tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57367207805488993352024-03-25T05:49:51.394-07:00The Body WonderfulAnniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-88115593804793273062016-08-14T16:52:00.002-07:002016-08-14T16:55:59.027-07:00Experimentation is Play to Me!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Today I kayaked - first time ever - in Falmouth, in a hired kayak, for one hour. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Bobbing up and down on an undulating millpond on a perfect day. And experimenting with the arc of the paddle, the request of the same to the water in order to move me forwards over the surface. And suddenly, there I was - recognising the view of the beach from 50 yards out - back in the Isle of Wight in Augusts of long ago when each summer was spent rowing, rowing, and more rowing in my little pram dinghy, ‘Thumbelina’. Yellow she was, with a little red hexagon on each side. I would get lost in endless experimentation and practice, culminating in two or three silver trophies in the town regatta races at the end of August. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #212121;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Kayaking today I was reminded both of these happy times and the weekend I ‘learned to play’ in February 2015. I was drawn to Franki Anderson’s The Art of Play workshop in Cornwall through having been an only child, because I felt I had never really played and now I wanted to know how.... At one point a basket of small toys appeared and we were to each take two back to our rug and play with them. I looked at my Dinky car and small doll and went blank. Sneaking a respectful glance at the others - feeling every inch the ‘cheat’ in a school exam! - I could see them making up stories with their toys, some even directing whispered conversations within their plays... I tried, but it felt alien to me. What did I do when young then? Muscle memory had me remember very quickly; I used the toys as targets for improving my skill at throwing; into the toy basket they would go, my stepping back ever further each time to see how far I could be away from the basket and yet still get them in... Clearly sports skills meant way more to me than a doll and a car having a conversation about where to go on a picnic</span>…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">! </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #212121;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Today my play was to try many different ways of using my paddle - quickly connecting with the fact that pulling the blade towards me through the water created a tightening in my elbow, but pushing the vertical paddle rod away from me with one arm as the opposite blade was in the water had an opening, freeing sense and was stronger, yet with considerably less work. How smoothly could I do this? How fast to go fast? How slowly to go fast? How deep to go for best use of the paddle blade? Where best </span>to place my sitting bones in the seat?…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #212121; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">On and on, back and forth, 50 yards off the beach, just like in the Isle of Wight over 40 years ago</span>…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #212121; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">How appropriate are Alexander’s discoveries to me, based as they are on experimentation and curiosity around ease of effective movement!! No wonder I leapt at them when I first heard about them 35 years ago! A whole world, a whole way of working, even a whole career of ‘experimentation in the smoothest and most effective way to excel in an activity’! Play? <i>This</i> is play to me!! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #212121; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">And so I played in my kayak today - 60 minutes of play - and it was wonderful! And yes, I did go really fast sometimes when I wanted to play at fast. Other times I played at just bobbing up and down and enjoying how my body responded</span><span style="color: #212121; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span><span style="color: #212121; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">differently to the waves coming side-on, or fore-aft: how my body can be free to move under my head as well as my head free to move above my body. And how my whole arm structure was compromised into being stiff if I lay back into the little seat as I paddled. And how my arms disappeared into being part of all of me as my whole body became involved in creating a sweeping circle at the tip of each blade; water droplets sparkling in the sunshine as they flew from their edges</span>…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #212121; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">It was a fine, fine hour, definitely to be repeated another day!</span></div>
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Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-56700389536057256902015-10-26T16:34:00.000-07:002016-03-04T07:12:26.177-08:00Life Grammar!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Today we had fun in a lesson with 'Life Grammar'….<br />
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The powerfully simple and simply powerful points of the Alexander Technique are quite simply these:<br />
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1. Become aware of where, and how, you are right now…<br />
2. Pause…… Come to a moment of space in your doing-ness…<br />
3. Soften, release out of any compression and constriction….<br />
4. Choose what to do next, rather than being led by habit….<br />
5. Go back to 1. if you are not clear about 4…<br />
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So, how does this relate to a busy day in the office? Or home? Or college? Or city? Or farm? Or….(fill in your own blank)?<br />
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Well, does your morning often look like this?<br />
wake up get up pee check phone shower dress coffee check phone make breakfast eat breakfast check laptop/computer make phone call read emails make call check phone write blog update Facebook begin work/start to practice take call write email make coffee run to next place take more calls write more emails learn music chew pencil and squirm in chair take next call run to next place write next email be vaguely aware of life outside the window fleeting thought of a meal later run to concert etc etc etc and etc<br />
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Or wake up get bounced on get up chase small child around pee shower (with child; what else) dress yourself, try to dress them coffee make breakfast eat breakfast wipe child's breakfast off the walls make calls check emails get child in car stop dog getting in car dry dog (who's wet) put dog in house reassure now screaming child drive to playgroup drop off child stop at supermarket on way to work sit in roadworks check phone chew nails find parking space run to office explain to boss coffee sit at desk and it's only 9.30…...<br />
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???? Yes?<br />
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<b>What's missing is exactly what's missing in the above paragraphs - punctuation!</b><br />
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Whilst the above are indeed crazy depictions of an equally crazy modern life, something radical changes when punctation is added - space.<br />
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Space to breathe - music for singers is often punctuated with commas to denote where to breathe.<br />
Space to re-member you - to feel the ground supporting you and you resting upon it.<br />
Space to orientate yourself - to know where you are and why…and change this if it isn't ok.<br />
Space to change gear from one activity to the next; neutral is between different gears. No missing it out!<br />
Space to change our mind - change direction - be soft to changes - to not 'push the river' - flexibility is true strength and power…<br />
Space to see patterns - to see times to take a break - to come up for air - to lighten up - to let go…<br />
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When we start our day we can take a moment to 'set the course to steer' (in sailing terms) -<br />
To know the busy-ness will have spaces in it allows us to begin and continue in balance.<br />
And, even if this is impossible, we can start our day knowing we have a comma or two in our pocket.<br />
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In this space we can get out the post-it notes and write one activity on a page to itself…<br />
We can stick them up on the window/door/wall and decide <i>before we begin</i> which is the best order…<br />
We can move post-its around easily - both because we choose to, and because life will choose to, too…<br />
We can add two or three <i>blank </i>post-its! Why? Because life <i>will</i> fill them and we've left space for it…<br />
Should life magically not fill all of them, we can add in one from the afternoon list…<br />
OR, shock, stunning realisation, <i>enjoy a breather!!</i><br />
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Think up your own post-it version? A row of pots on your desk into which you put a task?<br />
A row of those little photo holders with a peg sticking up out of the top - a note in each?<br />
Anything but a list; too fixed, too stuck, too boring, too 2D, too narrow! Anything which can be moved around to remind you that 1 to 10 needn't be in order!<br />
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Try it and let me know how it goes for you?<br />
Happy punctuating!<br />
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<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-22486017257878876302015-10-04T03:01:00.001-07:002015-10-04T03:03:19.514-07:00Alive in our own vessel….<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A boat knows she is alive at all times.... Ever responsive to the tides and the sky</span>…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. </span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>“All that canvas up in the air! I will heave everything taught as we first come about beyond the corner of the breakwater. The sheet winches creak, the water murmurs on the bottom as Joshua gathers way and begins to come alive... People who do not know that a sailboat is a living creature will never understand anything about boats and the sea.” (Bernard Moitessier) </i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A sailor will always be aware of his vessel. A sailor will be present to the conditions he and his vessel are in at all times. A sailor will know where she is going, having checked her course before leaving. She will have checked weather reports. She will have gone over her boat with a keen eye before leaving. The sailor will know his vessel's sound and movement, and be aware of any change which signals action the moment it is needed.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">We are a living vessel too, animated by the winds and tides of life, yet one that frequently sets sail with no checks, no passage plan, no course-to-steer, no awareness of the conditions present - ‘present’ meaning ‘right now’. Leap on board, slip lines, head off...and hope. Not so the sailor. Not so the master mariner, ever connected to, and respectful of, the ocean and his best friend, his boat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Each sail plan carefully considered - not the hauling up of the biggest, easiest, most to hand sail available; disaster could follow if it was the wrong sail; blown out from being over canvassed, a hole becoming a full rip, or not enough sail leaving you overtaken by a chasing squall, or being carried onto a reef</span>…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. Uncaring sail choice is a dangerous thing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Ropes - the lines - are checked frequently for chafe, the sailor’s enemy, causing breakages at the worst moments.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Knots consciously learned, long practiced, and placed in the muscle-memory to be right there, even in a gale at 40 degrees heel - being at sea is no place for trying to remember how they go and opting for an old habitual granny knot, which will tighten down never to be released, and creating rope only fit to be cut and thrown.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">No, the sailor exhibits perfect inhibition, direction, and conscious control of his vessel, his situation, his intention, and his experience. He is present, aware, and with an eye on his vessel, the sea, sky, sails, and compass - at all times.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And then nature kicks in with her ornary ways; wind shifts, sea state changes, tidal anomalies....and acute presence to what is is required from the sailor reveals itself again. There is no point in living the ‘But it said...’, or ‘I’ll just keep doing what worked an hour ago’; nature is powerful. As the saying goes, ‘You can’t alter the wind, but you can alter your sails’. Constant presence. Constant alertness. Constant immediacy. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR2hfAp-a1vC_oVUgbK4sy5qKWJXs2O8cVivLgWJdpPDvNcPOsxtyf78BmY3RgkNkF6ZXMktDY6Vf29_F47aHRent46Qk3wD5rL9fmEct4OP72BF-hz-KWgFzYDyHYSrbo9KnvSW3jXlE/s1600/417463_10151073546908928_884905397_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">No wonder people love to go to sea and say it makes them feel so alive; they <i>are </i>alive! More alive than most of us ever experience on land. Unless we are at the helm of our own land-ship; our body, and thus experiencing the aliveness of our whole self in each moment.</span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Alexander Technique is the learning to be alive at the helm of your own earth-ship.</span></div>
