Ocean Gravity

Embracing the Rain

“Make sure to have a moment of self-reflection in an undisturbed puddle” 

Words by Taylor Stark Photographs by Marcus Møller Bitsch for Kinfolk Magazine

When it rains, it pours. And during these extreme weather days, that means a lot! Here are some ideas for rainy-day activities indoors and out.  
As the long summer shifts into fall, we welcome not only the turning leaves, but also a change in weather. With perpetual sunshine behind us (well, for some of us), we must embrace the crisp air and the coming rain with full force. The right attitude and rainy-day adventures can be the best way to welcome this new season. We have a few suggestions on how to make the most of your next storm....

Take a Stroll
We’ve been fooled in thinking that rainy days mean we must lock ourselves in our houses until the sun comes out. There’s something wonderful about taking a stroll through the park or any natural space in the rain. The key here is to be prepared. First, have an umbrella on hand at home. Secondly, expect to get wet. Oftentimes we dread walking through the rain because we are on our way to work or to meet a friend and we want to look presentable. Instead, the goal isn’t dryness, but rather to experience the beauty of nature through the lens of precipitation. Don’t forget to stick your tongue out to catch some raindrops before heading back indoors.

 Puddle Jump
There aren’t many aspects of potholes to be praised. But when it rains, these traffic maladies turn into glorious pools of amusement. After a steady downpour, slip on pair of Wellies and take to the streets. Jump from puddle to puddle trying to make the biggest splash. Don’t be afraid to bring a partner in crime along to try some cool tricks or to sing songs as you hop around. Before you head back inside, make sure to have a moment of self-reflection in an undisturbed puddle.

 Feed Your Creative Spirit
Gray skies and rainy days bring along an insightful mood. Take the time to feed your contemplation and creativity, no matter what form it might take. For those seeking rest, cuddle up with a book by the fire. For those seeking to make and express, paint, write a letter, journal or simply draw stick figures on foggy windowpanes.

Take a Breath
Right after the downpour has ceased and you have made the most of your rainy day, indoors or out, step outside your front door and take a deep breath. Few things compare to the smell that follows a good rain.

(read the rest here)

small black ashes

it is the exhalation that has to learn to be free
and to carry out of the body
all the unnecessary deposits
then the inhalation is just beauty, novelty
it comes, you don't have to think about it
but in the beginning
the exhalation has to be encouraged
to tke away all these small black ashes
that otherwise stay inside

-- Sandra Sabatini (Breath: The essence of yoga)

Exercises in breathing

I.
knowing the rules is not enough. when it snows,
it doesn’t always mean it. when it snows, sometimes
it snows for the museums and sometimes it snows
for the papers and sometimes it snows for only
her majesty, the sea.

II.
following the rules is not enough. when he breathes—
remember this one please—when he breathes he breathes
for himself. when he breathes he doesn’t breathe for her or
for you or for his son or for his future sons, when he breathes,
he breathes for how it feels to be standing
in the public gardens knee-deep in snow, smoking
a cigarette and watching the statues still and cold
and unbreathing and having it mean something.

III.
breaking the rules is not enough. the sea is his mother.
the sea gives back in fish. the sea tells you: this
is what your voice sounds like. the sea reminds you to breathe.
the sea, the sea. she knows the rules are never enough.

-Kimberly Southwick

Practice

Your Yoga practice, if preformed intelligently, is a self exploration. You can learn about the way in which you inhabit your body. You can learn about muscular habits and patterns that you have laid down in your life and you can start to find out what these patterns mean for your body. You can also start to re-write the script and change the patterns that are not helpful.

YOUR BODY REPRESENTS THE LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED THUS FAR, YOUR HISTORY.

image from here

After each exhalation there is a yawning release that happens in the body, right through to the palms of the hands and down to the soles of the feet. You just have to let it happen.

It's not about doing, but letting these tiny little messages travel as far as the hands and as far as the feet allowing you to feel fully in contact with the ground.


(Source: Daniel Minnick)

Under a magnifying glass

observe the breath
as if it were under a magnifying glass
be interested-
as if it were something foreign, unknown
be curious
as to what happens
everytime you breath in
and breath out
so that you can see every step

just watch
this rhythmical dance between
the external world
and the inner world
this exchange that takes place all the time

-- Sandra Sabatini
(From Breath, the essence of yoga)

Become the rhythm of your breath.

Folk Dance (1928) | Cyril Edward Power linocut from iswasandwillbe

Margaret Morris Movement

Archive images from the International Institute of the
The Margaret Morris Movement

 
"Dance is for everyone who loves to express themselves through
creative movement.
MMM gives an understanding of how correct breathing can increase stamina and range of movement, how working on posture can improve health and vitality, how using the body’s natural opposition can strengthen muscles, all this as well as balance, agility and co-ordination leading to being able to free the body to dance and the mind to be creative.
MMM gives the technique to improve skills and the encouragement to be creative."

