Connection and support through challenging times….

THE STILL SPACE WITHIN

“at the still point of the turning world.

..at the still point there the dance is”

T.S Eliot

Connection feels lacking on so many levels in this present crisis so I want to share a little about my approach and hope you can take something from it.

Gravity and breath are a good starting point. Simply standing and connecting with the earth beneath your feet (Tadasana) to experience the body’s response to gravity and the spine’s response to the breath. Giving time and space for sensations to arise. When we bring attention to the body and breath we tap into the body’s natural intelligence through a deepening awareness. The earth is pulling us from below but we resist it. Over time in the state of a passive, receptive awareness we yield; a deep letting go of habitual patterns held in body and mind. In time we let the exhalation drop into itself and here we become the still space within, connecting us to our true nature.
A very simple gesture that I use when I’m either stressed or anxious;

Place a hand on your heart, just be with the sensations that arise through connection.

The skin of your hand, the touch of your hand against your body.

Say something reassuring/kind to yourself.

Remember to breathe!

Be with the breath as in arises in you, gently letting go and exhaling before any strain is felt.

The breath slows down and deepens naturally.

Simply be with the sensations of the breath rising and falling, don’t force anything.

There is a still space within that wants to be found.

Connection, breath, touch and trees

Trees are so glorious. What stories they’d have to tell; witnessing secrets of love, loneliness and so many memories. As years and decades pass they stand majestically tall and proud. Reaching towards the heavens for light with strong rooted feet and sculptured toe muscles planted firmly in mother earth they breathe and cleanse our planet.  

 I’m sure we’ve all looked at the leaves of a tree and thought how similar the network of its veins are to the human lung. Trees do breathe. In fact they deserve some serious respect; without them pollutants would have made far greater inroads into poisoning our natural environment. 

The breathing occurs in the most microscopic part of the leaf; hundreds of little breathing tubes called the stomata (appropriately meaning “mouth” in Greek) are responsible for bringing in air. The tree breathes the energetic universal life force and transforms carbon dioxide; fighting almost single handedly to save our planet. 

All the trees pictured here have somehow caused me to stop in my tracks over the last few days, called to me to connect with them as I’ve walked my dog, giving me much to ponder.

I’ve been focusing on the sense of touch. How there are many without it in this present crisis. How the power of touch carries a responsibility in its possibility for harm or healing and how we touch with more than just our hands. Each moment of being alive is a miracle when we look beneath with attention through the senses. The sense of touch is essential to our lives.

So when I saw the beautiful bark of this tree I had to touch it. Giving off such incredible energy it took my breath away. Emotions seemed to surge through me like ocean waves. Here I was caressing a tree, sensory upgrade....I swiftly looked around....phew no one to see!

Having made such a connection with the tree through my hands it brought to mind how we enhance our connection to the breath when we lay our hands on our belly. The sensitive skin of our hands meeting the sensations of the breath brings a deeper understanding, a knowing.
I find when my mind is particularly distracted and fragmented during meditation, placing my hands on my belly helps to anchor me to the breath.

We take the sense of touch inwards as we breathe, being the bridge between the outer and inner worlds. If you listen with your whole body its very essence is felt as it gently touches the spine, awakening its potential for aliveness. The breath is powerful, it can change emotions when we touch it with our minds, therefore touching our hearts. When every cell connects with the breath magic is possible.

Namaste, Tadasana, Uttanasana sequence

This is a sequence that I love. It grounds the body and calms the nervous system. It creates a space of stillness to drop into.

• Settle into Tadasana with hands in Namaste.

• Breathe into the hands, allowing them to melt into one another; feel the skin to skin contact. Let energy travel from the hands, through the arms and into the spine.

• Put the attention into the space between the hands and the spine; the heart space.
  Take time to be with the sensation.

• As you release the hands be mindful of the energy between them.
  Take a resting breath in, and as you exhale release down the spine into the heels.
  Let arms rest, taking a few breaths in Tadasana.

• On the next inhalation rock up onto the toes and release the arms up to the sky.

• As you exhale drop into the heels and release the arms to return to rest.

  Let the breath lead the movement; follow the impulse.

• On the next inhale bring one hand to the heart and one to the abdomen.

  On the exhale feel the hand soften into the heart space.

  Take a few breaths here.

• As you give loving kindness to yourself feel the energy of the heart radiating out.

• In your own time let.the head drop towards the chest, softly and slowly rolling down through the spine one vertebrae at a time, to come into a forward bend, Uttanasana (releasing the arms so they hang).

  Be sure to let the knees soften.

  Use the exhalation to support the lower back; dropping the navel towards the spine.

• Take a resting breath in uttanasana (if it’s comfortable).

  Notice how the upper body moves away from the legs on the inhale and rests further down with the exhale.

• To come up use the exhalation to drop into the heels, slowly opening up into Tadasana.
  

• Take a resting breath and repeat sequence..... (Rocking up onto feet/arms up etc).

