Friday 19 December 2014

Yoka and art (Yoku): Silence

charcoal drawing and a hand
Last night was the final Yoku session of 2014 and we ended the year with the theme SilenceThis time the yoga session was very quiet and with lots of slower movements than usual which is ideal for a person like me who would like to perform each movement with lots of accuracy. The yoga session had a few hip and chest openers to get the energy flowing through our bodies.
drawing hand with charcoal
We ended with a meditation singing 'Ong' repetitively, at our own pace and at our own pitch. We just had to let the sound go from our belly, no control and no thoughts about how it would sound. The sound was breaking the silence and the tones were wonderful. At a miraculous moment we all ended at the same time and at the same pitch.
drawing hand with charcoal
Immediately after that we started drawing, with charcoal this time on a huge A1-sized piece of paper. We drew our experience of singing (see my finished drawing below). I drew the higher notes at the top of the paper, the lower on the bottom. Lines that started halfway were sounds after taking a breath. The circles represent the 'Ong'-sound: if I sing that my arm draws an O in in the air and not just on paper.
my finished charcoal drawing
my finished charcoal drawing
After that we were asked to write a four-lined poem, a bit like a Haiku. It didn't need to rhyme, but it should tell our experience of the workshop. I wrote three verses, originally in Dutch, on the left a translation:

Unanimously   /   Eenstemmigheid
but projected separately   /   apart ingezet
one very long breath   /   één hele lange adem
than it is over   /   dan is het voorbij

Out of the everyday   /   Uit het dagelijkse
to the silence and breath   /   naar de stilte en ademhaling
at different pitches   /   verschillende toonhoogten
come together fluently   /   komen vloeiend samen

Sounds of traffic   /   Geluid van het verkeer
draught from underneath the door  /  tocht onder de deur door
singing of women like in a convent  /  gezang van vrouwen als in een klooster
and scratching of charcoal on paper / en gekras van houtskool op papier
cutting the cake
We finished the evening with organic and vegan pies, delicious!
my finished charcoal drawing nailed on the wall
This morning I hung up my drawing on the wall with the smallest nails I could find. I quite like how it came out and every time I look at it, I can feel the Ong-sound.

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