Hold that Breath

New Moon - 29 January 2025

Imbolc, breathing the lunar cycles, and the newsletter as Khumbaka

I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.

​"Widening Circles" a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke,
translated by Joanna Macy

Out There News:

• I refreshed my website! Check it out and pass it around.www.lucieoutthere.com​
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• Come hike with us! If you are around Malmö or Copenhagen this Saturday (February 1st), join us for an Imbolc hike in the beautiful forest of Söderåsen National Park.
  More Together Out There gatherings to come in 2025.

Happy New Moon!

Imbolc is upon us, which means that Spring is coming! In case you don't know, Imbolc is the festival witches and pagans celebrate on February 1st to welcome the first signs of spring. If you're looking out your window and think, "This winter will never end," Imbolc is here to remind you that, yes, in fact, it will.

The Ripple as khumbaka

I recently attended a yoga class led by my friend Bobbi. During a breathing exercise, Bobbi invited us to notice and dwell in the pause at the top of each inhale and at the end of each exhale: The Khumbaka, as it is called in Sanskrit, or "breath retention."

​Khumbaka is a concept at the core of yoga philosophy and pranayama (breathwork). In Yoga, it is said that it holds the key to Samadhi, the ultimate spiritual peace.

Outside of the spiritual realm, you may have come across it through common stress release practices like the "box breathing" technique, where you are prompted to inhale for 4 seconds, hold for four, exhale for four, and hold again for four seconds. It is meant to slow your heartbeat and help you deal with anxiety by focusing on your breathing. Those four seconds of holding, that's khumbaka.

Creating space in your breathing (or in between it) and opening a secret room where magic might happen is an idea that intrigues me. I associate it with what meditation and mindfulness teach us about contemplating the empty space between thoughts and letting them pass us by rather than define us. Another concept that has shaped me.

It doesn't take too much of a stretch to relate the Moon's cycles to breathing ones: The waxing phase, when the Moon grows rounder and more visible, culminating in its full form, an inhale. Hold. Then, inexorably, the waning phase comes, and the Moon steadily disappears into the shadow of the Earth. An exhale. Hold.

Could this newsletter serve as khumbaka?

In case none of this makes sense to you (honestly, I wouldn't blame you), here is some scribbling I sent to Bobbi ahead of writing this to check if I'd completely lost the plot:

So, to recap:

Inhale

Hold –

🌕 The Ripple Full Moon edition​
Our metaphoric lungs are full of Air. We've ascended. We're floating, light as a feather. We take a bird's eye view. We get perspective. It smells like lilacs and sea breeze.

Verticality, buoyancy, elevation, vitality, clarity. Yang.

​

Exhale

Hold –

🌑 The Ripple New Moon edition lands in your inbox.
Our metaphoric lungs are empty. We are grounded in our bodies and our environment. We take account of our surroundings and our energies. We contemplate our internal experiences. We find balance and strength. The smell is of the wet, mossy forest floor. Earth.

Horizontality, rest, reflection, new beginnings, stepping stones, sowing seeds. Yin.

​

... Then we inhale again, the Moon waxes, and the cycle continues.

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✨See you on the full moon (February 12th)! ✨

New Moon Recommendations 🌑

• Meet Bobbi Paidel​

Bobbi's lessons on Khumbaka strongly inspired this newsletter. I highly recommend taking a yoga class with her, either in person if you're in the Malmö/Copenhagen area, or online. She also has an amazing podcast where she and her guests dig deep into yoga philosophy.

• Read The Quiet Tenant, by Clémence Michallon​

I read this amazing thriller novel at first, mostly because I was intrigued by the author being French but writing in English, but eventually, because I could not put it down.

• Go for a hike (or just a walk)

Yes, even if it is snowing, raining, storming. Imbolc is a great opportunity to brave the cold and welcome the new season. I promise you'll find plenty of signs that spring is very well on its way. Notice the buds and sprouting flowers. Here, the crocuses and snowdrops are already everywhere here. Come with us on Saturday if you're around Malmö!

If you really don't want to go outside, start something. Be the Spring you want to see in the world, you know. That's also what Imbolc is for.

Love,