your useletter oxygen

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I pay my respects and acknowledge all Traditional Custodians of Country and on whose land I live and work. I recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. I pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

Hi reader

How are you? We're once again in a Covid induced lock down in Sydney. Real Talk: I've been struggling, feeling like I've been swimming through porridge over the last couple of weeks. This second extended lock down in Sydney has felt far more challenging.

With many people in our lives struggling it is sometimes easy to forget that we need to look after ourselves in order to support those we care about. There's an oft used analogy: we need to put on our own oxygen mask before helping others with theirs.

There are many wonderful strategies to supply ourselves with psychological oxygen. I thought you might be interested in a very special one I recently discovered, Dadirri. It's an aboriginal practice of deep listening and quiet stillness. A meditative practice thousands of years old. I hope it's helpful.

I got you

Michael

PS: If you've been struggling, need additional support, and don't know where to go, please feel free to contact me I'd be happy to point you to some of the amazing resources that are already available (in Australia).

dadirri

Note: I do not presume to teach this work. I wanted to introduce you to it to give you the resources and opportunity to delve further into this form of aboriginal meditation.

The word, concept and spiritual practice that is dadirri (da-did-ee) is from the Ngan’gikurunggurr and Ngen’giwumirri languages of the Aboriginal peoples of the Daly River region (Northern Territory, Australia).

Source: Miriam Rose Foundation

"We cannot hurry the river. We have to move with its current and understand its ways." - Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann

How you can experience dadirri

Reserve a space regularly for about 5 minutes, in the morning or evening. Go outside if you can. Simply sit, look at and listen to the earth and environment that surrounds you.

Focus on something specific, such as a bird, a blade of grass, a clump of soil, cracked earth, a flower, bush or leaf, a cloud in the sky or body of water, whatever you can see.

You can also let something find you, be it a leaf, the sound of a bird, the feel of the breeze, the light on a tree trunk. There's no need to try, just wait a while.

Be still and silent and listen.

Following this quiet time, there may be, on occasion, value in expressing in some way your experience of this quiet, still listening. You may wish to talk about the experience or journal, write poetry, draw, paint or sing. This needs to be held in balance - the key to dadirri is in simply being, rather than in outcomes and activity.
Source: Deep listening (dadirri) - Creative Spirits

Look after yourself reader. I hope the concept and practice of Dadirri is useful and provides a little more oxygen to your day. The key is to noticing, paying attention to what practice works for you and maintain a habit of practice.

Be kind to yourself and practice lot's of self-compassion.

You got this.