NICOLA CAROLI | BLOG

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.
In 2020 the breath tokens are about connecting breath and sound.

Sounding „A“

Let‘s begin with sensing where we have contact: on the chair, or on the floor, for example. We sense the weight of our body, letting it sink towards the ground. Let‘s stroke along the body walls to fully arrive in our body and its boundaries. We can accompany the stroking with gentle humming, moving the mouth.

Let’s now explore imagining, shaping, speaking and sounding an “A”. Repeat the exploration three times or as often as you like.

Tip: When we rest after the exploration, I find it helpful to always lay the hands in the same position, for example, both hands on the belly, or one hand on the belly and one hand on the back to notice the changes in the breath movement.

If there is little or no sensation, that‘s perfectly alright. We can focus on our hands resting on the torso or whatever it is that we’re experiencing.

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Revisiting

Now that we‘re coming to the end of the year, rather than add a new exploration, let‘s revisit a breath exercise that resonated with us, that felt good, brought joy or comfort.
“Slo-Mo ball in the back” from July, “The body as vessel” from May and “Rolling the back of the head” from March are favourites of mine, for example.
Let‘s repeat an exploration and sense how something has the same or a different effect, how we’ve changed within the repetition. What’s changed and what’s stayed the same? Let’s meet it with acceptance, let’s meet ourselves with acceptance, receiving ourselves as we are.

I wish you all a good transition into the new year. Let’s stay in touch. Let’s be breathed.

A breath token is a breathing exploration that I develop for friends & clients and send out as a gift.

Forward Bends
As breath teacher Carola Speads says, “any forward bend, no matter how small, will widen the chest and stimulate breathing.”
We can bend forwards in child’s pose, sit cross-legged and prop ourselves up on our elbows on the floor, holding the head in our hands or lie on top of gymnastic ball, for example. Let’s choose a reasonably comfortable position, so that we can stay in it for a while and notice what changes. The whole torso potentially relaxes, stretches and widens and can thus accommodate a wider range of breath movements.
When we want a break, let’s come up slowly, head last, and sense the quality of the first breath in the upright position. If we like, we can repeat this several times, deepening the relaxation and breathing.

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