – the tree, the bird, the dog, the man the woman – step into you. Join, even for a moment.

Tell me what happens.