Solid and Free--wait...what?

This week in our Mindfulness Group* one of the members mentioned the seeming juxtaposition between a saying of Thich Nhat Hanh's--"I am solid, I am free." What, now? I'm heavy and dense, yet light and airy? I've always pondered the opposition of these two words also, so I dropped the seed--"I am solid, I am free," into my morning practice and received a bit of insight.

Often I ask myself and my clients--"What keeps you from being 100% free right now?" Anything that stands in the way of freedom becomes our target for tapping (Meridian Tapping). I've discovered something when asking this question--to be 100% free, I must also be grounded--solid so to speak--in the here and the now, OK with whatever arises--this to me, is true freedom. Hmmm, I might be on to something. Then I got to thinking, what grounds me, what gives me solidity, another word I like to use is balance--what brings me back to balance, back to center when I've strayed?

• stillness/mindfulness practice
• breathing
• my cat who curls up in my lap when I practice
• my Mindfulness Community*
• bell practice - using sound as a reminder to come back to the body and breath
• candles, scents, a cup of tea, exercise....

My list goes on. But here's the thing, the outside things that bring me balance will change--my practice will have good days and bad days, community members will come and go, my cat will not always be on my lap. Can I recognize the ongoing changes of life--this is what makes it so precious and fleeting, yet remain solid and free, anchored in my breath, in the here and the now? I believe I've come around full circle--I'm solid and free, yes, indeed. 

*Lake Tahoe Mindfulness Community meets every Wednesday morning from 7:30-8:30a at The Studio Lake Tahoe to practice in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh