Week Six

Daily exercise for week six – finding space to breathe

You will be familiar with the clip below as the film echoes the ways we have been working together in our sessions. Follow along to explore gentle ways to soften tension in the neck and shoulders, helping you to find space to breathe more effectively.

Optional extra exercise – wave imagery

Try this exercise while lying down, or in a balanced seated position. If you are sitting down, sit tall in your chair, feet flat on the floor, hands soft in your lap, eyes and jaw soft.

• Notice your breath.
• Think of your breath being like the constant lapping of waves onto the shore.
• The wave comes in as you inhale;
• the wave recedes as you exhale.
• The waves roll in and out effortlessly; you don’t need to ‘make’ the waves; just observe them.

Lullabies for you to sing: Abiyoyo, Baby’s Bed’s a Silver Moon and Summertime.

We have sung Abiyoyo before, and you can access resources and information in Lullabies, first steps.

Below you’ll find a karaoke version of Baby’s Bed’s a Silver Moon for you to sing along with, together with a downloadable song sheet, which has the lyrics:

Download tracks (right click, save as):
– vocal
– instrumental

Download the PDF song sheet here

About Baby’s Bed’s a Silver Moon:  Jessie L Gaynor was an American composer of children’s music.  You can hear the waves flowing in the accompaniment of this song; and the words acknowledge the moment of separation when a baby sleeps whilst offering calm reassurance.

You can listen to a historical recording from 1911 by following this link here.

We also revisited Summertime. You can find all the resources for Summertime in Week Five.

A lullaby to listen to: I shall find for you shells and stars, The Consul, Menotti

About the lullaby in its original context:  In this aria, a mother sings of the feats she would perform out of love for her child – swimming rivers and seas, catching crickets and bees – and of the boundless imagined gifts she will bring him. ENO Harewood Artist Katie Stevenson sings this piece especially for ENO Breathe.

You will also find this music in the calming playlist created especially for ENO Breathe.