Being me Being

Sarah Scott's Blog

May 2011

WATCH THE FILM BY CLICKING HERE

So we all gathered ...the weekend was blessed, the setting at Pines Gardens and St Margaret's was perfect, the sun shone and.... Actually, I'm tempted to talk about it but words won't do it - emerging from our work together were fantastically free creations by all who participated - the images - the short film -you'll get to see them on the Being Me Being website http://www.beingmebeing.org.uk/ on June 15^th.

There's going to be some outdoor screenings of the film later in the summer - but I'll tell you about that nearer the time.

We've posed a question to the participants post the workshop - "Did the weekend provoke thoughts in you about presumptions you might be living by" - they've been asked to respond creatively and if possible put it on the website - and I've agreed to respond too.

The unravelling is still in motion

Images below by Rachel Gadsden

    

   

May 2011

All set to go now 7th / 8th May on our horizon now.   Your good wishes for fair weather will be appreciated!
If you haven't already do Bookmark: http://www.beingmebeing.org.uk/ to keep in touch with our exploration and contribute to it.  

April 2011

With spring I emerged gently back to pick Being me Being up from its wintry stillness. DAD - Dover Arts Development like a seagull swooped in and offered guidance and support that has helped root Being Me Being in its location. I've simplified, refined and re-tuned.

I've explored and enjoyed a meditative brush with colour and played with the vibration of swirling colours of wateryness.  I've gone deeper into enquiring what, in this body, on this earth, right now, is Yoga? **  There's communion, there's healing, there's stillness, intimacy and insight and expressing this creatively is a challenge to be relished.

Its with these qualities in mind I extend the invitation to explore, with Rachel Gadsden as our beacon (glorious one that she is) I hope you'll join us on May 7th/8th. We'll be working at the Pines Gardens Labyrinth: http://www.pinesgardens.co.uk/index.php/gardens/labyrinth/, St Margaret's at Cliffe beach: http://www.aboutbritain.com/towns/st-margarets-at-cliffe.asp and the Caylix at the Pines Gardens: http://pinescalyx.co.uk/.  

Meanwhile some of us have put up a creative response to a shell on the website: http://www.beingmebeing.org.uk

WE'RE RECRUITING NOW - TAKE A METAPHORICAL LEAP

If you would like to participate in Being Me Being, please contact Sarah Scott being.me00@gmail.com

** People have asked ‘is the yoga accessible?' Yoga is always adaptable to different bodies and ways of moving, there should be no fixed picture, no matter what the experts say, of how it should look - its about how it works on the body...with the person...

September 2010

Just a week before we go into workshop, I was in agony and ecstasy - teetering on the fine line between real big time fretting and sublime pleasure in meeting each moment creatively - so I was heartened to find this quote:

"Screwing things up is a virtue. Being correct is never the point....being right can stop all momentum of a very interesting idea".  Robert Rauschenberg    1925 - 2008

So its ok - really ok - to accept that this is an exploration and whatever happens...is...

Put to the test on this - Just days before we're due to take off - I'm trembling as signs are that the weekend is not going to plan...eventually I had to succumb to blatant common sense and postpone the workshops.  Life presented us with barriers to participation.

But it was a perfect move - like meant to be - I've found a charming turf labyrinth right by St Margaret's at Cliffe beach (see pic) at the Pines Gardens (more next month) - and the structure of what we're doing is being reviewed - its making more sense and its starting with some interaction on the website so do book mark it....

http://www.beingmebeing.org.uk/   

Had a good training session with Surface Impression - really dug working on the website, and its been a mercy to connect with Dover Arts Development who are teaching me more about how to articulate what my practice is about - again more on that next month!

So I've come to experience the creativity in dropping expectations of how things should go, letting go of my picture of it - its scary and its a hard practice, but in the moments when I free fall into it.... its where its at.  

August 2010

There's a balance to be found...working on a project like this which draws on yoga / Zen practice, a balance of planning ahead to be efficient and at the same time staying in this moment, and the next, taking each step - each day - as it comes....

Checked out St Margaret's at Cliffe beach - yes its still there!  Moody grey sky & sea. I took a few pics  - I confess I am getting into the ‘click' -  a moment captured in my mind's eye let alone the techno digito ‘eye. Then I opened my arms to the enormous space of sea and sky before me and allowed it to come to me.  

This beach is a mix of sand, shingle and pebbles and is famous for being the closest point to France, and is consequently where Channel swimmers begin their marathon 21-mile swim. The white chalk cliffs above the bay are said to be the first place the sun reaches each morning on mainland Britain.

We're going to explore how it is to express ourselves through yoga and painting and drawing and in doing this out in the open with the sea air , the wind and the rocks, how does that change our feeling of what we're doing, and of how we are .... Indeed....does it?  It could be hairy as we've got to navigate moving on pebbles but that will be part of our practice, can we hold our ground...

Focus this last month has been on developing the Being Me Being website with Surface Impression. Its reassuring to work with an organisation who really do appreciate accessibility. The website gives anyone a chance to connect with what happens in our 3 days together and to contribute to the dialogue around our many layers of self, particularly those layers covering our hidden impairments or long term health issues and how we can express that visually.  All visitors to the site are invited to offer a visual expression and a response to the dialogue so that as well as written responses there'll be a gallery of images showing how it is "Being Me"
http://www.beingmebeing.org.uk

July 2010

Here're some pics I took of the labyrinth at Kent University.

During the Being Me Being workshop we're going to be spending the best of part of a day working on the labyrinth.

So what is a labyrinth? It is an ancient pattern used as a form of reflective (meditative) tool.

Why are we working with it? It is not important to us whether we walk the labyrinth, stand, sit or move in or around it. There's no right or wrong way to experience the labyrinth. Just being there will help to still ‘things', allow for space to go deeper into the experience of expressing through different postures and drawing/painting. This Labyrinth sits on a hill with a fantastic, expanding view over Canterbury so the experience will take us really - out there - as well as - in here - !

June 2010

I was hovering between total rabbit in the road fear to sublime sense of emergence - now - I am in the flow of realising some years-old yearns.

Validation / acceptance - rejection - ultimately all comes from within, but I'm still in on the illusion that if I am validated in some way then I really am ok. Which is nuts because based on that - next year when this is all done and dusted I won't be!!! Life ....we've created a mad one!

We've been asked to take pics as we go along - so I've just purchased what I think is a posh new camera but I've never been a behind the camera person ....now I really want to be, I am just getting into the ‘click' of a moment.

Took a few pics of the Labyrinth, but they're not an improvement on the website photo!

I was awake worrying at 4.00 a.m. one morning ....but/and it didn't make any difference!

Had a beautifully flowing day with Rachel on Friday - outside in a garden exploring the postures and the expressions and images they created - our sensitivities complemented  - we ignited Being me Being...