Sounds familiar ; )

it helps

Have you noticed the way your breath moves differently around your body as you move?

Lift up your arms and breathe.  See how different it feels compared to having your arms by your side. I love the transition in breath that comes with an arm lift...It helps my extension....

Image from Le Sacre Du Printemps - Pina Bausch

Breathing Methods

"ALL LIFE EXISTS ONLY FROM BREATH TO BREATH."

The latest addition to my yoga book library, I love the pictures!

Found at Chiswick Car Boot Sale, which I highly recommend if you have magpie and/or bargin hunter leanings. I always come back with a bag load of treasure i didn't realise i needed...

My Nose

The air retreats each moment.
I feel it laugh
and march away from
the space around my nose.
All I am stops here.
My nose is my farthest outpost.
Here wilderness space begins.

I surround the only heart
I will ever encompass.
Heart of the table
Heart of the air
Heart of my wife
elude me.

In my mind
a disorderly army
finds it hard to breathe.
So I have raised
a white flag.
Naturally, it is fluttering
from my nose.
—Stephen Frank, “My Nose.”
Photography Credit (me!) by Mari Valen 

Aquarium Man

13th June 1934
“Record duration stay underwater. Man in bathing suit holds his breath, lying on his side with a chain around his waist, in a water tank (enhanced aquarium) with glass panel”

I'm thinking Aquarium Man was a yogi. Pranayama was his thing.

Radical Empathy

You can mark your progress breath by breath. 

Literally. And it's there that I recommend you begin. Every time you think I hate that fucking bitch, I want you to neutralize that thought with a breath. Calm your mind. Breathe in deeply with intention, then breathe out. Do not think I hate that fucking bitch while you do it. Give yourself that. Blow that bitch right out of your chest. Then move onto something else. 

I have breathed my way through so many people I felt wronged by; through so many situations I couldn't change. Sometimes while doing this I've breathed in acceptance and breathed out love. Sometimes I've breathed in gratitude and out forgiveness. Sometimes I haven't been able to muster anything beyond the breath itself, my mind forced blank with nothing but the desire to be free of sorrow and rage. 

It works. And the reason it works is the salve is being applied directly to the wound. It's not a coincidence that you describe your pain as being lodged in your chest. when you breathe with calm intention you're zapping the white rage monster precisely where it lives. You're cutting off its feeding tube and forcing a new thought into your head - one that nurtures rather then tortures you. It's essentially mental self-disipline. I'm not suggesting one deny negative emotions, but rather you accept them and move through them by embracing the power we have to keep from wallowing in emotions that don't serve us well.

It's hard work. It's important work. I believe something like forgiveness is on the other side. You will get there, dear woman. Just try.

Your, 

Sugar

Extract from Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

Found here

The rib cage, breath and extending...

The rib cage is the major limiting factor in all movements of the thoracic spine, and it is a usefull exercise to see how they influence the spine as we breathe.

When we breathe in, the ribs elevate. The lower ribs tend to widen and the upper ribs and sternum lift forwards and upwards. you will feel wider in the lower trunk and deeper from the front to back in the upper trunk.

See if you can feel what happens in the spine in relation to the ribcage as you inhale.

The ribs do indeed lift and push the sternum forwards, but can you also feel the thoracic spine is at the same time pushed backwards? Every inhalation is accompanied by a gentle forward bending of the thoracic spine.

On every exhalation the opposite happens. Try and feel it!

As you breathe out the rib cage moves back in towards the center line of the body and the spine moves into extension.

There is no exception to this action so it makes total sense to move into extension (or back bend) postures as we exhale, if our intention is to access the thoracic spine. Which lets face it, it usually is!

Anything else will be going against the intelligence of the body.

Sequence: Tiredness/Recuperation from Illness

The following sequence is from The Breathing Book by Donna Farhi.
I've been practicing it, with amendments, this week to get my body back on track after illness and it certainly works for me...i highly recommend the book too.

Focus on improving the quality of how you feel, rather than on how many repetitions you do or how long you stay in the different movements.

Practice Sequence (30-40 minutes)

1. Pelvic and hip openers.
    Constructive Rest Pose
    Pavanamuktasana
    Supta Padangustasana 1, 2, 3
2. Jathara Parivartanasana
3. Supta Baddha Konasana
4. Setu Bandha (supported)
5. Viparita Karani
6. Savasana

Yawn

Watch and see if it makes you YAWN.
Found via swissmiss

Found here

Keep breathing!

: ) from here