Slow Ink session 21st January 2023

Today Adrienne introduced her Bodyscan practice with a poem "Stop" by Jeff Foster

 

Bev took a writing prompt from the poem "Hermit Crab" by Mary Oliver

my rebellion

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And now for some of 

YOUR WRITING:

Rebel?

by Antje Bothin

Sometimes I am a rebel

I get out of my shell

I have been quiet for so long

Now I found my voice and I feel strong.

I had an education, spent my life at university

Conducted my research, earned a PhD

Now I have finished and I am absolutely free

I am proud of myself and happy as can be.

I am still single, I live on my own

I am without a partner, in my comfort zone

No children, no pets, I am all alone

I am not even addicted to my mobile phone.

I found a way to connect with nature outright

Discovered walking in Scotland’s countryside

Grab my boots every week for some outdoor fun

Planting, sowing, weeding, all that I have done.

Work is overrated, didn’t you guess?

You see, volunteering is so much less stress!

I love to do new things for all to tell

And I enjoy learning cool stuff as well.

If you think I am different and very bright

Then you are probably totally right

I always knew it, it is in these rhymes

I am a rebel – sometimes.

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Thanks to you all ...

... for your heartening feedback as always!

Kay: beautiful    thankyou Adrienne   kx

Linda: Adrienne, words cannot describe the peace I felt during this body scan. There was not a line of the poem I did not need to hear today (every day) thank you for guiding us through this practice. Please remind me of the name and author of the poem

Maggie: That was a helpful body scan, thank you

Pauline: That was wonderful

Adrienne Hannah: Thank you.

Antje: Thanks

Adrienne: The poem is Stop by Jeff Foster.

Linda: Thank you

Lesley O'Brien: That was just wonderful, thank you Adrienne

Adrienne: Thanks Lesley.

Fenella: I see what you mean about the hermit crab being prose!

Giovanna: Lesley - “but to dance alongside the spirit of others”

Giovanna: Bex - “I was in, retreating from the real world”

Zoë: gorgeous

Giovanna: Kay - what a first line! “freed to spread like silk and lace and ribbon” “I bow low at her rebellion” “inside which she hid the fears the aching” and all of it

Denise: Amazing, Kay. So rich and so complex and colourful, like your subject.

Giovanna: Pauline - love the power of the stillness of this

Pauline: Thank you

Fenella: Good for you !!

Zoë: this body causes trouble

Zoë: love it

Fenella: me too, love it that is!

Giovanna: Jennifer - “oh but the body, this body causes trouble” “it wants to be free” love the fluidity of the body’s escape as written

Zoë: toddle & waddle - loving the sounds!

Giovanna: Doreen - “to think differently, to be creative, though not in the way they expect” “mouth, jaw and tongue abandoned”

Giovanna: Antje - “I have been quiet for so long” “i found a way to connect with nature” “I am a rebel, sometimes”

Antje: Thank you

Denise: Giovanna - idea of life carved out before you were birthed - yes

Giovanna: April-Wendy - “how they wash out the grit bark ? spit”

Zoë: brilliant!

Giovanna: Denise - “the first little dances restrained self-conscious” “will meld with the air that loops between us, not yet touching but coming close”

Giovanna: Linda - “I hold back” “I never knew I had a rebellious bone”

Denise: Linda - relating to that kind of “way I’ve been made”

Giovanna: Fenella - “to push every barrier that someone might think they have put in my way” “not starting the journey”

Linda: thank you x

Pauline: Beautiful and powerful

Denise: Fenella - if you’ve set up a barrier, it’s essential to push - interesting

Giovanna: Jan - Oh how I want to hear it all!

Denise: Those are lovely, Jan.

Pauline: Purple rain

Pauline: powerful

Giovanna: Cath - “it’s present in every word I write on an empty page” “as I sit alone in silence"

Giovanna: Kate - “I toe the various lines that encircle me” Yes to odd socks!!!! Not disorganisation but rebellion!!

