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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Snow falls in London
This morning in London we have had our first little blanketing of snow, enough to cover the ground to a modest depth of an inch or two, in all but the city centre where the escaping warmth of buildings and passing traffic has already turned it to a thin slush. This is a rare experience in a city where we have not seen snow for a few years.
And with this wonderful whiteness that reminds us that winter is definitely here despite pretensions to spring, there is an unfamiliar peacefulness in the air. This morning I was struck by the muted silence in surroundings that normally echo with bustling London noise. It is refreshing....indeed if we 'listen' to the silence and ponder a moment it can reach deep down inside to stir a thousand feelings. Silence is naturally the absence of noise, but when one is so accustomed to a constant drone of background city sounds, of people, traffic and life in general, then the awesome muted silence of a snow covered ground can shout at you so loud that one can but notice and listen.
With this sudden change in environment and this all-too-rare experience, the unfamiliar quietness broken only by crunching feet brings a multitude of thoughts and memories to flood our mind, from childhood sledging, to simply wondering about the birds and how quiet they are today, we can even hear our heart beating. There is a revised sense of self, an altered awareness of ourselves in our landscape. We are aware of our breath showing white in the air, our precarious balance as we gingerly step out on slippery surfaces, the freshness of crisp air on our face. We can experience a heightened sensory awareness beyond our norm. We have not changed, but our environment has and so too our relationship with it. What was rough ground and reassuringly firm is now uncertain and slippery, providing less stability for our bipedal stature. We are more precarious and our senses are alerted. There is a different sense of being alive, a greater connection with nature and an feeling of vulnerability in an altered landscape. There is a little bubble of excitement as we crunch our way forth, intrigued and captivated by being in changed surroundings and in this thrill of life all those troubles of our daily existence are miles away and out of mind.
And as I reflect on my experience earlier this morning while sitting at my computer, a builder appears on the scaffolding outside my office window with a hammer and chizzle to bring me abruptly back to my here-and-now. But that snow is still there....somewhere, and all being well I am going to find a bit more of it later. :-)
