The whole body breathing
4:30 min

(continuous loop)
HD video with sound
2017

“Sense the shape and form of your whole body as you settle. Feel a straight line, running from the top of the head, all the way down to a point between your heels. Sense the whole body lying in a straight line.”  (voiceover video)

The whole body breathing starts from an intersert in looking at one very basic form of movement that all vertebrates with lungs share; breathing. The soundtrack in the video is the sound of a constant breath from a person practicing an old breathing technique called Ujjayi. This is a diaphragmatic breath, employed in a variety of Taoist and Yoga practices. Ujjayi is said to be similar to the breathing of a new-born baby before the prana begins to flow out into the world's attractions. The soundtrack this breath makes is accompanied by a voiceover reciting a text for entering Yoga Nidra, (yogic sleep) a state of consciousness between waking and sleeping. In the video we see different farm animals, chicken and pigs, asleep, then waking up and looking straight into the camera.



stills from video



installation view from BOA gallery


Voice over:  - Sense the shape and form of your whole body as you settle. Feel a straight line, running from the top of the head, all the way down to a point between your heels. Sense the whole body lying in a straight line. Let the arms roll away from the sides of the body, and sense that space. And the feet and legs, a little bit apart. Sense that space. Sense the whole body lying in a straight line. Let the arms roll away from the sides of the body, and sense that space. Female voice: Be aware of the weight of the body, settling on to the floor. The whole body. Still. And heavy. And within that stillness, the gentle movement of the breath. Observe your natural breath. However and wherever you may feel it. Expand your awareness of breathing in to the whole body. The whole body breathing. The whole body breathing. The whole body breathing.

Documentation from exhibition at Billedkunstnerne i Oslo og Akershus (BOA) 2017.
Supported by Arts Council Norway (Kulturrådet)