Zoë: wonderful words today everyone :)

Giovanna: Love it Jo!

Giovanna: I need to slip away sharpish today. Thank you to Bev and Adrienne and everyone for a wonderful start to the weekend. So many words will stay with me.

Giovanna: Maggie - “not to...” “to trust the truth of the wilderness”

Giovanna: Bev - “I do life brightly” “I shout loud, too loud.. too bad” “my knees are scarred from stumbles” “my heart is huge and hardy”

Denise: Bev - yes, my heart is huge and hardy - beautiful and true.

Pauline: Absolutely fantastic morning

Kay: as always wonderful   thankyou everyone   kx

Antje: Thank you Bev and Adrienne. I enjoyed everybody's poetry and the mindfulness.

Jennifer Bradley: thanks so much everyone

Angie Strachan: Thank you again everyone.  Have a lovely weekend.

Zoë: thank you again

Denise: Thank you so much, Adrienne, Bev, all

Bev: Here's Lesley's song on the radio about 2:13 minutes in:

Bev: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001h3wm?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

Thanks to funders

Lapidus Scotland gratefully acknowledges the support of Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership's "Wellbeing for Longer in Glasgow Fund" (managed by Impact Funding Partners).

Slow Ink session 14th January 2023

For the first session of the new course Adrienne introduced her Breath practice with the poem "Next Time" by Mary Oliver.

Bev then took a writing prompt from David Whyte's poem "Everything is waiting for you"

the kettle is singing

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And now for some of 

YOUR WRITING:

inspired by Mary Oliver’s Next Time and David Whyte’s Everything is Waiting for you

 by Kay Ritchie 

at 17 / 18 / 19

I’d a friend

she was ‘my best’ &

we were wild and cunning when together

but she never looked you in the eye

my mother thought that sly

though I was unconcerned

she spoke directly to my shoulder

 

by 21 we’d drifted

like two feathers on the wind

 

but once more

after more than 50 years

we’re friends again

as if we’d both been waiting &

now she looks directly in my eyes

she’s wise

her life has not been easy

but we’re wild

not like before

 

instead we clatter cooking pots and kettles &

we walk

in nature

listen to the birds the water and the wind &

soar   like feathers   blown together

once more friends &

in the moment

Songs in Time

by Lisa Rossetti © 2023

I have not heard the mermaids sing for many years,

the wild beating of the surf frothing on the shore,

the crunch of sand, its roughness on bare pale soles.

No, I have not heard the mutterings of old frayed rooks

peering from trees, for many years. Nor the grumbling of bees,

their sleep disturbed within the golden palaces of their hives.

For many years, I haven’t heard the nick, nick, nick of insects 

boring their mysterious tunnels through wood. Or books.

Nor seen the ants building castles in red sand.

Time has gone by.

Time has gone by.

Yet every morning I hear the kettle sing,

as I prepare our coffee, and bring it on a tray

An offering to bless our love.

Carrying mugs with tenderness and determination,

with humility towards the awesome day.

A ritual, a practice, a routine in service of Love.

We mark our days with mugs of coffee.

The kettle sings like a priest, like a priestess,

beginning the ceremony.

I hear you sing.

I hear you sing.

The kettle is singing

by Antje Bothin

This lovely music pleases my ears. I can feel the tea already on my

tongue. The water is ready, the air smells of moisture, a silver chain

of steam is crawling through the air. My eyes enjoy this picture of

comfort. Soon I can sit down on the sofa and relax.

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Thanks to you all ...

... for your heartening feedback as always!

Angie: thank you.

