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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A pause for breath
Chilterns, Oxfordshire, December
We've been having such great weather recently, not that I've seen much of it as I'm so very busy with teaching the Alexander Technique I've barely had time to get out of my office. But I did manage over the weekend when we went to one of our favourite places for a long walk. Sunday was glorious; the frost was crisp and all shone and sparked in the sun that barely lifted itself much above the tops of the hills. The light was oblique from an angle that side lights everything like a stage set.
The early morning is my favourite time of day as I'm most productive. It is also my favourite time of day for photography as the light is so dramatic. In summer I need to get up around 4.30am to get this sort of light and it's short lived as the sun soars upwards so quickly and soon everything is 'top lit'. But in autumn, winter and spring the sun doesn't go so high and we may even get frost like now, or dew and all is fresh and alive with vibrant energy in expectation of a new day. I also get to lie in bed a little longer as the sun rises later.
But this is almost as wintery as it gets in UK as we don't get much snow except on the highest ground and further north. I miss it. But here we are, living in 'today' and not harking back to old times. Sunday was magical and I had my small digital camera with me to snap this little shot looking back down a path we often take, from the woods below up to Ibstone above with its quaint church. The church is a good quarter mile outside the village, where the village used to be in fact in the 15th century. But the conurbation grew further over. Apparently the villagers intended to move the church by dismantling it and rebuilding it on a site closer to the village. But when a storm raged and lightening struck the intended site, they decided to leave the church where it was, and still is. They renamed the place the church was to have move to as Hell's Corner as it was believed that the lightening strike was the Devil's work.
Ibstone Church, Oxfordshire
So we often stop to sit on a wooden bench beside the entrance of Ibstone church, to catch our breath and take in the peacefulness of the churchyard. I regret not having my manual cameras with me that I use for black and white photography. Not having held one since August having been so busy with the refurbishment of our house in Dorset, I miss the close involvement of picture making. This snap is as close as I get these days. But the situation will be remedied when we move into our house and my new darkroom is built. "Darkroom?" I hear you ask, "When digital does so much more and better?" Well yes, but that's another story. I just like old fashioned methods where pictures are 'hand made'.
But stopping for a rest is good. Not that we ever get exhausted doing our walks. But I enjoy sitting down, as it changes my 'use' of legs and back. It allows me to refresh how I am, to restore my poise after climbing the hill, to get centred and let my head go upwards and my back to lengthen and widen. Then we move on after a few minutes, feeling restored, expansive and ready for much more.
