Wind, Our Teacher

Wind.

It seems to be ever-present in the early spring days of New Mexico.

Heavy wind, blowing day after day can be aggravating. One scientific theory behind this is that wind disrupts our sense of equilibrium. There is even a condition – ancraophobia – that is an extreme fear of wind.

We could complain about the strong gusts that will likely greet us today (again), intent on blowing us off our feet, ruining our hair.

But you wouldn’t be reading this if that were you.

What is the wind is trying to teach us in this pandemic moment?

Part 1: Indigenous wisdom on the wind

Our Indigenous traditions are quite clear that wind is a powerful way to cleanse what needs to be blown away.

A Dine’ colleague shares “When you pray and the wind shows its presence, the Holy Ones are with you.”

Karen Waconda-Lewis (Isleta/Laguna) relates, “Wind is the sacred Air Element. Air Element comes to us at the first breath. In spring, Air Element is most active after winter when it sleeps. Just like birth.”

CC Alonso de Franklin (Mexica/Lipan Apache) adds, “Ehecatl is the God of the wind, part of fertility. We are not to be afraid of the wind because it cleanses, it takes away what is no longer needed. She continues in describing Ehecatl, “It lacks physical form and is an energy that cannot be pinned down. We have to flow with it.”

So much wisdom in those interpretations.

Let me translate this into a wind meditation we can all practice today.

Greet the wind, turning into the wind with arms outstretched to your sides. Flow with it. Take a moment here – how good and freeing it is to greet the wind that we often spend so much energy resisting.

Feel the Air Element as it passes between fingers, brushes against face. Feel its breath, its embrace.

Now, let it do the work of cleansing. “Ehacatl, wipe away that which does not serve me and humankind to live to our truest self.” Name things needing to be swept away if that is meaningful for you.

Take as much time as you need.

Close with gratitude in your own way, language, and tradition.

Part 2: Bike-ride wisdom on the wind

I had a hard-to-explain moment with the wind last week.

I had convinced my two oldest children to bike a long distance with me, and we headed north. The wind was heavy and at our backs.

“Dad, this feels so easy. There is no wind today.”

Hmmm…How do I explain to them that when wind is pushing us we often don’t appreciate its presence? How do I explain why we only notice it when it is a headwind in our face?

The tailwind is all that we take for granted – food, shelter, safety, love, family, community. It is privilege – the tailwind that accompanies Whiteness, being male, being heterosexual, speaking English fluently, having U.S. Citizenship, formal education, wealth, etc. Tailwinds blow many of us in the direction of success, leading to a sense of “This feels so easy.” Those with that heavy tailwind pushing them often wonder why others are struggling to achieve.

Even as we mature, it is a challenge to see the way the winds blow us forward.

We are now in a global moment where my kids were when we turned 180 degrees and began to head home, to the south. Heavy, gusting, unrelenting wind in our face.

“Dad, where did this wind come from?”

This headwind we find ourselves in gives us chances to recognize the blessings the tailwind life has granted us all along. Start with the simple joys of being around others at a park, at a play, at the store, even in the waiting room of MVD or a dentist’s office – do you appreciate these just a bit more in the headwind of COVID-19? Take a moment to reflect on your own privilege and how it blows doors open that for others shut in their face.

The headwind makes us push a bit harder for things we have taken for granted.

In the case of the bike ride, it was the way back that was going to reveal my children’s fortitude and resilience. 

Complain, they did. (luckily for daddy, the wind was strong enough that I could not make out much of what they were saying….shhhh, don’t tell them).

But it was the way back, not the way out, that strengthened them for the next ride.

In the strong headwinds of life, the blessings lie.

As we turn the corner into April, we have just barely made the 180 degree turn into the coronavirus wind. 

There will be tough moments on this ride home, and we might even find ourselves struggling, wondering if we will make it.

Don’t focus right now on making it out of this headwind, making it home. The blessing is in embracing the wind, flowing with it, learning from it as it cleanses us on the way.

Thank you, wind.

Pic taken while facing/embracing strong westerly winds on a March day from the Volcanos west of Albuquerque.