S410 -Day #9
Starter for Ten - April 14th 2023
Last night I went to a breathing workshop ran by resilience coach Josh Connolly. Yes, I paid money for someone to tell me how to breathe.
I have never done breathwork before and was recommended to try it out by my friend and work coach Emma Shanahan. For today’s ten minute writing and creative exercise I wanted to journal on the experience.
Ten minutes of free writing.
Ten minutes of writing didn’t cover even half of what was an incredible experience, I went on to write for a further 40 minutes!
The workshop was called Breathwork for Emotional Release, we practiced concious connected breathing. It was a deep experience, my whole body vibrated and shook, I cried like I never have before and I felt an energy in my body that was next level. Weirdly, sharing this experience with 40 other people in the room made me feel safe. And I’m fully aware of how mad all of that sounds.
Ten minute sketch: Charcoal
Part of the session included a guided visualisation where Josh asked you to look for the youngest version of yourself. I found 4-year-old Yolander sitting on her own in a pool of light surrounded by darkness. Josh instructed us to hug our younger-self if they are open to it and to play with them. I couldn’t get there so I just sat with my four-year-old self and told her I would always be there for her. I chose to try to capture this moment for the visual for today’s challenge.
I’m curious to learn and experiment more with breathwork, today I feel lighter, more open and I believe more experiences that get me out on my head and into my body will make me more content and resilient. I’m greatful to Josh and to Emma for introducing me to breathwork and inspiring me.
Starter for Ten (S410) is a daily creative exercise that I will do for the next 30 days. I set a ten-minute timer and write whatever comes into my head. After that I do the same to create a visual. The idea is to loosen up, create daily and get over the idea that everything I make needs to be perfect or have a purpose.
I will document the process here on this site and on my Instagram stories. Photos will be unedited to keep it real. This challenge both terrifies and excites me, let’s see what happens.
