I know I am not on my own in often feeling like I need to get a job done as quickly as possible. When I need to rest, I don’t, and I tell myself “I’ve started so I’ll finish”. Even when I’m tired or aching and I know I should stop, I keep going. Often it is so that I get it over with and can do things I’d rather be doing. I’m pressurising myself to go faster, do it quicker, get it finished. I promise myself I will have a break afterwards or do the thing I really want to do later. I do this far less nowadays, but the habit, the possibility, is always there. My clients nod when I talk about it ..read more

Early morning after a frost. The bird feeders were refreshed with new seed. I was watching the daily arrival of the pigeons, doves, blackbirds and sparrows as they cautiously began to rest in the trees surrounding my garden deciding if it is safe enough to come closer. The sun was warming everything and the neighbours shed roof had a gentle stream of rising steam. The closest tree was magical. The frost was melting. The droplets of water from the melt steadily got bigger and as they did they twinkled and changed into many colours, reds, greens, blues before they dropped off. I’ve tried to capt ..read more

Late summer day. Cool breeze. Bluest of blue sky. I’m sat on the garden bench, warmed by the sun, reading a fabulous book: Die Wise by Stephen Jenkinson. The local air force are doing practice drills above my head. They always get me excited. The power of those jets, the sound resonating through my whole system. I imagine the burn from the jets, like those I have seen on space ships taking off. I can’t help thinking about how much they are polluting the air, but I am more impressed by their power. They come in pairs, they turn, somewhere over my head and then they disappear back in the directi ..read more

It’s an early autumn morning. I love the slight, almost imperceptible, cool air on my face that happens each time I move. The sky is bright blue and I am warmed by the sun, and happy. I’m in a corner of our garden, behind our greenhouse, where the raspberries love to grow. The canes, which must be 8-10 foot high, are bent over with the weight of the fruit. I can tell that the neighbourhood sounds are different. The summer has transforming rapidly into autumn and the light, the sounds, the birds, the trees, the dying, drying plants all speak to me and remind me that nature is getting ..read more

An earthenware vintage bowl     My place of refuge, for many years, was snuggled up on my grandparent’s  high backed two seater sofa between nanny and either the dog, Tiny (who wasn’t that tiny) or my granddad Joe (when he was home from sea). The sofa would be pulled in front of the glowing fire on these occasions. We would be waiting for bread dough to do it’s magic. It’s receptacle, the wide mouthed red clay earthenware pot, would be sat on the hearth. The inner yellow glaze hidden by a damp white tea towel. I still have that vintage pot and I have made bread with it many ti ..read more

The instructions said the cream would take 30 seconds to absorb. The way I was doing it, you would think I was determined to get that time down. If I had entered a fire lighting competition, I am sure I would have won. Then I remembered, I had time. I could take all the time I wanted. I had nowhere to be, in any rush. I was probably going to be doing this every day for much if not all of my life. Perhaps there was another way of getting the medication into my system other than creating excess friction between my fingers and thigh? I stopped what I was doing. I left my foot on the stool. I noti ..read more

Pandemic focus purchasing: Order completed over the phone. Smart walk into town, mask on, quick flash of my card to buy the flowers and a swift hand over of two huge bouquets. I hadn’t expected them to be so big. After about 5 minutes of brisk walking I realised I needed to carry these bouquets for at least another 10-15 minutes and I predicted my arms would probably ache. I was tightly gripping them in front of me, elbows at 90 degrees. I had hoped to put them in a large carrier bag I had brought with me. They were far too big to fit into it. I remembered I had studied the Alexander Technique ..read more

This is the 10th interview in a series of interviews I carried out with people who have had Alexander Technique (AT) lessons. This interview is with Dorothy, who is in her mid 70’s, retired, lives with a partner and leads a very full and active life. Dorothy has been having face to face Alexander Technique lessons with me for a few years. Each time Dorothy comes for a lesson she tells me about something new that the Alexander Technique has helped her with. Since doing this interview, one of the things she told me was that she used to dread filling and emptying the washing machine. She told me ..read more

An earthenware vintage bowl     My place of refuge, for many years, was snuggled up on my grandparent’s  high backed two seater sofa between nanny and either the dog, Tiny (who wasn’t that tiny) or my granddad Joe (when he was home from sea). The sofa would be pulled in front of the glowing fire on these occasions. We would be waiting for bread dough to do it’s magic. It’s receptacle, the wide mouthed red clay earthenware pot, would be sat on the hearth. The inner yellow glaze hidden by a damp white tea towel. I still have that vintage pot and I have made bread with it many ti ..read more

Reduce eye strain: Jane’s May 2020 AT Project My May 2020 project  is on the use of screens in relation to how I use my eyes. Here’s what I have been exploring: intensely looking at the screen, allowing the subject matter to come to me, noticing what’s behind the person or the thing I am looking at and what is behind me. Being aware of the space between my back and the back of what I am looking at, looking at what’s around the screen, what’s behind it, what’s to the side of it. Changing my focus from what is on the screen to what is around it, flipping from one to the other. The reason ..read more