Welcome to Artful Movement. These letters come out of my love of practicing and yoga, Pilates and other movement modalities as well as a love of story, art and performance. I try to cobble together my thoughts and experiences on embodiment and creativity as well as juggling mothering and life. I include a twenty minute MOVE practice (usually a video, usually weekly) and some MUSE on a theme. I’ve taken a bit of a break over the English school summer hols but have been collecting ideas and inspiration and today decided to share a handwritten ‘reset recipe’ for a movement practice that I use as I travel and softly land in different places.
//MUSE//
Phew my friends, how has it been? How are you? How is summer (or winter for those in the Southern Hemisphere) treating you? I’ve been travelling around Ireland, Scotland and some of England with my 5 year-old-son which has been magical and challenging at times. And as we travel I’ve been thinking about the different versions of me that exist, how place and landscape can define us and shape us and our lives.
We have been going back to places and people that I haven’t seen for a long time. Different places transport me both backwards and forwards in time. Maybe it is because we are in constant transition when travelling, these in-between places become portals to reflect and project.
Revisiting places conjures up different moments in my life. Going to Ireland I recall my teenage self who had travelled away from South Africa for the first time. Different worlds and possibilities opened up for me, new places opened my mind and showed me different ways of perceiving and being.
Returning to Edinburgh festival took me back to my twenty-something year-old self who felt freer and braver than she’d ever felt before. Edinburgh is where I bought my first felt hat and cashmere jumper from the Rusty Zip vintage store. It’s where I grew in confidence, spoke to strangers, watched many plays and dreamed a life which involved more colour and creativity, and less fear.
Being with my son I got to share the part of me who loves to travel and shape-shift with the land she is in. I could share lots of stories of my adventures. And together we imagined living different lives, for a time trying them on like different skins.
This month I re-learnt that I love overly soft beds, beaches even in the wind, the meadows in Edinburgh, quiet spaaace and that feeling when the plane takes off, driving when theres no other person or building in sight. I learnt I can navigate airports on less sleep than I’d ideally like. And that Kate Bush’s music is timeless and connects old and young alike.
As we travelled I asked myself, Can you allow yourself to soften enough to truly absorb a place? To break out of the familiar and see and be the new. Let a new version of you breathe.
As plans shifted we learnt together that you can’t predict or control the experience. You have to soften the rules and blur the lines. If and when you do surrender to what’s in front of you, an inner reconfiguring takes place. The lessons seep in.
Returning Home:
Travelling doesn’t need to be to a new country, it can be a new area of your city/town/land where you live, going to a different cafe or class than your usual, or even walking a different way to work. We can adventure in different ways. How can we step into the unfamiliar and stretch our edges a bit? By doing so we inspire our imaginations. We imagine new worlds. We learn to adapt.
The places we see shape our minds and bodies and we inhabit different experiences, we broaden our sense of self.
As we navigate new landscapes, memories and emotions are like the sea in and around us. To stay relatively steady and ready I try to do a daily movement practice. Even after a long day of travel, I try to squeeze in a stretch before bed. I always feel better when I do.
//MOVE//
Without much space to record anything this month I improvised: I’ve created a movement ‘recipe’ and playlist for a good stretch out during travels. Let it be a suggestion for you, an outline which you get to move away from and return to.
It’s great to be led in a movement practice but also really good to follow your own impulses. See what comes up for you, what shapes feel good? What happens if you take away any agenda of achieving anything and just move because why not. A little summer holiday experiment for 20 minutes. Give it a go if you dare…
Reset-Recipe:
You can do this anytime of day/night.
Ingredients:
use a pillow or folded towel if you don’t have a mat (this can go under tender knees, bums or heads), a timer if needed (set at 20 minutes) and some music if you like:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6vdsBZO5ypXSHrcR1hXo0K?si=Ec_EmnrlSf-zjBylkaCDHw&pi=e-0CzcuRkYRk-S
start on all-fours (hands and knees), move around spine and then maybe arms and legs
do some lunges (back knee up or down), some hamstring stretches/runner’s lunge and a downward-facing dog
take a standing wide-legged forward fold (add variations if you like eg twists)
lie on your back and take a spine twist, eye of the needle, a few basic gentle crunches and a few bridge poses rolling up and down the spine.
See how you feel after this. If you need a rest, lie down for a few minutes (or a song), if you need to have a dance/shake - pop on your favourite song or the Florence and the Machine tune at the end of the playlist above and shake it out.
Go with where you can breathe and feel the ground. Resetting is happening. You don’t need to push or strain. Just be with the body. Focus on how it feels rather than how it looks.
Get in touch with any questions. I look forward to getting back into the swing of weekly(-ish) letters and recordings next month. Open to requests and suggestions.
Love
B x
I’m always grateful for a share, feedback or subscribe - thank you for all your support, it’s very much appreciated.
IN MY BACKPACK: I’ve been reading Thin Places by Kerri ni Dochartaigh while I travel, which has also influenced some of my thinking on place and person. It explores the mystical and/or political boundaries we have in our world and the impact of separation on us, and how land can heal and hold some of the wounds of segregation. It’s soul-stirring and beautifully written.
Love your movement ‘recipe’ and it is very similar to my ‘go-to’ unguided mat time. So delicious to have that freedom, recently I’ve been adding in some half push ups and squats too as a way to feel a little more resistance against the earth and build a little extra heat and strength. Thank you for sharing your travel experiences and I hope that you are easing gently out of summer time and into this seasonal change. Xxx