Tag: breath

Anatomy & Breath Clinic

25. May 2017
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

In New York, there is a unique place called „The Breathing Project“. The Breathing Project is committed to body, movement and breath experience and education, led by experts in the field, Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews. But it gets even better: they offer a free „Anatomy & Breath Clinic“. This is a session where renowned yoga teacher Leslie Kaminoff teaches „a non-standardized, adaptable, breath-centered approach to yoga“. How wonderful is that? So, if you‘re in New York….free Anatomy & Breath Clinic on Wednesdays, 4:15pm – 6:00pm.

Breath Token May 2017

13. May 2017
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

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

Centering with „S“
Exhaling with an „S“ sound has a strong centering effect. In any stretching motion like lifting the toes, bending to one side with the torso or extending the arms, for example, one can accompany the return back to centre with an exhaled „S“ sound to enhance both the outward motion as well as the return. Alternatively I can stay in the stretch for 3 breaths, exhaling with an „S“ sound and then release back to centre. Read More

The body without unity

27. April 2017
Breath Diary
by Nicola Caroli

I recently discovered the catalogue accompanying the artist Michael Müller’s solo exhibition at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, called “WER SPRICHT? WHO’S SPEAKING?”. I was startled by his lucid and visceral speech and couldn‘t stop contemplating it. Here‘s an excerpt:

„We are confronted with a map of the present and it frightens us into being, a cartography too real, because within its coordinates a photographic likeness of all our mistakes has been implanted Read More

Doing breathing exercises is not enough

27. April 2017
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

In his Audio CD „Natural Breathing“, Dennis Lewis talks about his personal discovery of natural breathwork. He gives a succinct, measured and accessible explanations about how breathing works and includes introductory breath explorations. I’ve been listening to his CD for a couple of years now and never get tired of his measured and thoughtful language and tone of voice. He makes several statements about doing breathing exercises that are key and I‘d like to share one of them with you:

„To reclaim the natural, authentic breathing that is our birthright, simply doing breathing exercises is not enough. Let me repeat that: doing breathing exercises, however wonderful they are, is not enough. We also need to begin a process of re-education of our perception. Read More

Breath Token April 2017

14. April 2017
Breathwork
by Nicola Caroli

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

Sliding Knees
I like to do this when I’m sitting on the train, or when I’ve been sitting for a while to bring aliveness to the position and to the breath.
Sitting, sensing my sitting bones meeting the surface I‘m sitting on, I slide one knee forward and release it back. Then I switch to the other side.  Allowing time for the breath to flow with the movement, the inhale can come on the gentle sliding motion and the exhale on the release of the sliding motion, or vice versa. Read More

The invisibility of breathlessness

1. April 2017
Breathing Science
by Nicola Caroli

In her podcast “The invisibility of breathlessness: physiology, perceptions and politics”, Prof Jane Macnaughton, who is part of the team of the unique and innovative Life of Breath project, discusses why breathlessness is an invisible symptom and why the people who experience it can be invisible in society. Read More

Put out your foot to the extent of your carpet

17. March 2017
Breath Diary
by Nicola Caroli


Credit: Kirill Abdrakhmanov

In January I visited the international conference „Outcast Voices – reflections on the marginalized, the exiled and the secondary in classical and modern Arabic culture“ at Haifa University. In one of the lectures, Prof. Alexander Key quoted the Persian and Arabic wisdom „Put out your foot to the extent of your carpet“ or „Stretch out your legs to the extent of your robe“, in its different versions across time. Read More

Breath Myth

11. February 2017
Breath in Literature & Art
by Nicola Caroli

This weekend I visited Amy Feldman‘s exhibition „Breath Myth“ at Blain Southern Gallery in Berlin.

Enter – an industrial, rectangular space – large grey-toned canvasses with primal doodles on them. The aesthetic is visceral and abstract, solid and hollow, dirty and clean at the same time. The doodles remind one of intestines but all the formations are complete, and thus unlike intestinal or airway passages. The playful, yet serious character of the images is mirrored in their titles: blatantly as in „Jolly Gloom“, jarringly as in „Chronic Comic“ or subtly as in „Ghost Host“ or, indeed, the title of the exhibition „Breath Myth“. Read More