Stresses and strains
What is your favourite stress buster? Do you perhaps have recourse to various options depending on your state of mind? Is it a strong coffee? A session at the gym? Chocolate cake? Chamomile tea? A long soak in the bath?
For me, the obvious first choice is to get out into the fresh air and go for a walk. There is something about this basic exercise that ensures instant head clearing. I am always astonished at how once the body is moving the mind seems to reorder itself – what seemed to be an impossible set of tasks falls into a logical scheme so I know when I will need to do what.
‘Why do I become restless after a month in a single place, unbearable after two?’ It was reading Bruce Chatwin’s writings years ago that for me expressed the purpose and power of walking; whether it was The Songlines or In Patagonia.
Apparently in 1972, when he was working as a journalist, Chatwin interviewed architect and designer Eileen Gray in her Paris salon. Gray was 92 at the time, and Chatwin noticed a map she had painted of Patagonia. When he commented that he had always wanted to go there, Gray is reported to have replied: ‘So have I. Go there for me.’ So he did.
The dames hold Eileen Gray in high regard; some of her creations are on display at the V&A; when we celebrated the fifth birthday of damesnet we arranged a tour around the museum featuring notable images of females and creations by others. As Dame V commented at the time, a chair designed by Gray looked as though it could have been bought in Heal’s yesterday, yet she was born in 1878. If you would like to be reminded of what else we saw on the tour do look here.
Unfortunately, physical exercise of virtually every description was put on hold when a back problem in the Autumn rendered walking, cycling and my beloved yoga out of the question. Coffee was still permitted, but I quickly realised that if I went too far down the chocolate cake route then by the time I was able to resume exercise there would be quite a bit more of me that needed rehab apart from my back.
Baths were allowed – except that I much prefer showers, but I had to solve the dilemma and frustration posed by long periods when all normal physical activity was suspended. Which is when I revisited breathing and meditation exercises I learned many moons ago but had fallen into disuse. Practising them all slowed me down and helped relieve the sense of impotence. This was complemented by a little book that Dame Joyce gave me when she visited me in what I choose to call ‘my personal lockdown’. Written by Haemin Sunim, a Buddhist monk, The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down was perfect company. I could pick it up, read a handy aphorism and then either nod quietly in agreement or spend a bit of time deciding if it expressed something relevant to me.
Some of the other books I read at that time may well find their way to damesnet as reviews. In the meantime, and as the sun is shining, I think I’ll go for a walk.
Well I am humbled to have my name in a Dames’ post!
The book is well worth a mention and you don’t have to be in lockdown to appreciate its merits.
Patagonia is an interesting place and for me the setting up of a Welsh community there to preserve Welsh culture is fascinating . The story of the struggle to survive against all odds is perhaps not as well known as it should be.
Eileen Gray is not a name I know but I will delve further.
And as for walking… there’s nothing like it !
I had forgotten about the Welsh link in Patagonia – htanks for reminding me. We need to explore this further!
Dame B