A change in perspective can widen your world. The same goes for exposing yourself to new sensory input, learning a different language, encountering something you’ve never seen/heard/smelled/tasted/felt before, traveling to a new-to-you place, asking different questions, or finding a way of moving that is slightly unfamiliar to you. Try taking in your environment from a… Read More Perspective
“You don’t point your feet. You lengthen them to the end of the extremity. It is not static. You need the energy flow.” The Pointe Book: Shoes, Training, Technique – by Janice Barringer and Sarah Schleßinger. This book covers everything one needs to know (and more!) for learning or teaching to go on pointes. From… Read More The Pointe Book
Speed, Precision, Control. These are the 3 key elements of practising Haidong Gumdo, or Korean Sword Art. At the heart of each sword movement, all 3 need to be in balance to work well. Which – in a way – translates to the skills of life itself. What good is moving fast if you don’t… Read More Cutting the Maple Leaves
What is strength? And …can this even be done? These were the questions I asked myself this morning, finding myself about to perform 1111 wooden-sword cuts. ‘A Thousand Cuts’ is a sword endurance exercise where Haidong Gumdo (Korean Sword Art) practitioners are asked to do 1000 repetitions of ‘Jeong-Myun Begi’, the basic straight cut, while… Read More A thousand, one hundred and eleven sword cuts.
All is fluid – The Universe is Change. Life is Opinion. This incredibly inspiring gathering of inspirational thoughts by the Stoics is my daily morning journaling companion. The Daily Stoic – 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday.
Stacey Nemour, my favourite flexibility teacher, has just launched a wealth of online courses and streaming DVDs on flexibilitymakeover.com I’m very excited to be trying out her Dance! Flexibility Makeover Power Pack (starting today – eek!), as her previous online course series was already amazing. It got me safely(!) down into front splits for the first… Read More Flexibility Friday
On my way to ballet yesterday I was listening to Tim Ferris’ Podcast (which I heartily recommend, do check it out!) Yesterday’s Episode featured author AJ Jacobs, speaking about ways to be happier through gratitude. One of the excercises I found very interesting was to say ‘gratitude ABCs’ (ie. thinking up various things to be grateful… Read More Gratitude ABCs
Remember find the green? It counts for other colours, too. If you can, get outside today and go find something beautiful. PS: if you find it, and happen to capture it – share below!
I used to think it was not possible for adults to learn to dance on pointes (or do the splits!), unless they had already practised it extensively as kids. I was also convinced that if I WERE to attempt to learn it, not only would it not work out, I would also be sure to… Read More To the Pointe
Forms (also called ‘poomsae’) are one of my most beloved parts of Taekwondo. To me, forms very closely connect to dance, and to dance practise, combining body, mind and soul in one movement focus. At the moment we are learning Taeguk Pal-jang (8th form), which corresponds to the 1.st Kup (red-black) belt. For inspiration, here are my… Read More Taekwondo Forms