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Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-36387877120293446022015-09-08T06:25:00.000-07:002015-09-08T06:25:20.268-07:00De-grumpification and de-resistantism….<div style="margin-bottom: 12px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #151824;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Grumpy. Yes, that one. Why? What for? In the first hour of yesterday I observed ‘grumpy’. How was grumpy? - meaning, how happened grumpy? How did grumpy get done, for it did; grumpy isn’t separate from me, it IS me. How was I doing grumpy? How was I being as I was </span>noticing<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> grumpy? I noted grumpy was simply about having to do something I didn’t want to have to do right now. I could have focussed on not being grumpy, or telling myself to note the sunshine and the blessing of a new day, but instead I checked out grumpy as best I could; it had useful information. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #151824;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">This is how it went for me in its un-believably non-earth-shattering-content... I awoke - hungry. I got up to release the dog from his night crate - still hungry. But no food or drink yet as I choose to do my ‘oil-pulling'; the only way I’m getting through the 10 days until I can see my dentist for my previous, but now improving with ‘pulling’, toothache. </span></span></span><span style="color: #151824; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Grumpy is already growing, but I am ignoring it and powering on. </span><span style="color: #151824; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The dog wants to go out, so I let him out. I climb on the bed again and get the oil in my mouth, a teaspoon of coconut oil (pretty ugh until it melts, and even then</span>…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">) apparently in order to draw the toxins and/or infection out of the gum into the oil. Grump grows as dog comes in clean, but all wet and needs a good </span>towelling<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> (He’s a dachshund - wet from dew.) I sit on the bed to finish watching something on my </span>laptop<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> begun last night, and ‘bonk’ announces the laptop; it’s running out of power. Find the charger </span>isn't in its usual place beside my bed, so get<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> up and go to get it from upstairs - still swilling away. And as I come down with the laptop charger, I see it... </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #151824;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">....the years of grumpiness experienced by me, and of other’s grumpiness. I, and they, just wanted to be doing something else right at that moment. OK, we can’t always do what we want; some things need to be done in a certain moment, but not as many </span>things<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> as we think; all the 'shoulds' of the morning were my own! And that’s all grumpy is. Not a dastardly flaw of character. Not something of which to be afraid. Just grumpy sending me a message to listen. When I awoke I wanted food. But no food yet because of the oil-pulling need. I wanted to get it done (yes, end-gaining!) but the dog had needs. I wanted to watch the end of the Wayne Dyer movie before it goes off air after its generous free offer following Wayne’s death last week. Yet I still couldn’t watch the movie until I had gone and got the laptop charger. And I was still hungry! And tired. There! That was all is was; I'm tired. I want to be still today, but it’s a busy day of teaching. I love and want my teaching, but grumpy, right now, wants to be still. That’s the information I was missing in all the other stuff. That a little stillness is needed. And I can have stillness within my </span></span></span><span style="color: #151824; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">activities, I know I can; it just takes presence to them.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #151824; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">And I remember the times my mum was grumpy as hell. She wanted to be doing anything at all other than cooking meals - I never knew she loathed cooking. That she wanted to be in the garden with her plants. I never knew that until I was about 35. I don’t think she knew until then either. She just, like we all do, tended to project her inner discomfort as she ‘just got on with it’. I’m sure you know what I mean, from within and without. And so we all do grump from time to time</span>…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">So, I gained a gentle reminder to myself this morning: that when grump appears, stop. Just stop the inner gabbling, stop the rushing, and listen. One can stop even within movement - I mean, to 'Come To Presence' wherever I am in that moment. Then, Listen. Hear. Acknowledge. Respond. For me this would have meant consciously recognising I was hungry and consciously choosing food over oil, rather than reacting with an inner, ‘But I’ve GOT to do the oil - grrrr!’ Consciously deciding not to open the door (doglette had been out earlier) so the wet wouldn’t have been an issue. Consciously deciding that, if I wanted to watch this movie, I just had to go get the charger. Or not. And mostly to notice and acknowledge that I am tired today. But the main word in there? <i>Acknowledge</i>. Having been heard, grump has laid down and gone back to sleep along with the dog. I'm just a person, like all other persons, who feels grumpy come to visit when inner needs aren’t acknowledged. These needs might not be able to be acted on right now, but that’s not the problem, that’s not why grump has showed up; it’s the need to have needs acknowledged - large and small, both big life decisions and tiny momentary choices. Grump isn’t interested in size of conundrum, just an acknowledgement that it's there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">So happy de-grumpification to you this week. Much de-resistantism to you. And lots of acknowledging for you, by you, this week.</span></div>
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Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-28420124897710227492015-07-02T14:16:00.002-07:002015-07-02T14:21:59.645-07:00Long-distance Driving Tips<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5oatMmQO0kAPzDD4winpprIak7XyFtAwpaR_PXvZNtvIsmKIyi6oOtA6ri3mT5ZnL2zKO-INzARffItRowDL91oRJJIWebGzeGXhNJhu7PMIF9TxwqBkeS4D0l5oIqYaXQyCDb-8UPk/s1600/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5oatMmQO0kAPzDD4winpprIak7XyFtAwpaR_PXvZNtvIsmKIyi6oOtA6ri3mT5ZnL2zKO-INzARffItRowDL91oRJJIWebGzeGXhNJhu7PMIF9TxwqBkeS4D0l5oIqYaXQyCDb-8UPk/s320/maxresdefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At this time of long journeys to visit friends, family and holiday destinations, I thought I would write the ideas that seemed to have helped both students and myself over the many miles travelled. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In no particular order…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Invest in a 'sit upon' or two… These are those firm foam garden kneelers, available from garden centres, supermarkets, and all good general 'Poundlands'… Placed under your bottom on the horizontal part of the car seat, they level out and firm up the seat, so your sitting bones have clear feedback in order for your postural reflexes to work for you. Even if you have the 'best' car seat known to mankind, give this a try - it works!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRsAEMwJbhFt8-n2KxEodshLC7-9iaAZBfmz3Fr_WDILYAN-l8h8kn56b6zSl5A-Kboqbf6OySqQ8Sy1YpnI2VgIez2JvzmLSAPUqb7jNndEi3YJXBJxw2sxI_jaQQs-YUK_JJEgwrGOo/s1600/30-w-dotsSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRsAEMwJbhFt8-n2KxEodshLC7-9iaAZBfmz3Fr_WDILYAN-l8h8kn56b6zSl5A-Kboqbf6OySqQ8Sy1YpnI2VgIez2JvzmLSAPUqb7jNndEi3YJXBJxw2sxI_jaQQs-YUK_JJEgwrGOo/s1600/30-w-dotsSm.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- A second 'sit-upon' can be used between your sacrum (just above your coccyx) and the bottom of your car seat back - this can give you a little encouragement and reassurance after many hours' driving.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Sometimes sit up on your sitting bones - if you have sufficient head-room - and don't lean back against the car seat's back at all. As you drive you can 'sway' and move with the motion by being balanced on your sitting bones. Your head is now balanced on the top of you in its best place, and your hip joints free to move. Honestly, it's really restful! (And about the only way that works on busses and coaches - next trip, try it!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- When you feel tired, pull over, even into a simple lay-by, and hop. Yes, hop! You don't have to leave the ground very far, if at all, but there's something about hopping four or five times on each foot that re-awakens the whole system. Maybe because it's hopping and not jumping, it requires an awakening of our balance system. Sitting in a car will stimulate that system to go to sleep, and us with it.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJuKnCqKFMYSjJkGvZyHyFcTCfRrSATO5y8mAVvWE0zg8S-EY9L2nFgRaaVv2Hf7YNbKmDxRkPkdR8sscPlfBUJ9yqWGocZExc4lAZEXQAk_GKjx6mdCcRl_1-1fO81jw4HZXel5rKFI/s1600/hop.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJuKnCqKFMYSjJkGvZyHyFcTCfRrSATO5y8mAVvWE0zg8S-EY9L2nFgRaaVv2Hf7YNbKmDxRkPkdR8sscPlfBUJ9yqWGocZExc4lAZEXQAk_GKjx6mdCcRl_1-1fO81jw4HZXel5rKFI/s1600/hop.gif" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- As you're driving along, remember this important point: you are still. The car is moving. If you feel rushed by the speeding traffic around you, or late, or just impatient to get there, allow yourself to 'Be' in your seat, noticing how the car is doing all the effort, cars are passing you by in each direction, but you are centred within your self and Being Still. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- If you find yourself 'about three feet in front of your car' in your mind or energy, quietly say, 'I Am' to yourself, or out loud, a few times. Feel your self come back within yourself, remember you are being carried by your car and not doing the moving yourself. You might wish you were 'there already', but the only place to be is in the now…. Each now brings you to the now of being there, but not before it is so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- As you are driving along, bring your awareness to your hands and arms. Are your hands lightly resting on the steering wheel? Or are they pulling on it fit to pull it away from the dashboard? Or are you dragging it downwards into your lap? Lighten your hands - let your arms come from your back and allow your hands and fingers to flow around the wheel into soft contact - no gripping and squeezing!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- When on the motorway, or other safe (!!!) straight bit of road, sometimes take one hand and let it flatten out on the middle of your steering wheel; probably on the vehicle make's badge and/or your air bag area. Then the other, and if with both, guiding the wheel with the heel of your hand. Hopefully you will feel your hands and back connect, but this short-used position will still let your hands have a moment of opening out. (Your hands will be right there should you need to react quickly.)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Sometimes wriggle your toes a bit and flex your ankles a little. Simple, but effective! (And don't forget to drink lots of water - the body needs water when travelling, even in a car, even though we know about water for flying!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- As you drive along, let your eyes soften. Let all you are seeing in front of you come towards you, rather than your eyes tightly piercing the windscreen and impaling themselves on whatever it is you are looking at. This creates very tight and tired eyes! It also is often the cause of your head being poked forward - as it follows your tight eyes - and creating a stiff or sore neck. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Take time to sense your pelvis and your hips, and let them soften. Let the car seat take your weight - no trying to levitate off it! Or collapsing down into it heavily - just a meeting and supporting. Let you legs go frequently; it's easy to have them hold and harden as you drive along….the one position and the hidden nerves of driving can stiffen them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- Change your position often; this gives your body new feedback and stops it becoming too inert and bored. Use the 'sit-upon' for a bit, then take it out, use two, use one at the back, move the car seat back a notch, wind it up a bit at the base and/or the back rest…. Keep it interesting!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">- When you stop, or need to look at Google Maps, or your Sat Nav, let what's on the screen come to your eyes, do not poke your head down and stick your eyes to the screen! And use that most magnificent of things, your arm, to bring your phone, tablet, or screen to you, not your head to it!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, safe miles and happy driving! </span><br />
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Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-77375971024988003972015-06-23T16:27:00.000-07:002015-06-23T16:30:06.134-07:00At the Summer Solstice...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIcw06nfaUMl4UUKz0wr8FI_jGvJlrc2bnJK_KkZBDh9Z2A6eLlnuFgGYY5DPe-GNQ9elmEPeu3pMvzwGUyY_Bh1LetufXRiQkd8A8-DjJt56oODX17mPcJQYIV_ahij_RoEJon5deEk/s1600/IMG_9354.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPIcw06nfaUMl4UUKz0wr8FI_jGvJlrc2bnJK_KkZBDh9Z2A6eLlnuFgGYY5DPe-GNQ9elmEPeu3pMvzwGUyY_Bh1LetufXRiQkd8A8-DjJt56oODX17mPcJQYIV_ahij_RoEJon5deEk/s400/IMG_9354.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the Summer Solstice,</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #444444; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We honour the four directions</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">…</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The four seasons</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">…</span><br />
<span style="color: #444444; letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The year</span></span><span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">…</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our life.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">East - Air - Newness.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Seeds </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">stored in dark places</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">During winter</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Are now borne into the air </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To fly to new beginnings,</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and sinking into the dark earth,</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Break open with their purpose...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">New ideas - dreams - wishes - intentions.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">South - Fire - sun - light - warmth.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the warming encouraging soil,</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The seeds begin to germinate.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The sun and long days</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nourishing Spring's dreams into reality.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leave the seeds sown; </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Poke around not in the soil</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To see if tiny roots have sprouted.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wait. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trust.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Believe.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nurture.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tread not on their potential carelessly,</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nor walk away in doubt.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keep the soil clear of these weeds - </span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">The weeds of </span>mistrust<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> and fear.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">West - Water - Nourishment - Care.