Read Kate Kelly's 'Inscape and Landscape' . It's a fascinating account of her diagnosis of, and recovery from, lung cancer - with the help of, and seen through the eyes of, Alexander Technique.
Below is a short extract:
Below is a short extract:
"After my diagnosis, I began to notice how much energy it took to maintain my public persona – my ‘public mode’ – and the different vitality I felt in the intimacy of close family and friends.
When I was in public mode, my intention, breathing, and body were often not aligned. I was holding my breath; there was a disconnection. It was then I realized I could come back to myself with Whispered Ahs. They have been a tremendous friend and touchstone.
Because of the pleurodesis operation I often felt tight chested, a heaviness as though I didn’t have quite enough breath. This was when not relying on how things feel – an understanding of faulty proprioception – came into its own. The reality was that I did have enough breath, and the Whispered Ah proved this to me every time I doubted it. The Whispered Ahs matched and really supported the new rhythm by which I aspired to live. ‘It’s all in the rhythm, it’s all in the rhythm … of the heart’ … a singing rhyme I learned from Roy Hart Theatre Practitioner Ivan Midderigh (about … swimming!). When I stay with my own beat, as it were, then there is time for breathing, there is space for thoughtful living.
I have written elsewhere about how the rhythm of the city can pull us into its pace: that just doesn’t suit some of us. Instead, I needed to take the time to pay attention to myself and my breath in everything I was doing (and sometimes thinking!)."
When I was in public mode, my intention, breathing, and body were often not aligned. I was holding my breath; there was a disconnection. It was then I realized I could come back to myself with Whispered Ahs. They have been a tremendous friend and touchstone.
Because of the pleurodesis operation I often felt tight chested, a heaviness as though I didn’t have quite enough breath. This was when not relying on how things feel – an understanding of faulty proprioception – came into its own. The reality was that I did have enough breath, and the Whispered Ah proved this to me every time I doubted it. The Whispered Ahs matched and really supported the new rhythm by which I aspired to live. ‘It’s all in the rhythm, it’s all in the rhythm … of the heart’ … a singing rhyme I learned from Roy Hart Theatre Practitioner Ivan Midderigh (about … swimming!). When I stay with my own beat, as it were, then there is time for breathing, there is space for thoughtful living.
I have written elsewhere about how the rhythm of the city can pull us into its pace: that just doesn’t suit some of us. Instead, I needed to take the time to pay attention to myself and my breath in everything I was doing (and sometimes thinking!)."
AUTHORS: Kate Kelly
Born and brought up in Northern Ireland, Kate Kelly graduated as an Alexander technique teacher from the Constructive Teaching Centre in 1988 and continued as a teacher trainer there for 17 years. She maintains a private teaching practice in Central London where she lives with her Québecois husband. They both sing in the local community choir she co-founded in 2013.
After Queens University Belfast she performed in Dublin at the Focus and Project, toured with Isosceles theatre and was part of the Lyric Players company in Belfast before attending the Webber Douglas Acting Academy in London. She went on to work as an actor, and later an Alexander teacher, in the Netherlands, France and other countries in Europe as well as the UK. Along with teaching in drama schools for several decades, Kate was a partner in Hart Training (now Midderighvox) for 11 years, with Johannes Theron and Ivan Midderigh, bringing theatre-based team and presentation coaching to business and organisations worldwide. She is a certified practitioner of the Alfred A. Tomatis listening method and most recently has trained as a Soul Midwife with Felicity Warner giving Tender Loving Care workshops on accompanying the dying with awareness. Kate enjoys organising and giving poetry readings in performance and is passionate about books and libraries and bookshops. She actively supports the movement to keep all local libraries open. |
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