Allowing Yourself to Receive

We are so accustomed to asking what we can give that we often forget to ask what we are willing to receive.

We give to our families, our friends, our work, our communities. We give our skills, our knowledge and our love. Our time, our energy, our care and attention.

And giving can feel good. It can give us purpose and connection. I’ve also learned the hard way, you can overdo it. Give way too much and find you have little left.

What happens when we are the ones being offered something?

• Can we receive help without feeling that we should repay it?
• Can we receive kindness without wondering whether we deserve it?
• Can we receive rest without feeling guilty?
• Can we receive love without needing to earn it?

This has been something I’ve been reflecting on this summer.

I’ve received so much that I didn’t expect: wisdom from teachers, community through yoga and ministry, generous hospitality from people with very little, time with people I love, the healing presence of the ocean and mountains, and support from people who have quietly held me when I needed it.

I’ve also had to learn that receiving support is a way to keep life flowing. To receive is to allow others to give.

In every breath, there is reciprocity

Perhaps the simplest place to explore receiving is our breath. We breathe in. We breathe out. We receive. We release.

There is no attempt to hold on to the inhale forever. Nor is there anxiety in letting go of the exhale. It is the natural way of things, the two belong together.

The breath is a continuous exchange between ourselves and the world around us. We receive oxygen from the living world, and we give something back.

Reciprocity is everywhere

• We receive nourishment from the earth, and in turn we care for it.
• We receive knowledge from teachers, and eventually share what we have learned.
• We receive love from others, and that shapes how we love in return.
• We receive support from our communities, and become available to support others.

Abundance isn’t necessarily having more

Travel this summer has changed something about the way I think about abundance. I’ve witnessed people living with very little and experienced extraordinary generosity and hospitality.

It made me question the idea that abundance is measured by how much we have. Perhaps abundance is something more relational.

A meal shared. A welcome offered. A story listened to. Time given freely. A moment of beauty noticed.

Perhaps abundance is not what we accumulate, but what we are able to participate in.

What we receive. What we appreciate. What we circulate.

This is something I love about practising yoga in community

We arrive as individuals, each carrying our own day, our own bodies, our own stories. And yet something happens when we practise together.

We share space. We breathe together. We learn from one another.

Sometimes one person brings energy into the room and someone else brings quietness. Someone arrives needing support, while another has something to offer. We don’t necessarily know who will give or who will receive.

And perhaps that is the point.

The relationship is constantly moving.

Receiving can require practice

Here are a few simple practices for receiving:

1. Receive the breath

• Find a comfortable seated or lying position.
• Rather than immediately trying to change your breathing, simply notice it.
• Feel the inhale arriving.
• Feel the exhale leaving.
• Notice the natural pause between them.
• For a few minutes, practise receiving each breath rather than making the breath happen.

Let the breath remind you that life is already an exchange.

2. Receive support for your body

• Lie down with your legs supported by a chair or sofa, or place a bolster or folded blankets beneath your knees.
• Feel the weight of your body being received by the ground.
• Notice where you are still holding yourself unnecessarily.
• Can you allow the floor to carry a little more of you?

Let the earth remind you that you are already held.

3. Practise gratitude as receiving

At the end of the day, rather than listing what you have achieved, ask: What did I receive today?

Perhaps it was a conversation. A meal. A kindness. A lesson. A moment in nature. A laugh. A moment of rest?

Let gratitude remind you, you are already abundant.

4. Notice the exchange with the earth

When you are outside, pause and notice the many things you are receiving. The air. The light. The rain – highly likely here on Skye. The wind on your skin. The warmth of the sun. The landscape. The sounds around you.

Then notice what you give back simply by being there: your attention, your care, your presence. Simply notice that you are already part of a living exchange.

What are you willing to receive?

Perhaps this week, rather than asking yourself what more you can give, ask: What can I allow myself to receive?

Support. Rest. Love. Wisdom. Community. Nature. Joy. Help. A little more space?

And, when the time comes, to allow something of ourselves to flow back into the world from this space.