“Listen to my breathing”

13. September 2018
Breath in Literature & Art
by Nicola Caroli

In one of my favorite TV Shows The Good Wife, there is a “breathing scene”. The main character, lawyer Alicia Florrick, is in her office with her investigator/lover Jason Crouse. Alicia, as usual, has had a tough day and wants a drink. Jason suggests that she focus on her breathing as an alternative. Here is their dialogue:

“Alicia: Do you think I drink too much?
Jason: I don‘t know. Do you?
Alicia: I was going to break this bottle if I couldn‘t get the cork out. That might be a problem.
Jason: Then, here. (He takes the bottle and glass out of her hand.)
Alicia: Wait, no.
Jason: No, seriously, you don‘t need it. Let‘s just talk. Read More

“Clean air starts at home”

15. August 2018
Breathing Science
by Nicola Caroli

This is an animation by the Hay Festivals project Trans.MISSION which deals with the subject of air pollution created by chemical scents in homes and on persons.
“A surprising amount of air pollution is emitted by the home. In Clean Air, Aardman Animation Studios director Dan Binns teams up with atmospheric chemist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) and the University of York professor Ally Lewis to explore the impacts of air pollution beyond cars and exhaust pipes.”

 

“Are you breathing out a cloud?”

15. August 2018
Breathing Science
by Nicola Caroli

In his blog Life‘s chemistry press, Reese Aptor writes about how air as a substance, water vapour, clouds and breathing are related to each other. (I touched on water vapour and how it‘s visibly present in an exhale in my blog post Ghost, 2017.) Reese explains the chemistry behind these phenomena in an accessible yet thorough way and gives answers to interesting questions like „What do breath and clouds have in common?“ and „Are you breathing out a cloud?“ Read More

“Earth Salutations”

10. August 2018
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

I’d like to share the latest video by Yoga teacher Laila Sell in which she focusses on connecting to the earth. Laila really understands and implements natural breathing and somatic movement in her teaching. I went on a Yoga retreat with her myself a couple of years ago and would like to highly recommend it. Thank you Laila for being such a wonderful teacher.

Breath Token July 2018

15. July 2018
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

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

Stability

One of the wonderful aspects of natural breath work is the sense of stability it can bring. There are many ways in which touch and movement create a sense of stability but the breath by itself can also create that.

While sitting, standing or lying down, let‘s place our hands on the torso. We can sense our hands resting on the body walls and the breath movement beneath them. The shape of the torso is continually changing and yet it stays the same. Read More

Breathing and the brain

14. July 2018
Breathing Science
by Nicola Caroli

In her article „Breathing and the brain: How brain scanning could help treat chronic respiratory issues“, Chantal Da Silva discusses how connections of breathing experiences made in the brain affect our perception of breathing. For example, a memory of having difficulty breathing during an argument with a friend can trigger the correlating symptoms of panic, confusion, shortness of breath, tightness in the chest and/or throat, mouth breathing etc. This is because the brain made links between what caused the difficulty of breathing with the symptom itself. Read More

Breath Token June 2018

15. June 2018
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

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

Moving the spine

One way of getting out of the head and into the body, which also gets us in touch with our breathing, is by only moving the spine. We can imagine the body being one entity like a snake’s body. The limbs and the head are completely passive and relaxed. While moving the spine, almost imperceptibly or more vigorously, we let the breath flow freely in and out through the nose.  Read More

“each line one breath”

15. June 2018
Breath in Literature & Art
by Nicola Caroli

In „each line one breath“, visual artist John Franzen uses his body and his breathing to draw lines. Each line is drawn on an exhale. The act of drawing, mechanical and organic at the same time, mimics the act of breathing. Just as each breath is subject to a multitude of psychophysical factors, so is each drawn line. “The fascination in this work is how the breath directly influences the materialization of the line, and thereby the whole image.”
Here is a video of a live drawing where John Franzen talks about “each line one breath”: Read More