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Watch.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Respect.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Love.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Be one with the weather,</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One with the soil.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Water when dry,</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Drain when wet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Protect in the storms.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rejoice in light rain.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And still </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just watch.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No prodding and poking to see if... </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No checking the roots and </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pinching the tender shoots.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And no lazy ignoring,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">No arrogant assuming.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And protect from trespassers, too.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Tread softly,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For you tread on my dreams."</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let dreams and plans grow</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In trust of their process;</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But care for them, too.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yet, not too much;</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Drowning will kill,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As will watching in such fear,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That, immobilised, watering is forgotten.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">North - Earth - Harvest.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then the plant comes to fruition,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The dream becomes manifest.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And the harvest begins,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leaving seeds for the future.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Take care of these;</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Drop them not in the excitement</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">,</span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For they are your future,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The turn of the wheel -</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Life itself.</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rejoice today,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Give thanks for yesterday,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But look to the future</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And save seed with respect,</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For the east wind to scatter</span></span></div>
<div style="color: #444444;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And the next dream to have life.</span></span><br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
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Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-13233419232253946502015-06-12T07:42:00.002-07:002015-06-12T07:42:59.284-07:00Simplicate, don't complify...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAPS7M2SoZBdwl9xrCxLxcZUWWsM55wJD0qjwAGRqZeK4icciWPNj_PaSRg7vO23EEKvNxXhjpxVz4LewdMQqr_JMVLj2afq3gCvnHpfEFmrrkvcCH-U3NhYzZvG16GQYAmlc2pv1BYg/s1600/IMG_0951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFAPS7M2SoZBdwl9xrCxLxcZUWWsM55wJD0qjwAGRqZeK4icciWPNj_PaSRg7vO23EEKvNxXhjpxVz4LewdMQqr_JMVLj2afq3gCvnHpfEFmrrkvcCH-U3NhYzZvG16GQYAmlc2pv1BYg/s400/IMG_0951.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In teaching, I often say:<br />
<br />
'Simplicate,<br />
Don't complify!'<br />
<br />
We smile, and maybe laugh a little.<br />
<br />
Simplicate -<br />
Come to a pause,<br />
A space,<br />
Presence.<br />
<br />
Listen within.<br />
<br />
Notice the complifyings,<br />
The holdings,<br />
Tightenings,<br />
Compression.<br />
<br />
My hands and voice guiding you,<br />
Their specific-ness comes into focus with practice.<br />
<br />
Stay with them,<br />
Let them be so.<br />
<br />
Then…<br />
In those tight places,<br />
Simplicate.<br />
Soften...<br />
Melt...<br />
Defrost...<br />
Release….<br />
<br />
Release into the knowledge that we expand,<br />
Open,<br />
Naturally,<br />
By design,<br />
When we soften….<br />
<br />
Outwards and upwards,<br />
Deepening,<br />
Widening,<br />
Lengthening,<br />
Flowering…<br />
<br />
And allowing the time it takes,<br />
Drop preconceptions,<br />
Release complication,<br />
Meet simple.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br /></div>
<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-60471439284780669652015-06-11T08:54:00.003-07:002015-06-11T08:54:55.750-07:00Emptying My Hands of Old Blackness….<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIEvbdUuR__fFmyMZ7RWNTlBrsu5cYPZmWYhWsOKKRUF88SuxPr2HaaqsLAAdsGwWx0bVPRtyOvRyKex8cqKCvFE3onWHiNj3U5Cy2GawPBoSk9tmrp0g1DgUsNbGY9jgDPCVB5sKwYko/s1600/81TuExZ%252BOVL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIEvbdUuR__fFmyMZ7RWNTlBrsu5cYPZmWYhWsOKKRUF88SuxPr2HaaqsLAAdsGwWx0bVPRtyOvRyKex8cqKCvFE3onWHiNj3U5Cy2GawPBoSk9tmrp0g1DgUsNbGY9jgDPCVB5sKwYko/s320/81TuExZ%252BOVL.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
<br />
This book carries deeply emotional memories for me…<br />
I burned it last year when I found it again in a pile of music.<br />
It felt good.<br />
(Now I find it is rare and fetching $250 - damn it;<br />
That would have felt even better…<br />
Delightful recompense...)<br />
<br />
This book was a passion of my piano teacher.<br />
She thought it would make me into Ashkenazy #2.<br />
At 19, it gave me a breakdown.<br />
<br />
It asked the player to perform acts with the hand<br />
That are surely as far from freedom as can be.<br />
And I don't know what Ms Rennie's idea of strength was,<br />
But it wasn't mine.<br />
As for 'independence' - there was none;<br />
I've enjoyed a flowing inter-dependence within my hands long since…<br />
It's a lot easier when the fingers can talk with each other.<br />
<br />
Tonight, for some reason, this book's memory came back to me.<br />
I was watching a programme on James Galway, the flautist.<br />
His economic quietness as he plays -<br />
His soft, just-enough fingers on the keys -<br />
His light but appropriate breathing -<br />
His body still, yet peacefully energetic -<br />
His heart pouring forth the music….<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2uPoZiCU0hc07JiFLC6n9APPRqfRcWg-oWVpk_TiWWipP9uDo-8wOrttcUKKTsV6IUsr0Aj2kTrN4wu5XdFk8EhQUsQcL7viGXJ3YTLJDp0OBmrQzomvBN8mkVwTghyPLRJpcl-X841I/s1600/james-galway1_112009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2uPoZiCU0hc07JiFLC6n9APPRqfRcWg-oWVpk_TiWWipP9uDo-8wOrttcUKKTsV6IUsr0Aj2kTrN4wu5XdFk8EhQUsQcL7viGXJ3YTLJDp0OBmrQzomvBN8mkVwTghyPLRJpcl-X841I/s320/james-galway1_112009.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
But it was his hands that really got me….<br />
Mine curled up and ran away in shame as I watched…<br />
And the book of exercises danced in my mind…<br />
<br />
'Place the index finger on middle C, depress it and hold', it said,<br />
'And play up and down the scale several times -<br />
D, E, F, G, A, B, C, with your third finger -<br />
Rolling the hand over towards the thumb as you do so<br />
In order to be able to play these notes.<br />
This will stretch the tendons between and within index and third finger.'<br />
<br />
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<br />
Stretch?<br />
Tear……<br />
<br />
And so it went on<br />
For pages.<br />
Fuzzy black & white photos of deformed and rigid fingers<br />
Twisted hands, arms and shoulders<br />
Forcing me into playing notes that tore into my hand,<br />
and my mind….<br />
<br />
Contorting.<br />
Fixing.<br />
Tightening.<br />
Way beyond the hand and into my body….<br />
<br />
"How many hours Blanch did you do this week? I want at least 2 hours a day."<br />
Ye Gods.<br />
Something in me knew this wasn't the way,<br />
But I didn't know anything, did I; they said not….<br />
<br />
She used to get my hands - like here, in this picture -<br />
<br />
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<br />
And squeeze my fingers' bends ever tighter,<br />
Wrestling them<br />
Until my fingertips were level with the crease<br />
Right up between palm and fingers….<br />
And until they were, she wasn't happy….<br />
<br />
Please don't try it at home - it's painful, and so, so horrible.<br />
<br />
Sometimes she'd make my fingers crack.<br />
I'd wince.<br />
She said it wouldn't hurt any more when I was getting it right.<br />
<br />
Then she made me play the piano<br />
With fingers as close to that shape as I could....<br />
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<br />
Funnily enough, I had to fight for every note;<br />
My hands were too rigid to obey and play;<br />
Clawing at every note just isn't the way….<br />
<br />
I loved the piano -<br />
But this way I hated it, too.<br />
And I gave up -<br />
Stopped.<br />
Ran away.<br />
<br />
A while later, Alexander lessons and teacher training….<br />
Soften your hand.<br />
Lengthen the fingers.<br />
Sense - flow - feel<br />
Finger pads touching life<br />
Openingly…<br />
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<br />
And that's how it's been for 35 years.<br />
A work-in-progress to touch with lightness,<br />
Especially at the piano's keys -<br />
Old habits dancing in the wings, but joy at the soft touch's kindness.<br />
<br />
But tonight the memory flooded up again -<br />
Watching 'Jimmy's fingers'.<br />
And I screwed up my hands -<br />
Not even half as much as she liked it -<br />
To see if I was imagining it.<br />
Ouch.<br />
No.<br />
Please!<br />
<br />
Oh how wrong it is…<br />
I let my hands go again -<br />
Something in their release revealing to me<br />
The memory of the pain,<br />
The constriction,<br />
The deep hurt -<br />
With an emotional depth.<br />
With an apologetic ache,<br />
My hands still emptying themselves of yet more<br />
Of the black tightening that was inserted so long ago.<br />
<br />
Poor woman -<br />
Meant well -<br />
Had no idea -<br />
Long gone now.<br />
<br />
'Finger, hand and arm gymnastics at the piano'…?<br />
No, don't ever let anyone ask that of you;<br />
Let them ask you for music,<br />
For heart,<br />
For soul.<br />
<br />
I am grateful to my hands for showing me this memory,<br />
For I want to live with ever softening touch,<br />
My fingers touching the world quietly,<br />
And the world touching me gently.<br />
<br />
Touch is where I meet the world softly,<br />
And the piano,<br />
And the computer, too.<br />
So I continue to release,<br />
Soften,<br />
Let go...<br />
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<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-13233383990269650282015-05-20T03:20:00.004-07:002015-05-25T01:10:06.064-07:00I see You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">You’re in such pain,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Back spasm,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Crunched up.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Gingerly walking,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not getting about.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I come to you,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You speak - I listen.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">We share.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
We take time.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I ask you to take a breath and close your eyes.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To invite your higher, or soul self to work with you</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In this safe space.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And in our unconditional companionship</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I see you drop within.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I ask, How does it feel to be you?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
You let your body show your soul.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
Words not needed in this place.</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">How does it feels to be you in pain?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the silences between,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I watch shadows flicker across your face,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Memories ripple around your body.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Nanoseconds.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">There, then gone.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Here, then not.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Pain's sudden surging t</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">o a burning intensity...</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And as soon, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Gone.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">After a while,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Truth.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica; letter-spacing: 0px;">A single spoken word, </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica;">offered,</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Which I see your mind question,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Yet which I see your </span>body devour<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">,</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Opening to it in the relief of remembering.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Truth.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Your eyes open - bright and clear.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Your back curves around your heart -</span><br />
