(no subject)
At the beginning of Inner Wave library video I downloaded, Gabrielle Roth says "The whole object of meditation is to still the mind, and the fastest way to do that is to move the body."
What's being done here appears to be improvisational movement, with music that sounds sort of vaguely native american with lots of cool new agey aspects to it. The video contains what Roth calls "a spiritual practice based on five rhythms," which are named flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. What it looks like, when Roth and other people move in the video, is different from what the words may imply for you. For example, she describes flowing as being focused on the inhale, and staccato as focused on the exhale, and what the dancers do with chaos looks sort of smoothly staccato, and the lyrical is flowing-looking, etc. Everything she verbalizes seems like an interesting new take on what the names of the five rhythms are. And stillness and movement even are described differently than one may expect. Anyway there's nothing here that has to be, or even should be hard, and you'd probably have to watch it first and then try it without trying to follow along visually, at least that's what worked for me.
At first I thought I'd want to watch the dancers more to get ideas about what to do, but then when i just let myself listen along and go with it, I had much more variety of movements than I thought I would, and felt both relaxed and energized afterwards. Maybe a touch more flexy and comfy too, although I probably just tried it today because I was alretty feeling great and thought it'd be the perfect time to do something new. By which I mean old. Suprising how when I came closer to the screen to see what the dancers were doing in each section it seemed similar to my own movements that i spontaeously did. I had to take off my glasses to do it, or it seemed like i should, and the only part of my apartment where there's room to do this is far enough from the screen that I had no choice but to do it auditorily. Also you don't have to have a big space to do this but i wanted to take up some space with it. Mostly my eyes were closed, but I imagine in a group setting you'd want everyone to have their eyes relaxed and not terribly focused, but just open enough to avoid running into each other. And you would run into someone eventually because it's by definition quite a mix of being in one place and moving around, both unpredictable as to timing and trajectory. This is perfect for people who have limitations, or folks like me who are just out of practice at doing anything other than walking and weight lifting, as the dancers in the video who doubtless can do amazing things involving their knees, backs, and high impact activities, are doing the same things betty ended up doing while listening. Which I believe just about anyone can do. And anyone who can't, could adapt this program to ANY level of movement, moving what limbs or other body parts they can, or just breathing and thinking about what Gabrielle Roth says here. I really like this, and I hope Betty remembers to have me do it again lots.
I am most attracted to moving meditation where you don't have to be alretty a martial artist, acrobat, etc, and where you don't have to learn endless rules and special skills before you get to enjoy it, and this fills that bill perfectly. Fun, easy, good and good for ya. This video will give you some good ideas that won't seem too tedious or difficult to imitate. On the other hand, as long as you're careful not to hurt yourself, you could try improvisational movement anytime with any kind of music or conceptualization and I'm sure you'll still benefit from it.
Now, in a slightly different form, here's a very basic intro to spiritual aspects of our March theme.
There are lots of YouTube clips in this vein. I chose this one because
it's somewhat thought-provoking even for those of us who are not at all new to the topic(s).
Yeah, um this should go without saying, but as always, if this month's M/V theme doesn't appeal or seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth, even the brief stuff, then it's possible you should not bother with it. This is going to sound similar to something I said earlier this month on this subject, but it's in a different direction. The former was about the chronic cynics who might read, and this is towards the couple of people who have expressed interest in these topics recently. For Kimb and Joey, for example, I would want them to try a smattering of stuff to find something that is helpful and fun for them, but I trust they will not make a chore out of any of this stuff. A practice, if that occurs, is fine, but certainly it can be palliative. I'm not against anyone making a routine habit of any healthy practice. But it doesn't have to be daily. or weekly or yearly or ever. It can be sporadic or constant. Or just random. (Random is meant here in the literal sense - not the way the kids use it now, where it seems to ironically mean almost anything BUT random, except for when just by coincidence they actually mean "random" to refer to randomness!)
M/V experiences should be a relief from gank not the cause of more gank. As with every other genre, there are varying lengths and styles of material online and elsewhere to try. So if you just haven't seen or heard anything of interest, or something's really bothering you about it, it could be you need to seek it out further to find an aspect of it that is individually best for you, or it could be that you should not even give it a second thought. I think. That's just my take on it. Boredom enrages/drains me at least as much as it does anyone else, so I definitely recommend that if boredom or frustration or "i don't have time for this" is what you feel when you watch a visual piece or listen to a meditative piece, keep looking, or revisit that type of material at another time in your life when it might be more appropriate. Life has enough gank in it without trying to force yourself to do something because it's supposed to be evolved or something. Plenty of unevolved and downright worthless folks meditate and do yoga and stuff like that all the time. And lots of very spiritual very worthwhile people just don't want or need to. Always great to be open-minded, but you know you would do well to follow your impulses in this area, even if that means setting it aside for now.
