learning to breathe
2/17
breathing has always been an issue for me: basically, for a lot of my life, i didn't. well, obviously, i did, but not a lot and not under stress. every doctor i have ever been to has had to tell me to breathe, it was as if by not breathing, i could occupy a sort of suspended state where nothing could get to me.
obviously this is not a very receptive and present place to inhabit and over the years i have tried many things (some of which i went into quite deeply) to bring awareness to my breathe. yoga seems to be working for me. though i don't practice a form that is specifically geared towards meditation and breathe, i tend to work with teachers who focus on these aspects. in my last 2 classes i really began to "get it". it was as if some weight had been lifted and i could actually (purposefully) use my lungs; the difference in my energy was amazing.
in the studio (and in the rest of my life) this awareness strengthens my ability to ground myself and to be "in the moment". it's funny, because in class today, my teacher told a story of a composer who was asked why he wrote music, to which he answered that it took him out of the present into the very next moment. of course that is the antithesis of what we were focusing on and what i personally try to accomplish through my work.
when i am in the studio, it is not "me", where i am at, or what my mood is, that i am concerned with. it is more about how i can use myself, almost like an antenna, to channel the world, the collective and some aspect of truth. having the ability to be utterly and completely present seems a good place to begin.
breathing has always been an issue for me: basically, for a lot of my life, i didn't. well, obviously, i did, but not a lot and not under stress. every doctor i have ever been to has had to tell me to breathe, it was as if by not breathing, i could occupy a sort of suspended state where nothing could get to me.
obviously this is not a very receptive and present place to inhabit and over the years i have tried many things (some of which i went into quite deeply) to bring awareness to my breathe. yoga seems to be working for me. though i don't practice a form that is specifically geared towards meditation and breathe, i tend to work with teachers who focus on these aspects. in my last 2 classes i really began to "get it". it was as if some weight had been lifted and i could actually (purposefully) use my lungs; the difference in my energy was amazing.
in the studio (and in the rest of my life) this awareness strengthens my ability to ground myself and to be "in the moment". it's funny, because in class today, my teacher told a story of a composer who was asked why he wrote music, to which he answered that it took him out of the present into the very next moment. of course that is the antithesis of what we were focusing on and what i personally try to accomplish through my work.
when i am in the studio, it is not "me", where i am at, or what my mood is, that i am concerned with. it is more about how i can use myself, almost like an antenna, to channel the world, the collective and some aspect of truth. having the ability to be utterly and completely present seems a good place to begin.