My hand alights there -</div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So. Softly. Slow.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I do nothing - </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sensing your back's wariness,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I wait.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Feel it begin to trust,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To listen,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To the silence of my hand.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You want nothing?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Says your back.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">No, I don’t.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">How are you? asks my hand.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A moment’s frozen wonder</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">At being acknowledged,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And it begins to soften.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Heard.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Your back is you, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And you are your back,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Reacquainting.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Slowly, amongst the nothingness - </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The stillness of no demand -</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">You begin to trust,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To open,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">To let go.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Hands light on your body.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Suddenly, there it is,</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A question</span>…<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">.</span></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ll ask, </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Gently -</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Did anyone ever thank you for all you did?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And like a rope being untied,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">There’s a rumble-tumble of bricks</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Flowing down off your shoulders </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Onto the floor,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Watered by gentle tears,</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Witnessed by love.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; min-height: 14px;">
<br />
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
Truth.</div>
<div>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span></div>
Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-48170744717377963382015-04-14T15:28:00.001-07:002015-04-14T15:34:21.053-07:00Pause - Ponder - Proceed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i>Pause</i></b>: lovely word, funny word -<br />
(Nice onomatopoeic.)<br />
So much nicer than 'Stop!'<br />
(Nasty onompatopoeic.)<br />
It's not 'fix',<br />
Nor 'hold',<br />
Nor 'inhibit',<br />
But just 'pause' in what I am doing.<br />
A gentle 'Musical Statues', or 'Grandmother's Footsteps'….<br />
Showing 'I'm alive and playing, but just not moving….<br />
<br />
Sometimes it's called 'The Zero Point' - the space between….<br />
<br />
Between what?<br />
<br />
Things.<br />
Doings.<br />
Beings.<br />
Stuff.<br />
Habits.<br />
Assumptions.<br />
Desires.<br />
Worries.<br />
Life.<br />
<br />
When Paused I can...<br />
<br />
<b><i>Ponder:</i></b> On what?<br />
On what the doing was.<br />
How the stuff is going for me.<br />
Whether I really desire the desired.<br />
Whether I've made it all up.<br />
Whether I'm flowing or stuck.<br />
Whether the thing is doing its thing as I planned….<br />
<br />
Ponder on being a being,<br />
Which I had forgotten was happening<br />
As I did the doing.<br />
<br />
So, in my Pausing and Pondering…<br />
I wake up.<br />
I come to.<br />
I Am.<br />
<br />
I have a kinaesthetic Ponder too -<br />
My tight heck.<br />
My shallow breath.<br />
My braced knees.<br />
My slumped tum.<br />
<br />
How did they creep up on me?<br />
I missed that!<br />
But they did.<br />
So I let go -<br />
And expand -<br />
Easing the tightenings,<br />
Lengthening the collapse.<br />
<br />
Now I move. I….<br />
<br />
<b><i>Proceed:</i></b> Where?<br />
On.<br />
Or back.<br />
Or not.<br />
Or over there.<br />
Or up.<br />
Or down.<br />
It depends on what I Pondered in the Pause.<br />
But now awake, I make a Now choice,<br />
And so my Proceeding is fresh,<br />
Alive,<br />
Appropriate.<br />
<br />
I've changed something right inside me<br />
Where I can make secret, personal, change...<br />
And I can expand,<br />
Up from down and down from up,<br />
Side to side and side from side,<br />
Front to back and back to front.<br />
<br />
A long, open, wide, deep me<br />
Will enjoy whatever the wherever-ing.<br />
A short, tight, compressed me,<br />
Wont.<br />
<br />
So I take the Pause and the Ponder,<br />
And let the Proceed begin within -<br />
I go from where it begins inside,<br />
Flowing from centre to goal.<br />
<br />
And soon again I Pause - still moving,<br />
Greeting the Ponder in the space it makes,<br />
And see Proceed flow out as gold...<br />
<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-9425634561404156302015-04-11T17:05:00.001-07:002015-04-11T17:05:42.972-07:00The Space Between….<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCf6zlbdNpfw4zaAJnKL6rqzyZFJHvtsMyQm-8nLKQBbrrVC8mvtUpmwPv_7fd7x5Zg02Ly5cD45UcsneHAN49W5J1uUHUyKZ4yFHE5_QegxR4JLEsOzRm-rKf44-z1dMa891yLxW06AM/s1600/music-dandelion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCf6zlbdNpfw4zaAJnKL6rqzyZFJHvtsMyQm-8nLKQBbrrVC8mvtUpmwPv_7fd7x5Zg02Ly5cD45UcsneHAN49W5J1uUHUyKZ4yFHE5_QegxR4JLEsOzRm-rKf44-z1dMa891yLxW06AM/s1600/music-dandelion.jpg" height="177" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I was told to rigidly stick to the notes….<br />
But you can't make music if you stick to the notes.<br />
<br />
Stuck to the notes, they stagger and fall,<br />
Too heavy to fly and flow.<br />
<br />
Squashed,<br />
Stuck,<br />
Trapped,<br />
Frozen,<br />
The music withers,<br />
And dies.<br />
<br />
And the hands and arms, from finger-tip up,<br />
Shrivel and shrink with the shoulders and back,<br />
Or fall in pieces on the keys.<br />
<br />
Inspiration,<br />
Self-revelation -<br />
To be carried on the composer's skilled gift -<br />
Whimpers, cries,<br />
And evaporates.<br />
<br />
The space between player and music<br />
Was un-traversable.<br />
Cheated.<br />
<br />
<br />
'I told you, stick to the notes - see, when you don't, you fail.'<br />
<br />
No, sticking to the notes failed us all -<br />
The music and me and you.<br />
But<br />
The spaces between them will never fail us;<br />
They are the greatest gift of all -<br />
They are the place where we play.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-49954792179059953822015-04-10T01:00:00.003-07:002015-04-10T01:00:51.650-07:00Shine...You come in pain.<br />
There's a rigidity in your body -<br />
A holding -<br />
A guarding -<br />
A suppressed panic -<br />
Your body seems to say, "What if…?"<br />
<br />
What if what?<br />
"What if I'm wrong?<br />
What if nothing will change -<br />
And I feel like this for ever -<br />
Or worse, it worsens…?"<br />
<br />
"I've been told…."<br />
"I've got to…."<br />
"I must…"<br />
<br />
Yet, companioning you in that place,<br />
Witnessing you just as you are -<br />
No pushing, no pulling -<br />
Listening touch asking you to witness yourself just as you are,<br />
Brings a gradual softening.<br />
<br />
"Shall I put my hips here?"<br />
No, let them be.<br />
<br />
45 seconds they say -<br />
45 seconds is all the time it takes before something in the body changes -<br />
An emotion - a tightening - a panic - a clenching.<br />
Yet we run from all these feelings into new ones,<br />
Long before the 45 seconds passes - and why not;<br />
They're horrible feelings, they are,<br />
And no one has ever stayed with you,<br />
Said you are human in these feelings and sensations.<br />
<br />
"Should I do this with my head?"<br />
No, let it be.<br />
<br />
No one has ever stayed with you,<br />
Preferring to change you rather than feel your discomfort.<br />
No one has listened with you to your clenched panic,<br />
For as along as it takes,<br />
<br />
Until now.<br />
<br />
"Should I push my knees back here?"<br />
No, let them be.<br />
<br />
And witnessed - not judged -<br />
Audienced - not criticised -<br />
The experience changes.<br />
<br />
Supported by quiet hands<br />
Space appears -<br />
Possibilities surface -<br />
A clarity stirs.<br />
<br />
'Do this' and 'Don't do that',<br />
'Lift here' and 'relax there', all irrelevant;<br />
Your body knows what to do, where to flow…<br />
And now we hear it speak its truth.<br />
<br />
So much correctional instruction in the past -<br />
Assumptions,<br />
Fashions,<br />
Pushings,<br />
Forcings,<br />
Contradictions...<br />
'Make the body behave!'<br />
<br />
Oh bless it, and bless you….<br />
No, no, no….<br />
Come, rest under my hands,<br />
Sense the wisdom in your body,<br />
Feel the waves quieten,<br />
Be.<br />
<br />
"So, I just stand here? Resting on my feet ? My head on top?"<br />
Yes.<br />
<br />
You.<br />
Wondrous you,<br />
Just lost under all those should-ed shoulds.<br />
<br />
Come out, come out; you're too fine to be hidden thus.<br />
Gradually come free,<br />
Gently shine,<br />
Be.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EtYPpu75PE9pzJ7c6b0-O7M2cgucnCkHPxItuMNlOjcNX3C8Can9wDB5_00eB2J9fkW3brwASzTNIAbLLytkLEi2SE0R8x16Dq5w1lGkLgwm_AZjO0xSXoMFkl5NWDpOL60Q5TYdMXk/s1600/chitabe-camp-trees-590.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3EtYPpu75PE9pzJ7c6b0-O7M2cgucnCkHPxItuMNlOjcNX3C8Can9wDB5_00eB2J9fkW3brwASzTNIAbLLytkLEi2SE0R8x16Dq5w1lGkLgwm_AZjO0xSXoMFkl5NWDpOL60Q5TYdMXk/s1600/chitabe-camp-trees-590.jpg" height="300" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-36997590520451427152015-04-02T15:58:00.000-07:002015-04-03T01:56:22.994-07:00Trying to let go...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ8o1vUefc4k33ANA7IHvK0RKKKwofjmxUNjwfL1H8l_8bM864IzvqeqxgfSc3pJ9uxHSwyxt1wp-WdZejhBznVq4qblDEkSYvcq78RuFWpRfTNFRnQSuR-s4lOteKZPqoaAm-jSWjl00/s1600/Bird+release+big+copy+575.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ8o1vUefc4k33ANA7IHvK0RKKKwofjmxUNjwfL1H8l_8bM864IzvqeqxgfSc3pJ9uxHSwyxt1wp-WdZejhBznVq4qblDEkSYvcq78RuFWpRfTNFRnQSuR-s4lOteKZPqoaAm-jSWjl00/s1600/Bird+release+big+copy+575.jpeg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
"My body felt tight, so I was trying to let go….<br />
Trying not to tighten…."<br />
<br />
Those words make for an interesting ponder:<br />
<br />
<i>Trying</i> is effort, struggle, hard, keen, oppressive, sticky, severe, exacting….<br />
Trying includes what if I don't?<br />
What if I can't?<br />
I can, I can…. I must….. I will…<br />
I really, really will…<br />
Try.<br />
<br />
<i>Not to</i>: a negative….<br />
No, mustn't, can't, shouldn't, don't, oughtn't, disobedient….<br />
Try not to...<br />
<br />
<i>Tighten</i> - hold, fix, suppress, fix, rigidify, set, harden, clench, contract, pinch, squeeze,…<br />
Try not to be tight.<br />
<br />
<i>Trying to let go = I must be exact, struggle, and mustn't clench….</i><br />
<br />
<i>What does that do for you?</i><br />
<i>Ouch.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
Oxymorons are sticky,<br />
And 'Trying to let go' is very sticky.<br />
<br />
I tighten.<br />
Or I don't tighten.<br />
<br />
Trying is a doing.<br />
Letting go is a non-doing.<br />
<br />
'Try' and 'not to' can never be bedfellows….<br />
<br />
I notice my tightening and I allow it to be there;<br />
What we resist, persists.<br />
When I allow it to be there, I instantly experience my allowing<br />
As softening….<br />
Tightening melting.<br />
<br />
My teaching is about allowing,<br />
Freedom,<br />
Permission,<br />
The Yes.<br />
<br />
We cannot fight our way to freedom;<br />
We are the verb we are using in the moment -<br />
If I fight, I <i>am </i>fight.<br />
If I tighten, I <i>am </i>tight.<br />
If I soften, I <i>am soft</i>.<br />
If I let go, I <i>am</i> release.<br />
<br />
I cannot fight my way to softness.<br />
I cannot struggle my way to freedom.<br />
I cannot mustn't my way to permission.<br />
I cannot try my way to release.<br />
<br />
I can only soften my way to freedom through my own permission.<br />
<br />
So I notice tightening,<br />
And I say Yes.<br />
Heard, the tightening softens.<br />
No negatives, no blame, no shame.<br />
Just me.<br />
Not trying.<br />
Being.<br />
Soft.<br />
<br />
<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-54344652053654406102015-03-27T10:19:00.006-07:002015-03-30T14:54:51.034-07:00Discoveries with Annie go like this….. Part 2.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzWsj7Zfby7kWYm_tCiR99GlrCCCDir0-0c66D090Ehydab5Lw6NafvDcdiG_x9GXo8kqT9FM5CawKoUG-grKIs9jr_XfZF9Fk_JSRxmy06rAUoDCAR1OBFtc6_URPPLPtG7GWjDgUtA/s1600/Screenshot+2013-10-09+22.59.25.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrzWsj7Zfby7kWYm_tCiR99GlrCCCDir0-0c66D090Ehydab5Lw6NafvDcdiG_x9GXo8kqT9FM5CawKoUG-grKIs9jr_XfZF9Fk_JSRxmy06rAUoDCAR1OBFtc6_URPPLPtG7GWjDgUtA/s1600/Screenshot+2013-10-09+22.59.25.png" height="210" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I invite you to move move from sitting to standing... </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I invite you to walk… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My hands quietly listening and bringing your awareness to you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I ask you to walk to the table and pick up a mug… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or to (e.g.) play your flute or guitar….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My hands quietly with you all the time, giving you a new feedback of your movements,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But always inviting your awareness - never pushing or demanding;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is about you, not me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Any mastery I offer is that you find your own mastery is right there, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Waiting for you on the inside.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You experience the walking, the everyday action, the playing of your flute with a new ease,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Often smiling at the simplicity you didn't realise was possible.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We sit and talk, finding words for your discoveries;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This isn't me telling you, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is me introducing you to the you you are currently being,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And by this you discover how you 'do' the person you think you ought to be,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Your tensions and compressions born of doing you rather than being you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now you have taken back choice about how you will be you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Your body is quieter, open, and sensitivity present, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Your mind is clearer, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Your whole self alive to being you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I work with words and touch, and you and me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There's lots of mind work out there, how you do your thinking. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But what about how you do your 'physicality'? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They can't be separated; they are one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes, How do you do you? In totality? </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For you do, in every moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That realisation is what I offer you in my work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Psycho-physical-emotional clarity, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Your embodied mindfulness, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Your bodyfulness, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> A you who has 'Come to (all) your senses'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not everyone wants this; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Just a few are looking for present presence to this depth, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Moment-by-moment information and free choice - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The answer to tension or discomfort found lying right here in the now -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The freedom to be fully you, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To stand (sit, sing, dance, play) in your own space and know you are there.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is what you and I learn in your lessons - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where you learn from yourself how to be yourself -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Within the invitation of my touch and enquiry,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Both of us teacher and both of us student.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It'a a commitment to you, by you;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> You are your own life's work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Best be awake to this amazing fact.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lessons - where you make discoveries, not get-done-to,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Where you invest in finding your self again, because </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You're waiting, just there in the wings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />And the discomfort you came with?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Likely improving.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was tied up with you being someone you thought you ought to be,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or with the collapse of futility from thinking you weren't doing you well enough,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Or with the wise-yet-resistant tension from being asked to be other than who you are.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Being pushed about creates discomfort, whether the pushing is from without or within.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Funny thing is, yes, your posture might have<i> </i>improved - </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">but I never mention it, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">because it was never ever about that in the first place; </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was about you finding out how to let yourself be you.</span>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-88281894461824282102015-02-28T16:18:00.001-08:002015-04-07T06:33:10.016-07:00Being as an active verb…..A ponder on Doing and Being came to me yesterday - one I'd love to share with you?<br />
<br />
Consider these two ways…?<br />
<br />
One:<br />
<br />
She folds the laundry off the line, clears the dishes, answers the phone, drops her pen, types five emails, wrestles with the door handle, lets the dog out, trips over a bag, fills the washing machine, lets the dog in, knocks papers on the floor, answers the phone, checks a Facebook alert, types a reply, fills the kettle, sweeps the floor, opens the cupboard, takes a mug, answers the phone, puts in a tea bag, fills the mug, opens the fridge, takes the milk, spills it, stirs the tea, wipes up the spillage, feels rattled, sits in a chair, takes a deep breath, and thinks…..<br />
"I can't do all this. That last hour has gone and I still haven't started what I ought to be doing. I need to stop. I need to be still. My back hurts. I need to find myself. My head is exploding. I need to relax. I need help. I'm going to stop for the rest of the day. I'm going to meditate and then lie down. Tomorrow is another day and I'm sure I'll catch up ok...."<br />
<br />
Two:<br />
She moves towards the washing-line noticing how the line is also moving towards her.<br />
Her fingertips oppose each other so simply to release the pegs, and the pegs release the clothing.<br />
Her fingertips experience the texture of each of the fabrics as she takes the items off the line.<br />
She relishes the folding of the garments, wonders at the precision the usually ignored wisdom in her that knows how to fold so nearly.<br />
She layers the clothes in the basket.<br />
She lets her hands attach on either side of the basket and stands herself up. Being attached to her, the basket simply comes up too.<br />
She walks to the bedroom and places the basket on the bedroom floor, enjoys the moment her hands soften off its edges, stands fully, breathing quietly.<br />
<br />
She walks lightly towards the kitchen where she sees the dishes and moves to put them away.<br />
Her fingertips wonder at the smoothness of the china, the metal of the pans, the pattern of the cutlery - each item gifting her a sensory experience around weight, size, colour, pattern, texture, shape.<br />
She stacks the items within cupboard, drawer, shelf as needed, enjoying the order that is being created by her service.<br />
<br />
She finishes as the phone rings.<br />
She pauses during the ring in which she remains still, letting the sound enter her ears, and then decides to answer.<br />
She walks to her phone.<br />
She takes in the caller's name as it flows towards her eyes - no need for her to take her eyes to the phone.<br />
She extends her arm by leading from the fingertips which then wrap softly around the phone.<br />
Her arm quietly bends at the wrist, elbow and shoulder to enable the phone to come up to her ear for the conversation.<br />
The whole movement a gentle dance.<br />
<br />
She ends the call and allows her arm to lower the phone to the table where her fingers uncurl and release it.<br />
She breathes.<br />
She sits at the table, present to the movements she makes in order for this to happen; the act is normally so subconscious, yet awareness gifts her the wonder of how much she can move without even knowing what is happening.<br />
How much of life is being missed by not noticing….<br />
A sudden rush of gratitude floods through her.<br />
<br />
Her fingers leading, she opens the laptop.<br />
Her eyes take in the screen letting the images come to her, rather than her eyes going to the screen.<br />
She chooses which email to reply to first and breathes.<br />
Within the breath come the words to type.<br />
Her fingertips lightly meet each key as is needed - a light contact as they dance over the keyboard creating the music of words.<br />
Her awareness taking in the words,<br />
the sensation of her fingertips,<br />
her bottom resting on the chair,<br />
her feet on the floor,<br />
the wind blowing outside,<br />
the music playing on the radio,<br />
her breath cool under her nostrils as it passes into her lungs….<br />
<br />
So much information about the present that is usually crushed under the thoughts about the past or future…..<br />
<br />
She hears the dog scratching at the door to go out.<br />
She allows the image of him to enter her eyes as she truly <i>sees</i> him as if never before - his alert intention to his request, ears cocked, eyes bright, totally present to her moves to see whether she has got his message.<br />
She stands to open the door.<br />
Her soft hand, empty of any handle she has ever turned before, turns the handle….<br />
<br />
Can you see what is happening here?<br />
Rest is happening <i>within</i> action, not after it.<br />
And time is slowing down.<br />
<br />
In the first way there is a constant rushing to get somewhere, even if just to the end of the list.<br />
The second way <i>is </i>the somewhere.<br />
The typing and the folding, the kettle-filling and the tea drinking require action, yet her presence to the actions - her being with each touch, sound, sight, smell, and taste - <i>is</i> the somewhere.<br />
And also the no-where; there is nowhere to get to; she's right there, in it all the time.<br />
<br />
She feels no need to rest in reaction to a rushing and a doing; her doing is now her being.<br />
Her being quietly births her intention she then finds to be done.<br />
<br />
Body-Full-Ness.<br />
Embodied Mindfulness.<br />
Mindfulness in Activity.<br />
Wonder in Motion.<br />
<br />
Try it now and tell me what happens?<br />
<br />
<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-68550714222258301962015-02-25T06:17:00.003-08:002015-03-28T03:33:43.423-07:00Discoveries with Annie go like this…. Part 1.<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You come in for your appointment and we talk a while. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I invite you to sit - just how you would like, or are able to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I ask you what your need is - how you would like to be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I share a little about how your body is designed to work beautifully - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I often use models and 'toys' for this - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bright colours and soft humour igniting your imagination.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You often smile in a quiet joyful recognition of what might be going on in your body.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I ask you if I might use a gentle touch - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That my hands are my best 'eyes and ears'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I ask you to stay just as you are - no need to adjust your shape,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That there is no right and wrong in my mind - </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That we are simply going to discover where you are right now;</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After all, where else are we going to begin?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I place my hands on your back, maybe your shoulder...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And wait.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I let you come to a place of stillness from sensing that nothing need happen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That I am not 'putting you right'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That you don't have to try to be ok.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And often you will say, "I feel something change, but you're not doing anything?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And I explain how the body has an innate wisdom, that it knows how to be free.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That we get in its way - pushing it into what we think it should or has to be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That 'the body' is really you - it's just we're encouraged to forget this -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And just tighten ourself into who we think we ought to be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sensing my unconditional hands your body softly sighs in relief of being re-cog-nised.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I invite you to notice you from the inside - and physically, not intellectually. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To go to your feet, your knees, your back - from the inside.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To the place where you make a soft print on the floor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A footprint - your footprint - in gold leaf between your sole and ground. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The print your knee and back make on the inside of your trouser leg, </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">your waistband.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My hands assisting you, you wonder at the softenings and releasings taking place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We a</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">sk others to 'put us right', </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Never stopping to ask if this 'right' is really right for us,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And never first letting go of the 'oughts'.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You and me, together, we melt them away. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You are revealed.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-82249917260365621182014-02-27T15:22:00.002-08:002014-02-27T15:25:02.871-08:00Less Is More….<div style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I worked with a delightful couple from a theatre company today who felt they were struggling to get into role as convincingly as they would like to; they are playing characters who are also acting being other characters.... The process was becoming hard work for them both, and the result appearing somewhat forced. I could (and almost hear!) their brains clanking with the effort of trying! We had had a couple of sessions around balance, free necks and breath, managing high heels, ‘constructive slumping’ in an office chair, allowing sound from the whole body, and then came today’s session. Both of them were very tired with the effort of long rehearsals and their recent preview night’s acute demands. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The young man, Tom, was struggling with getting into his older character. He had an idea that he wanted to be not unlike Jim Broadbent, so I asked him to ‘go right back to neutral’ as he sat in his chair, and then allow his legs and feet to absorb the sense of this much older actor. I said legs and feet as I wanted Tom to be as far away from all the thoughts in his head as possible! As his time of neutral stillness moved organically into a movement, more of him filled the stage than ever before, and more of ‘Jim Broadbent’ filled the lines. The young woman, Sarah, sensed the change clearly and appeared to find it easier to play her role with him. Tom still seemed slightly unconvinced it was working; like many people, being in his body isn’t, as yet, as familiar to him as being in his mind. I like to go very slowly with the process of opening up to what is happening in our bodies; too fast and the head’s thoughts will leap back in before a confidence in the senses has had a chance to gel.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Then we worked with them both playing a scene where much happens very quickly; the two actors playing the four characters - two people in an office playing two people they had to be in order to hide a misdemeanour.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Then we removed the emotion to see what would flow… Not that Tom and Sarah looked like this!)