Learning To Drink As I Pour

January 18th, 2022 by Kelly Kienzle

I pour a lot.  Don’t you?  I pour my heart into my family. I pour my energy into my work. I pour my resolve into my exercise.  I pour my care into others around me.  Pouring happens as almost a reflex now, because I have been doing it for so long.

Yet last week during a yoga class, I was stopped cold when the teacher said we must learn to drink as we pour.  If we do not drink, then we will not have anything to pour.  So logical – – I like that. And so intangible – – I like that less.

Drinking In

So what does that mean to drink? Drinking is giving back to ourselves through taking small breaks during the day, closing our eyes for a few moments at the end of a task, going to bed when we are tired.

I used to drink a lot more.  I remember a time, as an adolescent and child, when drinking in this way was a reflex for me, because I had not yet thought to pour for others.

Pouring Out

Where is this middle ground between drinking and pouring?  Where is the balance?  We often feel that we pour too much.  Sometimes I will even tell myself that pouring is a form of drinking.  In other words, that helping others fuels me.

This belief is a true to a degree, yet I believe I take it too far sometimes.  I want to reign in that story and really question whether a pour really is giving me a drink.

Keeping the Balance

So this year is about paying attention to my drinking. (Oh, the urge to make a joke about wine is potent right now!)  I need to drink at least as much as I pour.  I want to pay attention to when I am thirsty and spent. I want to stop and drink in a quiet moment, a good book, or a chat with people I care for.  Not try to pour.  Just drink, so that I can then pour again.