What's being done here appears to be improvisational movement, with music that sounds sort of vaguely native american with lots of cool new agey aspects to it. The video contains what Roth calls "a spiritual practice based on five rhythms," which are named flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. What it looks like, when Roth and other people move in the video, is different from what the words may imply for you. For example, she describes flowing as being focused on the inhale, and staccato as focused on the exhale, and what the dancers do with chaos looks sort of smoothly staccato, and the lyrical is flowing-looking, etc. Everything she verbalizes seems like an interesting new take on what the names of the five rhythms are. And stillness and movement even are described differently than one may expect. Anyway there's nothing here that has to be, or even should be hard, and you'd probably have to watch it first and then try it without trying to follow along visually, at least that's what worked for me.
At first I thought I'd want to watch the dancers more to get ideas about what to do, but then when i just let myself listen along and go with it, I had much more variety of movements than I thought I would, and felt both relaxed and energized afterwards. Maybe a touch more flexy and comfy too, although I probably just tried it today because I was alretty feeling great and thought it'd be the perfect time to do something new. By which I mean old. Suprising how when I came closer to the screen to see what the dancers were doing in each section it seemed similar to my own movements that i spontaeously did. I had to take off my glasses to do it, or it seemed like i should, and the only part of my apartment where there's room to do this is far enough from the screen that I had no choice but to do it auditorily. Also you don't have to have a big space to do this but i wanted to take up some space with it. Mostly my eyes were closed, but I imagine in a group setting you'd want everyone to have their eyes relaxed and not terribly focused, but just open enough to avoid running into each other. And you would run into someone eventually because it's by definition quite a mix of being in one place and moving around, both unpredictable as to timing and trajectory. This is perfect for people who have limitations, or folks like me who are just out of practice at doing anything other than walking and weight lifting, as the dancers in the video who doubtless can do amazing things involving their knees, backs, and high impact activities, are doing the same things betty ended up doing while listening. Which I believe just about anyone can do. And anyone who can't, could adapt this program to ANY level of movement, moving what limbs or other body parts they can, or just breathing and thinking about what Gabrielle Roth says here. I really like this, and I hope Betty remembers to have me do it again lots.
I am most attracted to moving meditation where you don't have to be alretty a martial artist, acrobat, etc, and where you don't have to learn endless rules and special skills before you get to enjoy it, and this fills that bill perfectly. Fun, easy, good and good for ya. This video will give you some good ideas that won't seem too tedious or difficult to imitate. On the other hand, as long as you're careful not to hurt yourself, you could try improvisational movement anytime with any kind of music or conceptualization and I'm sure you'll still benefit from it.
Now, in a slightly different form, here's a very basic intro to spiritual aspects of our March theme.
Click to viewThere are lots of YouTube clips in this vein. I chose this one because
it's somewhat thought-provoking even for those of us who are not at all new to the topic(s).
Yeah, um this should go without saying, but as always, if this month's M/V theme doesn't appeal or seems like it would be more trouble than it's worth, even the brief stuff, then it's possible you should not bother with it. This is going to sound similar to something I said earlier this month on this subject, but it's in a different direction. The former was about the chronic cynics who might read, and this is towards the couple of people who have expressed interest in these topics recently. For Kimb and Joey, for example, I would want them to try a smattering of stuff to find something that is helpful and fun for them, but I trust they will not make a chore out of any of this stuff. A practice, if that occurs, is fine, but certainly it can be palliative. I'm not against anyone making a routine habit of any healthy practice. But it doesn't have to be daily. or weekly or yearly or ever. It can be sporadic or constant. Or just random. (Random is meant here in the literal sense - not the way the kids use it now, where it seems to ironically mean almost anything BUT random, except for when just by coincidence they actually mean "random" to refer to randomness!)
M/V experiences should be a relief from gank not the cause of more gank. As with every other genre, there are varying lengths and styles of material online and elsewhere to try. So if you just haven't seen or heard anything of interest, or something's really bothering you about it, it could be you need to seek it out further to find an aspect of it that is individually best for you, or it could be that you should not even give it a second thought. I think. That's just my take on it. Boredom enrages/drains me at least as much as it does anyone else, so I definitely recommend that if boredom or frustration or "i don't have time for this" is what you feel when you watch a visual piece or listen to a meditative piece, keep looking, or revisit that type of material at another time in your life when it might be more appropriate. Life has enough gank in it without trying to force yourself to do something because it's supposed to be evolved or something. Plenty of unevolved and downright worthless folks meditate and do yoga and stuff like that all the time. And lots of very spiritual very worthwhile people just don't want or need to. Always great to be open-minded, but you know you would do well to follow your impulses in this area, even if that means setting it aside for now.