Perfect Poise, Perfect Life
Bring your body into balance and revolutionise your life
By Noel Kingsley
Publisher Hodder Mobius
AVAILABLE HERE

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Pause for breath

Woodland, Fingest, Buckinghamshire

The last few weeks have been frenetic. Naturally I have maintained a free neck, good poise and been breathing well while freneticism(?) has characterised recent days; how does one manage to take time to think of poise, to inhibit and free one's neck while being so busy? By staying in the moment; by dealing with what needs to be done but not losing sight of attending to my own poise and 'use' to ensure that I don't undermine my health. It takes such a fraction of a second to inhibit long enough to free one's neck which is the most helpful and important thing to maintain healthy poise. And with a free neck, we can carry on being frenetically busy.

In the wake of having bought a house in Dorset a few months ago; a house that had been previously owned by the Bishop of Bath and Wells but whose widow had lived there for a further twenty years without doing much modernisation, it is now badly in need of refurbishment and bringing up to modern-day standards....in all ways. We currently have a wonderful team of builders working there full-time and it is our hope that we will move in next spring. In the meantime our attention is constantly drawn to the project; so many considerations, decisions and choices to be made; meetings with builders, architects, plumbers, electricians......we could do with being 'on the case' constantly. However I also have my busy Alexander Technique practice in central London so life is not dull!

It was with relief that we managed to escape our usual trip to Dorset last weekend, to leave behind my Alexander work for a while and escape to the lovely Chilterns in Oxfordshire that are just outside London. So close to the city but so far away in atmosphere and peace that it's a joy to go walking for a day through woodlands, narrow lanes and footpaths over hills; to visit the occasional small parish church whose haven of tranquility revives and freshens the spirits.

We often park at Fingest, a small village in the Chiltern Hills; we walk from there for a few hours to return for our picnic in the peace of the church grounds. Behind Fingest is a wood that caps a hill and the steep climb upwards usually makes us stop for a minute among the trees to catch one's breath. Sunlight poured through from an oblique angle; the early morning fog had been clearing for a while but still there was the haze that catches light beams and shows them up as searchlights against the dark woodland beyond. I snapped this picture as a memento. It's not of the quality that I would do if I used my 'serious' photographic equipment and print it up in the darkroom, but it captures some of the atmosphere. There is no sound; just the rustle of wind blown leaves and a few birds. We stopped in silence.

Getting out into the country is such a relief and joy. The experience always lifts my spirits and renews my energy levels for all that is going on in life. I return refreshed, invigorated and ready for another week of many Alexander Technique lessons as well as many phone calls to our builders and all that needs to be done.

Please accept my apologies for not writing more often recently. It is my intention to amend my ways....to restore the frequency of blogging.

Do you get out into the country often enough? It's so refreshing! I look forward to our new house being completed and having more time to stop. Time to stop. Stopping is such a great thing to do. To 'not do' for a moment or two. To take stock, free one's neck. It takes no time at all; at least none that we'd notice having lost. And indeed we will have gained much more in terms of calmness, focus, ability to concentrate, poise and stature. Stopping's good.

[Thanks Karen]

Posted by Noël on October 15, 2008 8:14 AM | Permalink