Kay: thankyou Adrienne   so good to be back   your talk / walk made me think of jon kabat zinn's coming to our senses  x

Bev: The kettle is singing

Giovanna: Caroline - “stop, just for this moment” “for that is enough”

Giovanna: Fenella - “the warmth of communal tea drinking”

Hilaire: ‘A window out of aloneness’

Moira: love the line the warmth of communal tea drinking 

Giovanna: Zoe - “the lifting wallpaper like a letter recently opened” (sorry paraphrasing)

Karen: Beautifully read, beautiful words x

Giovanna: Pauline - oh that first line. this was so intimate and beautiful.

Hilaire: Beautiful Pauline

Pauline: Thank you

Giovanna: Doreen - “lids fly and clang, they soar into the sky”

Zoë: aal I wanted was a cup of tea - love it

Zoë: *all

Lisa: hot water bottle missed the kettle! Awww …

Giovanna: Angie - “the kettle, my coffee enabler”!

Moira: Brilliant Angie - loving a yellow kettle

Zoë: 42:)

Lisa: Haha

Giovanna: Sheila - “life’s breath in steam” “listen to the chorus as life lifts its voice”

Giovanna: Lisa - wonderful first line. “the nick nick nick of insects”

Zoë: Gorgeous!

Hilaire: Wonderful Lisa! Great details

Lisa: Thank you

Giovanna: Antje - “a silver chain of steam”

Moira: beautiful.. tea on my tongue

Antje: Thank you

Giovanna: Cath - such sharp pictures here of pain and empathy and hope

Karen: Wow, Cath. Wow! X

Giovanna: Linda - “old kettle boot black… my how she sings”

Lisa: I always put “With thanks to … [author]”

Giovanna: April-Wendy - “an unrequested sauna steam room”

Lisa: “curve of submission” … “folding in on my own possibilities” … Oh my goodness!

Pauline: wow

Lisa: “stand up …  not down” - Wow!

Giovanna: Hilaire - “the trees slowly dripping, longing for this year’s leaves”

Giovanna: Ann - “come now, come now, now! now!” “steam silently sizzles”

Lisa: “drifted like two feathers in the wind”

Giovanna: Kay - “we were wild and cunning when together” “now we clatter cooking pots and kettles and we walk”

Lisa: a happy story

Hilaire: Wow - so touching L

Hilaire: Kay

Pauline: Was a little nervous but have had the best Saturday morning in ages .So thanks everyone

Zoë: Loved my first session, looking forward to the next one:)

Ann: I need to go to a photography group at 12 so leaving before final Mindfulness. Nice to see everyone (I would have liked to hear a bit of brief Intro so know bit more about you all). I enjoyed listening to others' writing. Thanks. 😀

Lisa: I really enjoyed using mindfulness and the Date Doodle was wonderful! I haven’t doodled for many many months. Thank you for kind comments, support and being welcomed to the group.

Kay: what a really beautiful session   so many wonderful pieces and words and memories    thankyou    kx

Hilaire: Thanks so much Bev & Adrienne - a very precious two hours

Giovanna: Jan 31st, would be lovely to see you. https://flightofthedragonfly.com/next-dragonflies/

Karen: Lovely to share your company. And a cup of tea 💖

Jennifer Bradley: Thanks so much.  Inspiring and heart-warming session.

Antje: Thank you so much Adrienne, Bev and everyone. I really enjoyed the mindfulness and the writing and listening to all the lovely pieces. 🙂

Denise: What I took to be pain is fear… Giovanna. Such insight in that poem, and a good measure maybe of common humanity!

Giovanna: Thank you Denise

Denise: Warm memories of drying socks - Pauline, brilliant.

Ann: Will keep thinking of yours & my parents & gran making tea in the kitchen I grew up or stayed in. Thanks, Pauline.

Denise: Thank you everyone.

Giovanna: Such a wonderful morning, enormous thanks to Adrienne, Bev and everyone for sharing this fantastically creative space.

Moira: thanks 

Thanks to funders

Lapidus Scotland gratefully acknowledges the support of Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership's "Wellbeing for Longer in Glasgow Fund" (managed by Impact Funding Partners).