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">It was still a little bumpy, neither feeling the swift changes they were trying to make were really working. So I asked them to play the scene as neutrally as possible - no characterisation, no postures, no emotional input to the words, no intention to portray anyone. It was more than marking it, but not ‘acting the parts’. I sensed might happen and it was only a matter of moments before they were revealing the characters with a new clarity and conviction. They were pleased, and not a little amazed! Sarah then said that she ‘still couldn’t get that bit right...’ so I asked her to repeat it with even less. Bold and willing, they played the scene again, “With even less than before, please...” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I sat spellbound as the scene unrolled before me....Sarah’s character’s self-dislike apparent and touching me in my stomach, her hatred for the boss curling my insides, their fears apparent as an uneasy fear within me, her humour and wit flashing in and out of the lines. Tom’s new speed and versatility was right there to meet it with a new flexibility and depth, their sought after characterisations simply happening organically. There was a moment when Tom and Sarah swapped lines by mistake and one commented about this to the other in order to right it, and I was really not sure at all that the comments weren’t lines to the script that I just hadn’t noticed before, such was their connection and depth. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When the scene finished, Sarah’s eyes were sparkling - she knew she had connected with the very thing she had been looking for, and she was excited for future rehearsals now she had a valuable tool in her pocket - Do Less! Tom was very tired from all the rehearsing, and we all acknowledged that his head was stuffed with too many thoughts. I advised them both to go and do something completely different; the very thing that their mind would say, “I don’t have time for that”, and they each had a plan for the next day or two. There’s nothing like leaving something to simmer whilst we go off and do something else; when we come back, so much has clarified in the open space we make by our absence. I know both of them made a great discovery today in the ‘space-of-non-doing-ness’ and that their desired clarity will be with them within a few days. With 10 days until opening night, they’ll be just fine.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sarah added this comment after the session: "<i>Sometimes when rehearsing or performing, you're thinking of so many things at once (vocal techniques, physicality, lines) that you become tense and therefore less able to connect with the 'truth' of the character you are playing. Annie's exercise of playing the scene without emotion really helped me re-connect with my character and her emotions - almost immediately too! I'm hoping I can incorporate this into my performance when we start touring."</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 0px;">I love the increased confidence and self-trust this work offers, the trust that one’s intention is powerful, appropriate, vibrant, and heart-centred, and that if you’re doing what you love without getting in the way by trying too hard, it will just happen. And I am always humbled by the courage of students to give new ideas a go, and to face their fears and beliefs and allow them to shift. </span>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-85166638354143383192014-02-25T17:12:00.000-08:002014-02-25T17:12:04.200-08:00Trying to stand still and to move forwards all at once = sore hips and lower back!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="color: #333233; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Penny came today for a lesson - her hips were sore and she felt her old tight lower back had returned. She is wanting to move forwards in life to new things, but as with so many of us, her desires for her, albeit grown, family pull her the other way. She had noticed that her breathing had been very shallow since her young son had got a job abroad and left home in the autumn. I also found her holding on in her lower back, leaning back way beyond vertical, and also very resistant to going forwards in any way</span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">…</span><span style="color: #333233; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">. When standing up from a chair she didn’t want to move forwards from her hips so the action was a struggle; her lower back tightening hugely to heave herself to her feet. When sitting down she dropped like a stone rather than coming forwards from her hips and in her knees in order to lower herself in balance to the chair. And when standing upright and walking, her upper back was falling backwards towards family and her hips were lunging forwards towards her dreams. She said she felt so off balance that she couldn’t move with any freedom. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What I am writing might seem as if I was wanting Penny to ‘stand better’, or ‘move right’, but both those would only be the result of a deeper understanding of what was going on. After talking together about how things were for her right now, I asked her to let herself move forwards from her hips as she stood, to let her head lead and her body follow. So much easier! And sitting down again meant she allowed her head and her knees to move forwards, and she found herself seated again with no sense of an off-balance fall to the chair. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When Penny got up again I had the sense that she was standing as if she had two huge lengths of powerful elastic attached to her bra-strap at the back, and which went down through a big ring in the floor about 2 feet behind her and then back into her hands. It was as if she was pulling on this imaginary elastic, pulling her upper back down towards the floor behind her. So she stopped ‘pulling', and let the elastic lengthen considerably, This let her upper back release forwards and up in space. With the thought of another softer elastic from her head to the ceiling just in front of her, she allowed this one to take up the release of her back. This meant her hips moved backwards under her torso again, and she said she now felt in balance, and that she was also in a place from where she could move away from to stand up, sit down, walk, and then return to.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Penny said she could now see how she could step away from ‘home’ briefly to shop, visit, work, and then return again afterwards. She didn’t have to hold herself ‘at home’ all the time until she could make the big move. Now she could stop trying to be in two places at once - At Home <i>and</i> On her Big Journey all at once. That had been what was pulling her both backwards and forwards at the same time and creating the resistance and pain.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She went away balanced, happy, and easier, having made an important discovery as to where she was in her thinking and her future plans, and how the resulting buried feelings had affected her body.</span></span></div>
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Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-48967450341397019912014-02-19T08:18:00.000-08:002014-02-24T02:57:24.906-08:00SOME IDEAS TO HELP AT THE DENTIST!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And b-r-e-a-t-h-e!! Please don't run away; this is offered </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">with love in order to help!!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today it was the dentist for a planned filling replacement. Two things filled me with a bit of tension; the cost (I wont go there) and the having my mouth open so wide for so long. Not blessed to be Julia Roberts with her enviable barn-door mouth, and coming from the tight-lipped home counties (damn it), this always causes me more pain than any injection can prevent! </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My lovely Irish dentist always fills me with confidence, so much so that I had even forgotten (yes, genuinely!) that this appointment would mean an injection! But it was done before I even knew it. The difference is that Sean moves around his patients with a quiet compassionate attention, moving slowly with respect and honour around the head, acknowledging that he is doing something quite ‘invasive’ to his patients - I hope you can find a dentist like that; it makes such difference!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Then the drilling - No! Don’t switch off!!! I have some some really useful tips for being in the dentist’s chair which I hope will help you! </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was lying back, knowing I could resist the fact I was there or go with the flow, and that I only had to raise my hand and Sean would stop and give me a break. So, what to think first? Let’s make a list for ease...things I found helpful today to go with the flow:</span></span></div>
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<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Soften my hands that were folded in my lap; there was no need to clasp them as if holding on to a cliff face!</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Soften my neck - the area around the hair line at the back of my scalp, and imagine a widening space up behind my eyes and up into my brain, like rings on a pond.</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Breathe!!!</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Allow my mouth to be open... In fact, when I stopped resisting and let Sean and his assistant keep my mouth open with their instruments to do what they needed to do, it became much easier... I was then not forcing my mouth open beyond where they needed it to be, or fighting them in a futile effort to try and close it.</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When it became tiring and sore, I remembered the ‘smile behind the eyes’ that unlocks the jaw to enable it to open freely. Try this now for me?... Look miserable and pull your jaw down to open your mouth as wide as you can. And now close your mouth again. Now, think of something pleasurable that creates an inner smile behind your eyes... It can show in your mouth too, but the important bit is the smile in your eyes and up behind your cheeks. Now allow your lower molars to drop away from your upper molars.... Can you tell the difference?! So, even though my mouth was open and below my ears was screaming in discomfort, I thought about letting that smile happen, and I felt a great release and the relief from jaw-sore was fantastic!! :-)</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then I let my hands go again, and my legs which had joined in the foray!</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And breathe..... which showed me something quite interesting; I had stopped breathing on the out-breath. This meant that I was pulling down away from Sean’s hands and instruments...sort of squashing myself down out of the way. As I breathed I came up to meet him again, and the relief was fantastic, again. Far less resistance on my mouth and jaw.</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I softened up towards my head, and my body deepened upwards from the ‘chair’, the distance between my back and my front feeling like it had trebled. Again this stopped my resistance to Sean’s instruments.</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Smile inside again - more relief from the jaw which had begun to tighten again.</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> And breathe....this time I felt something release in my shoulders; that part directly above the armpits at the front; I had been narrowing across there in an effort to ‘help or hide’...and it was doing neither, of course! Try that?... Lift your shoulders and narrow across your front, and open your mouth wide...? Now release that tension, allow your shoulders to float apart and Just Be, and then open your mouth with that smile. Easier? I found it hugely so. (Perhaps you had to be there, but it’s something for your ‘handbook’ when you next visit your dentist!)</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Again I felt myself come back up towards Sean; I had pulled back down without noticing! And breathe....and smile....and relief...!</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> This time I let go in my body and let the chair come back in support of me - to cradle me. This stopped the ‘ I am trying to levitate myself out of this place’ tension and again the softening released my jaw and allowed me to be present to the event. It’s far scarier when we ‘run out in our minds’; the body feels abandoned!</span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Each time I needed to rest, I listened to my body, not my ‘I might interupt him’ mind, and he willingly stopped just for a few seconds, enough for me to soften my jaw to closed, smile inwardly to unhinge it and re-open it again. </span></span></li>
<li style="color: #333233; margin: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Softening hands, legs, body, neck, breath, shoulders, jaw, smile, tummy, toes....they all helped hugely. (And I mean soften, release, de-frost, not chillaxed, relaxed, lying on a beach stuff which is a crazy demand in the dentist’s chair!)</span></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">And then it was done, all over, and finished. An apt sigh of relief, one final release of the neck as I paid the humungous bill (tension is resisting what is!), and out to dribble over a coffee and write this for you in a beach cafe in the sunshine, spring showing her nose at last, the beach full of laughing, barking happy people and dogs, and all is well in the world! It might well be baby-food tonight, but who cares; ‘tis </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">done!</span></div>
Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-63322886887237177422014-02-18T04:40:00.003-08:002018-02-18T03:06:26.108-08:00A Effective and Reliable Friend in Your Pocket… <div style="margin-bottom: 19.5px;">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This is a sentence from Jeremy Chance, a fellow Alexander teacher, and I like it, a lot. It’s real. It’s truthful. It shines a light on the reality of life. By sharing some of my own experiences of being in pain, the bit I’d like to shine the light closer to is the last bit in italics, the bit that I offer you...</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">“I often remind students: this work will not prevent injury or pain, because life happens. Stress happens. It’s natural. <i>What you are gaining is an effective and reliable method to deal with your stress, pain and injuries that is based on sound principles.”</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Maybe people think we say we cure, but surely (and wisely) also think we don’t, yet both those immediately set up quite a lot of wobbly thoughts and feelings... “What if it doesn’t work?”, “What if everyone else can do it, but I can’t?”, “What if she thinks I’m stupid?”, “What if I think <i>she’s</i> stupid?!!” And, you know what?... I feel that too! What if I can’t, what if I’m stupid...! You see, I’m human, life happens to me, too, but I’m a teacher of this work and so I’m never, ever meant to have pain, discomfort, stress, angst, or confusion....am I?! So, over the next day or so, I thought I’d share some of the experiences I have had in 30 years as a teacher, and how this method has been ‘effective and reliable’ for me. This is today’s...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">When I’d been qualified as an Alexander teacher only a year or so, I moved my furniture around, and whilst dragging a heavy pine blanket chest from one room to another, the feet of it got caught on the metal strip holding the carpet down in the doorway... That and the chest were inflexible, my back was flexible, and the result was an injury to my lower back. I was stuck, and in great pain. I eased myself down onto the floor to ‘go within and let it be with my reassurance’, rather than panic and tense up </span>massively<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. (Over the years I have used the lovely TV’s, “Don’t panic. Mr Mannering!” to myself and students many a time!) With simple paracetamol to assist the initial protective spasms to ease, I went on to discover for the first time how intensely connected were my legs to my back; my legs just wouldn’t work properly, and for the next week or so, they collapsed under me when I least expected it. I was intrigued to find that not only could I could not pull on something, but I couldn’t push either; using the jet spray in the manual car-wash being surprising agony... (I also remember the skill of changing channels on the TV with the tip of a wobbly 15 foot bamboo cane from my place on the sofa - the good ol’ days before ‘remote control’!) But I attended to the ongoing releasing of my neck and my back, intending them to lengthen, breathing into my back, and not giving in to the desire to pull down into a panicky ‘I’ve broken’ state. I experimented and found the pain to be no worse, and in </span>fact easier,<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> when walking, standing and lying ‘long’ than when I ‘shrank’ and shortened into the universal ‘my back’s gone’ shape..... (Where is it meant to go, by the way...?!) </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I knew from the first lessons I had ever had that giving the body parts space through this intention of openness gave them more blood supply and more room to go back to their ‘default’ arrangement, so, by moving as if all was well, I gave my painful back and body the space, and indeed, all was well within a month. I was fine again, and importantly, not carrying any label suggesting I ‘had a bad back’. I didn’t; it had just suffered briefly at the hands of life. I had received many well-meaning 'assurances' from people </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">that I had 'isms and </span>itis' '<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> galore, and that I would ‘never again be able to do x, y, and z’, and that I ‘ought to’ and 'should'...., but I simply went on with the Alexander ‘effective and reliable method’ that had relieved me of my neck pain years before, and I came out of this ‘Annie vs The Pine Chest’ situation with a strong, able back, and no labels or restrictions for my future in my mind, <i>and </i>much new and useful information.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Over the years I have had intense ‘golfer’s elbow’, a painful hip/groin, stiff necks from ‘sleeping wrong’, a very sore right foot, a breakdown, and a thunderclap headache from coughing from which I surely would have panicked more than at any other time in my life had I not had this ‘effective and reliable’ tool in my pocket... I’ll share more on all these tomorrow. </span></span></div>
Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-74968689921349899592014-02-11T08:57:00.002-08:002014-02-11T16:31:44.605-08:00IN DEFENCE OF THE HUMBLE MOUSE <div style="color: #333233; font-family: 'Lucida Grande';">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">In the last two days two more mice have been reported as suffering at the hands of their masters. Given hugely restricted quarters and then nigh on crushed to death. If they could have squeaked, this could have been prevented.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">What on earth am I on about?! Well, I’m talking about the wee creature, Mousus Movus, that lives on your desk - if you’re a desktop computer person of course*. This poor wee creature is greatly ignored, and even if seen and acknowledged, hugely misunderstood. He (or she, of course) is blamed for many a right arm ailment in its user, but has no way of defending himself. I know of lucky mice who wear a fluffy coat with a teddy’s-tummy-squeak sown into the back of it. The moment the owner's hand gets too keen, or their body too heavy, the squeak alerts the owner to back off, and Mousus Movus (MM) can breathe again.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">*</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If you’re a laptop person, your mouse is trapped within the touch pad, but we’ll get to this breed later - Mousus Trapidus.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This endless crushing of the breath in this vulnerable creature comes alongside the cruelty of keeping it in such a small space. He lives on a mat measuring twice times his length and barely three times his width. He can just about turn around, but is never given the chance. The master, alongside the placing of his entire weight on MM’s back, squeezes and tightens on MM’s throat each time MM threatens to leave the mat. MM is trying his best to be where Cursor, his mate, wants to be, but the mat stops him from doing this. Sometimes he is even lifted up and slammed down onto another part of the mat just so he can ‘get it right’ and move Cursor another millimetre. This severely winds MM and he often takes a moment to recover. How MM wishes he could just have the space and freedom of the whole desk or table; oh, how he would show his master how powerful and brilliant he is!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But the thing he really wants to tell his master is this: “Do you realise what you do to yourself all the time you are restricting me? When you try and make me move Cursor on the big screen above me and I’ve run out of mat, you screw your shoulder into all sorts of contortions with the effort of restraining me. I am so willing to move for you, but you don’t let me! I see you ram your wrist down into the table - or even the wrist rest you have purchased at great cost - and try and move me with just your hand or fingers. This restricts me even more! Then I hear you telling people that you need a new mouse as I have injured you! I am so upset and so hurt; I feel so powerless to tell you what’s happening. I’m just a humble mouse; and if you move me around where you want me to go, I will always heed your wishes, I really will. But I have to have room to move. And I move so much more freely if you’re not heavy on my back and stiffening your arm.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So often my life is short lived - I survive the beatings and crushings, I manage on my tiny mat, but despite this I am all too often put in a drawer; discarded without a whim in favour of a supposedly bigger, better, smarter, cleverer, version - Mousus Ballus, Mousus Ergonomicus, Mousus Erectus...on and on, someone somewhere breeding ever more sophisticated mice, and yet none of us can tell you that you that this isn't necessary! We, the humble Mousus Movus are just fine. It’s how you use us that is key. If you give us room to play, if you support your own weight on your sitting bones on your chair rather than attempting to have us prop you up, if you stop trapping your hand in one place by leaning on your wrist, if you and I can dance freely on the table top, you will be amazed at how easy it becomes! And you will see we are not out to injure you; your not-knowing these things is what is doing that. Might I be so bold as to repeat my main point?... Your bum takes your weight, not us!” </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So, in deference to the wishes of all mice, please have a think about this? Watch how you treat your mouse, listen for its squeak if you’re too heavy on its back. Sometimes let it play for you on a different part of the desk....maybe away over beyond your coffee cup? Or even on your neighbour’s desk!! Fly free and explore, dear mice! Take your masters' arms away from their bodies and encourage them to release and lengthen!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And despite the fact that Mousus Trapidus can’t roam free, living as it does inside a laptop finger pad, it too has a squeak on its back in the pad, and the laptop itself (beside the pad) has one too. So let your arm and wrist dance, tickle the finger pad with your finger tips and play it like a piano. Your wrist really doesn’t have to lean on the laptop at all! You’ve just got used to it being like that. Be aware of the squeak of warning as you work, and play with all the possibilities!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333233; font-family: Lucida Grande;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">“We, Mousus Movus and Trapidus, and in great numbers, hope this has been really helpful to you. We hope it means happy shoulders, wrists and arms, and happy, happy mice everywhere! If you need more help on this, we highly recommend you visit a representative of the MMTPS - Mousus Movus & Trapidus Protection Society - who go under the name of Alexander Technique teachers. The one, Annie, who has kindly taken our dictation for this plea for help is pretty good; she’s saved many, many mice' lives, and arms of masters, over the years; most notably at UK Orange call-centres</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">. She'll come into your work place too and she, with us, will give invaluable </span>advice in order to save the lives of many mice, and also many masters.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #333233; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; letter-spacing: 0px;">Good luck! Happy typing from now on! We are all very grateful to you for reading this!”</span>Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-16052299710990979822013-12-09T17:59:00.003-08:002013-12-09T17:59:26.396-08:00Sailing analogies....<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today was a nautically themed teaching day. I love using sailing analogies in my teaching, and never more than with a sailing student; things drop into place so easily.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Today my experienced sailor student and I were talking about the difference between being in a ‘right position’ versus looking for what she beautifully phrased as, “Sensing the innate sense of balance within”. She then told me how she had seen it during the last few day's enquiry. She told me almost the same story as my son had told me the night before (which was weird!) about helming (steering) on a long passage in big seas with the wind coming from behind. In this situation the boat’s bow (pointy bit at the front!) tends to wander left and right as the seas ride up from behind, flow underneath and disappear away in front; most often moving faster than the boat herself. She was remembering a time when she had helmed through the night, holding the tiller tightly to try and stop this swinging off course, and for sailors who know what I mean, to ‘prevent a crash gybe’*...that most especially! When she came off watch, she went below to rest and found she had a most painful and stiff shoulder from holding her arm so tightly to stop the boat’s swinging movements. (* see later.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In the morning she went on deck to find her husband in the cockpit, but with no hand on the tiller! The boat however was going along nicely. She questioned him and he said he had been experimenting during his watch. He found the boat would naturally right herself back on course after each swing and he had to do far less than he thought he had to. When my student tried helming again with just a light hand on the tiller, she found the same; her hand was now more in ‘listening and sensing mode’ than ‘assuming all would be lost mode’. She found herself simply resisting too much movement <i><b>if</b></i> </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">it occurred, and then releasing any<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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demand or effort on the tiller the moment the boat began to bring herself back on course a few moments later. Then it might go the other way, but my student would allow the same thing to happen. The swing would lessen and she was spared the rigid arm and sore shoulder. She then felt such a one-ness with herself, the boat, the sea, and the wind. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333233;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">My son said the same thing; that all too often inexperienced people on the helm would desperately try to keep the boat on course by turning the wheel from side to side, back and forth. This resulted in the boat being oversteered and not having a chance to find her way back naturally in just a few seconds. They would be left steering left even though the boat was already bringing herself back that way on her own. If the oversteer got too bad, the boat would slew way off course left and right, and the wind would then get on the wrong side of the sail and the dreaded ‘crash gybe’ would happen. This is when the boom and sail suddenly and violently slam right across the boat from one side to the other, often breaking lines (ropes), rigging, even bringing the mast down and risking serious injury to all on deck. My son said he will always teach that people don’t get totally fixed on the compass, but get a sense of the boat’s movements and to allow them - to feel the way she comes back from a swing on her own, and that she will rarely, left to her own devices, swing more than 5-10 degrees either side of the course set. it’s the gentle-but-firm intention that she doesn’t go too far over that deviation, and then the releasing of the hands’ grip on the wheel to let it slide through the fingers back to the middle again as she comes back on course. Never a fight, never ignoring it, but never pushing, pulling or </span>fixing<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All so close to going very wrong....!</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #333233; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">And so it is in our balance - instead of trying to be in a fixed right position, we allow ourselves to find our balance. To let the parts of ourselves come into an integrated flow. Our muscles can intend, they can ‘steer’, but never too much; like a boat, we are always moving, always being affected by what's going on around us. In sailing, having to do too much on the helm (wheel/tiller) means something else needs to change - less or more sail, setting a different course to the new wind direction - and so it is in us. If we have too much on our own helm - too much tension in our head-neck area - something else has to change. Less going on in our abdomen, less in our chest and throat, something different in our legs....sometimes a softening, sometimes a lengthening. Then, as we move through life, we have a gentle-but-wise hand on our own tiller, on our own wheel. We are absorbing the sea-state beneath us - the stimuli we are receiving all day. We know our ‘course to steer’ - what we intend to accomplish, being washing up or playing the piano - but we allow the balance of our ‘vessel’ to right itself as far as it can on its own, to know what to do and how to be. Wrestling ourselves through life with no deviation allowed off the line is incredibly hard work, strains the rigging (muscular-skeletal system) and the ‘crew’ (us) end up exhausted and demoralised, thinking we are always going to lose out to the power of the sea, to the seeming powerlessness we experience in our self. Yet the more ‘miles under the keel’ we acquire with this new conscious awareness, the greater our ‘helming’ skills will become.</span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also enjoyed acknowledging the fact that all boats seem to have a preferred ‘tack’ - some boats sail better with the wind coming from the port side, and some from the starboard side.... Some boats handle rough water well and some don’t. Some are ocean going and some are coastal. That’s just how they are; they all look like boats, but different shape boats are for different waters. All boats look as if their two sides are the same, but they are only ever similar; nothing can ever be 100% symetrical. Like you and me? I reckon so! So which is your preferred tack? Do you ‘favour’ a side - left handed? Lead with the right leg? Do you prefer coastal sailing (calm living) or ocean racing (the cut and thrust of adrenaline living). And can you let all this be and not fight it? Instead let your particular vessel be free to flow? To point your nose to the sea ahead, set a course, and just go?</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had such fun playing with sailing analogies and reckon we could write a book; there are so many more! But basically how about this with which to finish the blog - trust your balance, set your sails well, be gentle on your wheel/tiller - and listen and learn from your very wise vessel - your body.... YOU!</span></span></div>
Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-90304718637816639312013-11-25T16:51:00.001-08:002013-11-25T16:56:48.354-08:00Humility...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today a student and I were discussing the learning and discovering that occurs during an Alexander lesson. Delight and pleasure were high on the list this morning - for both of us. The thing I want to share here is the - to me - wonderful few minutes we had in being with a new word.... Well, a new word for an old word - 'inhibition'. That Word that is probably one of the main defining features of the Alexander Technique. But the word that trips so many up - mostly on the path to even considering lessons! Whilst it may have been a Very Good Word in 1920, and it might be a Very Good Word in scientific circles now, it's not a word that has people rushing to book an appointment. "I'm going to my inhibition class" is likely to lose friends rather than gain them! 'Heck, what if some of that rubbed off on me...?!?' might be the thought!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Let me put that word slightly in context for those of you with baffled expressions - and I hope you're still reading! F M Alexander used the word inhibition <i>before</i> Freud got his hands on it and tied the world up in knots. If we are lucky and blessed, we are all full of inhibition - and I mean inhibition and not inhibition<i>s</i>. Without it our limbs might move uncontrollably and we would find it hard to carry out every day activities. When we want to pick up a cup, our messages from our brain to our limbs work smoothly and our hand and arm can co-ordinte this action with ease. Without inhibition - as can happen in someone with Cerebral Palsy - the overactive or overly stiff hand might knock the cup over and/or spill the drink before the cup reaches the lips. Even when blessed with a working inhibition, many of us have still got into 'over-moving' and/or 'being stiff'; the stiffness often coming from subconsciously over-doing something and then rigidifying to stop the over-doing that has us not spill the drink. That rigidifying isn't inhibition; that's just <i>two </i>sets of tension - the one doing and the one resisting that doing. Daft really! Best to just stop - consciously inhibit, say no to - the first set of tension and not bother with the second.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Still here...?! I do hope so; this is magical life-changing stuff!... So, conscious inhibition is the 'non-doing' of anything that prevent us from (in this case) successfully picking up the cup. It's not the suppressing of excess movement, it's the process by which not too much movement happens in the first place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I often say it like this in lessons: Imagine you're about to drive away in your car. It's stationary, and you're on level ground. You have the engine ticking over, gears in neutral, you don't have your foot on any pedals, and you're just being there - not going anywhere, yet. Or you can be in your car with the handbrake on, foot on the footbrake, and a wheel-clamp on the wheels and a couple of bricks in front of the tyres for good measure. You then rev the car like crazy, slip the clutch, have smoke pouring out of the engine compartment, hear the squealing, uncomfortable engine, and yes, you don't go anywhere, but to what cost!?! The latter is suppression, fixing, resisting. The former is inhibition - the art of doing nothing more than is needed in any given moment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, in an Alexander lesson, you are discovering all your 'handbrake ons' and 'accelerator revvings' and letting them come to a stop - metaphorically taking your hands and feet off everything. Then letting them not doing anything at all. Then letting them do only what's needed to have you move off on your journey. It's about 'un-learning the old' - inhibiting the old - living in an absence of excess.....</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Walking in, with, and as humility....</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There, inhibition's not such a scary word after all, is it? Just long, old-fashioned, and cumbersome. So today in the lesson, we were playing with other words, and my student was using one I'd not really thought about before as being 'inhibition'..... "Humility". To sit with humility. To drive </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">as </i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">humility, to</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> walk across the room to the ringing telephone </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">in </i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">humility. I like this - I love the simple-simplicity, the surrender, the acceptance in it. It reveals this truth: I either walk, or I don't walk - always my choice. And if I walk in humility, I am saying 'yes' to the activity with my whole self; yet walking with only what is needed to walk - no more and no less. I am not "resisting walking to the 'phone, but going to do it anyway, because what if I don't answer and it's important..." I'm not pushing and shoving with my legs, hardening in my body as I walk because I just don't yet know that none of that is necessary to walk to the 'phone... Humility is just the absence of everything that gets in the way of my simple stepping across the room and saying 'Hello'. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Humility - I like you. You have a raft of quite dreadful synonyms in Thesaurus, but I just don't think people 'get' you. However, the one word there that describes you well is 'non-resistance'. So, I still like you. Thank you for being. And thank you to my student for the lovely gift of this word today.</span><br />
<br />Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-69419498595275394632013-11-21T16:30:00.001-08:002013-11-22T14:08:04.258-08:00My Happy Place.... Reflections on teaching....<br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Recently a colleague posted a Facebook comment about the idea of describing ‘my happy place’ when I am working. I liked that - a lot - and thank her - a lot. My reply was this: When I am teaching I feel (a) like I'm playing, (b) that my heart is singing, and (c) I am absolutely 'on purpose'. It never feels like 'hard work', even though I am 'working hard'. I am definitely in 'my happy place'. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">Yes, when teaching, the world goes away, and yet I am more present than ever. My focus finds a steadiness, intention clarifying in each moment as we go along. I have a sense of trust as we connect through that part of us that ‘gnows’ * - not a head sort of ‘knowing’, but something far more powerful and efficacious - and you connect to that part of you, too. Part of my job is to keep my head </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">out </i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">of the way, and that’s probably the hardest work of all! My head thinks it knows, but it can only ever know things that have gone before, and in my teaching we are looking for the new, the way</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> not</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> being used, the way that in its freshness and flow </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">isn’t</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> plagued by pain and stiffness, lack of flow or self-doubt. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">I have learned the anatomy and physiology, worked out many ideas and taken on many philosophies, but in the moment with a student, it is important I don’t let any of that crowd the decks and simply ‘move the furniture around on the Titanic’. That just looks like something is happening, but nothing really is. We are after dropping the old way and allowing a new, creative, fresh, appropriate, working, conscious way of being, and none of that resides in the repetition of our past responses to life. If it did, all would be well, we would have no pain, no discomfort, no dissatisfaction with our life, and not be looking for any answers. If we’re looking for something to ‘improve’ (aka, change) about our life, then the old isn’t where to look. The thing is, the old is familiar, ‘the devil we better know’, and anything different feels wrong. Oh the muddles we get into in life just because we interpret ‘different’ as ‘wrong’....!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Alert, poised, awake, ready, open.....</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">So, when I work I am </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">aware, awake, alert, open to as many possibilities as I can be in that moment. Open to sense what you, as my student, is doing and present enough to reveal it to you </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">immediately</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"> in order for you to see it, sense it, and make a new choice </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">in that moment</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">. I use anything that comes to me - analogy, imagery, anatomy, science, philosophy, psychology, mimicry, acting, three-D models, children’s toys, pen and paper, photos, everyday items, stories, and touch to enable the new to be experienced along with the change in the thinking required to have the method become yours. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Toys that clarify....</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;"><i>If </i>I can keep my ‘proper mind’ out of it - you probably know the one, the one that Has to Be Clever, academic, professorial, successful, confident, in touch with that elusive Rightest Right that ever was Right (!!*) - I can be truly There For You, present to what is, and not bogged down in what I expect, or assuming how things will be regarding your concerns. Then I can serve you. If my head in in charge, it’s become all about me, my stuff, my expectations of you, my assumption of What is Right. But a lesson is all about You. What you bring, how you bring it, how you think, work, see and sense life. For that I need my antennae switched right on high to whatever it takes to assist you to reach the place in which you want to be - pain free, flexible, co-ordinated, confident. In this way my teaching mostly feels like ‘play’ in its creativity and freshness, in it’s communication with you - an utter delight for which I am so, so grateful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">And when something comes, something connects with you and a penny drops, release happens, and the how becomes clear; oh my, my heart leaps - singing its way round the room. There is a ‘rightness’ in that moment that has nothing to do with being ‘right’.....it’s a rightness that comes from the absence of anything at all; just a huge ‘That’s It!’ The absence of ‘wrong’ - of discomfort, of struggle, of confusion, of pushing, of expecting, of trying, of dis-integration, of stuckness.... There’s a light that comes on in your eyes at this point, and that light is one of the most beautiful things to witness on this planet; the light of realisation, of awakening to your own inner strength and power, to your self and your total and beautiful ok-ness. In those moments I often feel I might have to hold back tears of respect, humility, awe, and delight for you... Oh yes, my heart sings so when I teach.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And during these moments there is a flow, an unstoppable happening, as if something else is powering them... Something far bigger than me...Something that just ‘gnows’.... And I just ‘gnow’ deeply inside at that moment that I Am On Purpose - I am living my truth, I am doing what I came here to do. No resistance, no doubt, no confusion, no fatigue..... Clarity, delight, energy, stillness, gratitude and love.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> The Joy of Purpose....</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0px;">In my teaching is My Happy Place - my play, my singing heart, and my purpose. How lucky I am. Together with you my students we discover more and more what it is to be human, to be here on Planet Earth in our earth-suits, to re-member how they work for us so delightfully willingly when we let them, and how we can allow ourselves to allow this with so much more ease and joy.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(*!! - NB, Just in case you wondered, this isn’t where we think it is! You can stop looking now! It’s in the absence of anything - the absence of that which resists our very essence.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">* By ‘gnowing’ I mean that inner surety, ‘gut feeling’, an embodied understanding. Not necessarily any Christian Gnostics who claimed to have superior spiritual knowledge. They did however understand this ‘gnowing’ sense.</span></span></div>
Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5736720780548899335.post-225697417401107492013-11-21T16:24:00.002-08:002013-11-21T16:24:47.016-08:00On releasing......On it's way!Anniehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10600756666459268471noreply@blogger.com0