Lewis Richmond,* the author of Aging as a Spiritual Practice: A Contemplative Guide to Growing Older and Wiser, proposes we consider two kinds of time: horizontal time and vertical time.
Living is a little like driving on a long desert highway with each day, month, and year signified by a road sign. When we look back on the road we just traveled (left), we see the past with all its joys and sorrows. When we look ahead on the road (right), we imagine what is to come. He labels this kind of time, horizontal time.
Vertical time, according to Richmond, refers to the present moment. While horizontal time is primarily mental, vertical time is physical and in the body. Vertical time has no before and no after.
If you want a taste of these two kinds of time try this: Picture your breath going in and out your ears.** Imagine your breath on the exhale going to the left while you think about important events in your past and continue to think of the past while you inhale. Do this three times. Pay attention to which events make themselves known to you – they may be different each time you practice this. Repeat the process picturing your breathing going to the right as you picture future events. Repeat three times. You have been experiencing horizontal time.
Now sit up straight and imagine the breath going straight up and down your spine. Let the breath pool in your belly before you exhale – pay attention to the whole process of breathing. You may choose to hold the breath for a moment before you exhale. Breathing in and breathing out. Up and down. This happens in the present moment.
Breathing vertically will likely bring a sense of spaciousness. It slows breathing down. There is no dashing back and forth between past and future.
Richmond concludes: “When we include vertical time — the timeless conviction of the present moment — we can find relief from the signposts on horizontal time’s highway.”
Let me know how this works for you.
*Permission graciously given by Lewis Richmond personal correspondence, 5/21/2012.
**The author of exploring the mystery is responsible for suggesting ear breathing.
Thanks again for exploring the mystery – Nicky Mendenhall
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