• Finish and complete with Namaste hands in Tadasana.

The Breathing Bow Retreat - May 2020

At last and hot off the press - The Breathing Bow retreat in May 2020.

Limited places available.….. https://www.facebook.com/flowtowardsfreedom/

Details and booking info on link below

The Breathing Bow

May 24, 5pm - May 28, 10 am, Blauvac, France

Provence Retreat 2020

with

Ruth Phillips and Jane Fenton

A holistic approach for string players of all levels, drawing on breath, mindfulness and gentle yoga techniques to promote ease, efficiency and presence in the practice room and on stage.

Price for three full days' coaching, four nights' luxury accommodation, transport from Avignon TGV station and delicious whole food - €795. Student scholarships and cello travel bursaries may be available on request.

https://thebreathingbow.com

Yogic Principles and String Playing

This is an article written by my very good friend and colleague, Ruth Phillips thebreathingbow.com

Ruth runs “The Breathing Bow” and I regularly join her on retreats.

When we collaborate on these together we are sharing our passion for music and yoga.

This article will give you some insight on how these work so beautifully together.

yogic principles and string playing

This is a preview of a longer article published in the May 2019 issue of The Strad in which Ruth Phillips, in collaboration with her colleague Jane Fenton, have taken the three elements breath, gravity and the wave and chosen three asanas (postures) with which to illustrate them, while revealing how both Pablo Casals and yoga guru Vanda Scaravelli have informed her musical ideas

https://www.thestrad.com/playing/yogic-principles-and-string-playing/8840.article?fbclid=IwAR3L8CdWF7ewR9HzOOcNEr0T-yG82E0ZMrIbHLJMGAh3CJuLmL3P0bLbtMUhttps://www.thestrad.com/playing/yogic-principles-and-string-playing/8840.article?fbclid=IwAR3L8CdWF7ewR9HzOOcNEr0T-yG82E0ZMrIbHLJMGAh3CJuLmL3P0bLbtMU

ESTA SUMMER COURSE 11th - 16th AUGUST 2019 Chichester UK

ESTA SUMMER COURSE 11th - 16th August 2019 Chichester UK

https://estastrings.org.uk/product/esta-uk-summer-school-2019/

This type of Yoga is about grounding and releasing the body through the breath to find freedom. The body has a natural intelligence when we are able to get ourselves out of the way. This can release us from our habitual patterns of tension and stress in both the body and the mind.

I believe all body work enhances our ability to practice and perform effectively and I feel that Yoga has the added beauty and benefit of the “breath” as its main focus and point of reference. There is great power for change in the breath. I practice and teach breath work that organically and automatically leads us to a place of meditation which is a crucial part of self awareness/development.

I propose to work with very gentle postures and sequences that inform the body and give us choice as we wake up our awareness.

These are the core principles;

• Exploring gravity, working with grounding to find the line of gravity in standing and sitting. Optimum position in relationship to gravity and our instruments brings us immense freedom.

• Tensegrity – exploring the relationship between tension and release. Being able to return to the still point. Working with the body not against it!

• Releasing hips and shoulder joints to find space and freedom in movement.

• Working with the breath. Exploring tension and release that exists in everything through gentle breath work that we can use in times of stress (performance anxiety).

• Exploring our breath in relationship to the spine – awaking and releasing the spine.

• Finding our core – we learn to unfold and open from the inside out; this brings freedom and ease to movement.

• Exploring the circle of wholeness – left to right connection. Whole body integration.

• Finding stillness in movement and movement in stillness through breath work/meditation

NAMASTE

Coherent Breathing

Coherent Breathing

Having just returned from teaching yoga on the inspiring ESTA SUMMER COURSE 2019 (European String Teachers Association) I wanted to share the simple and powerful breathing technique we used as a daily practice during the week. It has many amazing benefits and I have attached the website below for further reading and information on these.

Coherent Breathing

We inhale and exhale through the nose without forcing. Beginning with the count of 3 and building to 5 over time - be sure to start with a low count and only lengthen when comfortable.

A never ending circle of breath

Imagine breathing in up through the front of the body and exhaling down the back and into the ground. The in-breath merging into the out-breath, exhale melting into the inhale. Allowing a gentle, slow gear change from one to the other without pausing.

Just like a wave, enjoy the gathering tension of the in-breath that gives way to the release of the exhalation.

To prepare

• Take a full breath in through the nose and then a resting breath out through the mouth

• Inhale though the nose and release the exhale with “the whispered ah” - feeling the breath drop down through the body

The Technique

• Starting with a count of 3

• IN 2 3 OUT 2 3

• Repeat this until you are comfortable

• IN 2 3 4 OUT 2 3 4

• Repeat tis until you are comfortable

• IN 2 3 4 5 OUT 2 3 4 5

• FIVE is the optimal count for receiving all the benefits of this exercise. But be patient and enjoy the process, take your time.

https://www.sheaheart.com/coherent-breathing-the-fundamental-quiescent-rhythm/