Black Velvet

Here we are, sitting in front of our computers / tablets / devices... And I want to propose an experience, a little game to play if you wish.

It starts with your eyes closed, which is probably not the best way to read. But go on and take a moment, with your eyes shut, to sense your breath, to sense the contact you make against the surface you are sitting on.

Bring the palms of your hands to cover your eyes. Don't press onto your eyeballs, but instead create two cups with your hands, one dark chamber for each eye.

Up to you to adjust your fingers onto your forehead. Just make sure that no light enter your eyes.

Observe the last reverberations of light dancing in front of your eyes. Any colour, shape? Ghostly illusions of a moment ago.

And let the darkness settle, black velvet chambers.

What is the quality of that darkness? What is its texture?

What is happening to your breath? Its rhythm, volume? Can you feel anything changing in the contact your body makes with the surface you are resting on?

And let your eyes travel far, far into the dark, diving into that soft and smooth obscurity.

Often, working with somatics happens with our eyes closed. It seems like it helps defuse our reflex to perform, freeing ourselves from a certain posture in response to a situation, undressing our social body.

It's like focusing my body onto itself to discover an other side of perception, closing my eyes in a quest to open them more each day, to switch the imagination back on.

Cafe Müller / Pina Bausch. In an early interview, she speaks about how keeping her eyes down behind closed lids, or centering them, made a great difference in how she performed