Breathe......

Be Still 52 Week Two

This week Kim wrote about mindfulness, meditation and focusing on breathing ...... things I'm used to as a yoga-lover :-) We often practice a form of pratyahara which is a kind of sensory deprivation.....thereby helping us to focus on our inner sounds and breathing.
Try it by covering your eyes with your flattened fingers, at the same time covering your ears with your thumbs to cut out all sights and sounds. As you breathe deeply, the sound becomes very relaxing.

Ujjayi breathing is also useful for concentrating on the breath; it takes a bit of mastering, but it makes a lovely sound. In fact it's sometimes called 'ocean breath'. Here's how to do it.....
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5823/8-Reasons-Why-We-Use-Ujjayi-Breath-in-Yoga.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujjayi_breath

When I was teaching I often used to end the day with a form of meditation with the children. I'd put a drop of lavender oil on the back of their hands and ask them to gently stroke it into their skin whilst breathing in the smell. They loved it. And parents often thanked me for the calm and peaceful way their children left school.....bonus!!  ;-)
I daresay it would be 'banned' nowadays for all sorts of stupid reasons. I always asked parents' permission at the start of the year and no-one ever objected.....but times have changed and sadly, a lot of the fun has been taken out of school-life.

For my photo I chose lavender and rosemary....two of my favourite plants from the garden with lovely scents to breathe in.
I used Kim's textures 'magicscratches' and phoebe'. I may make this into a card and see how it looks.....

And finally.....what's on my desk?  

Planning new collages

Photo taken using Hipstamatic app on iPad.

(Lens 'John S' and film 'Dream Canvas')