“BREATHE OUT WHEN YOU COME TOGETHER, in when you come apart.” – Donna Perk

I lay on the floor, toes pointed towards the door, arms stretched out in the opposite direction, fingers reaching towards the other end of the room, a free weight in my hands.

I lift my legs off the floor pulling the free weight towards the ceiling with my arms, making the two meet in the air.

“Breathe out when you come together, in when you come apart,” Donna Perk, Supervisor of Individual Conditioning, instructs the Group Strength class as we work out in the upper room at the Stork Family YMCA.  It is my “aha” moment of the day.

Of course, when life is coming apart that is exactly when I need to breathe the support and care of others in.  When life comes together again, that is when I once again have the strength and capacity to breathe blessings onto others.

A few days before this class, I sat in church while one of the Pastors from Elevation, Brandon Malo, said something along the lines of, “the only reason life looks like a flat line is if you’re dead.”

Life is not a flat line.  Like life reflected on an EKG, it is a constant dance of ups and downs.  That movement is how I know I’m alive.

I lower my arms and my legs back down to the ground, once again stretching my body out length-wise and lowering the free weight to the ground.  I am thankful that I don’t have to feel guilty for what I need at any given time.  I wasn’t meant to carry a weight all of the time.  There are times I should lift it to build muscle, and times I need to put it down and rest.

Living is not a flat line, and I am glad to be alive.  Instead of fighting the cycle, I ponder the natural flow of ups and downs, and remember to breathe out when I come together, and in when I come apart.