Somatic Chit Chat
- Berrak Yedek
- Apr 7
- 7 min read
This week’s blog will be a real chit chat with you dear readers. It is 13:11, and as you know by now, it is the perfect time to start a blog! Welcome to today’s chit chat blog session. As the chit chatting will not be very deep or special I will treat you with some more ‘arty’ photos of shadows on my wall that I love. I hope that you will have a great time… please do not forget your tea, coffee, whiskey or me (just kidding)... and relax while you will be surfing with me through my lines that represent my thoughts of today and last week.
Preparing to write
I am just right now listening to a new album that I discovered during one of my activities last week (listening to music), and I would like to share this one with you. It has a lovely rhythm and flow and actually seems to be the perfect sound companion for me while I am writing.
A one man “imagined orchestra” called Hidden Orchestra, Album: Wingbeats
here also a link on Youtube to other works of Hidden Orchestra, in case you would like to discover more.
Let the chit chat begin
Oh yes, you won’t imagine how I can be a chatterbox too, I seem to be always so composed and well anchored in myself, always holding the place and speaking wisely, always being interested in others, and speaking just enough, always mostly listening etc.. but sometimes I do switch off, or better, my body switches off and I sleep, eat, and chit chat, become utterly silly, and cry and do lots of nonsense, or even nothing. It took me many years to learn how to do nothing. I didn't even know what it meant. Now in my early fifties I am discovering the depth and meaning of “doing nothing”, it actually means allowing a lot to happen.
As I always say in Somatic Dialogue, not to do a movement is also a movement. To stop and wait is a choice. We stop and we can feel what is moving within us, and what is happening around us. When we are constantly in the flow we cannot become so aware of what is happening when we are in movement.
What happened last week?
The whole of last week has been one big movement of thinking.
As this blog is about how I write the so-called Manual, I should maybe start with the parts related to the book. But anything that I do around is directly influencing my process of writing, sometimes in a positive and sometimes in a not so positive way. I have managed to finish the second chapter called Muhabbet must be, and I have tried to stay in Muhabbet all along.
To be honest, given the political situation and my personal somehow exhaustion (related to my inner life and work) has not been too favourable for muhabbet to happen in my daily flow of life. But I forced myself, and I think these are the moments when resisting the influences is so important.
We must not underestimate the capacity of resistance within us. There is always a good reason for resistance to show up. But then of course a process of thinking and rethinking has to happen. Thinking about why we resist and what this resistance is serving. What kind of resistances have you been noticing within yourself this past week?
I have been trying to resist the negative thoughts, watching the media, and following what is happening in Turkey and also in many other countries…I have been trying to resist the loss of meaning in what I do, to the lethargy that overcomes me when I think about work, and how to continue. Oh yes I have been exhausted… but beware, resistance in this sense helps me to accumulate even more energy. Slowly but surely the movement will continue. This is not a short love affair :)
Besides the thinking I have started the Prayers in Movement series every evening online. And it has been a very touching and fulfilling experience. Every evening people connect and I choose 3-4 songs and introduce the intentions for the prayers. And we dance together, each person in their home, in their city, in their country, but we all dance with similar intentions focusing on peace, health and love. And I must say that it is so simple to feel so much gratitude and bliss. Also joy, because besides the people who are joining, their children and pets join too. It is a deep pleasure to hold the space for these prayers and to pray too. This happening will continue on a daily basis until April 11th, and then will continue on a weekly basis. It is magical, and quite empowering, to make space in your evening for half an hour and connect with people who you don’t know but share a moment with, and dance to your heart’s desire.
In case you haven’t joined yet here is the link:
Password: Prayers
In my doing-nothing-time, I have also been listening to a lot of new albums, discovering composers, musicians and their works, and listening to them over and over again deeply, in order to widen my collection of pieces which I use in my lessons. Choosing and working with music is a tricky affair. The music that we as facilitators use must somehow resonate with us, but also give enough space for the client to explore the task, and not get carried away too much by the music. In order to choose the “right” possible music, we as facilitators have to listen to a piece many times, and really feel what it moves in us, and what kind of exercises we can do with these pieces. While I listen to various albums, I am starting to dream about working with live musicians again in my workshops.
As the facilitator training is over right now ( that is teaching them is over and they are now doing their apprenticeship hours) Güneş and I will have more time for writing and also organising more workshops, seminars and retreats, and we really do dream about working with musicians for some of these. It is always a very profound experience to witness the expression in movement and be witnessed by musicians, the dialogue between music and movement is magical, beyond words and thoughts.
A little gift for you
This last week I have listened to the following composers/albums/ musicians… maybe you’ll be inspired and launch yourself also into listening to music with a different kind of awareness…Hidden Orchestra, Pascal Schumacher, Hiroshi Yoshimura, Sebastian Selke, David Darling, Koki Nakano, the album called Sonic Wires by Katia Labèque, Marielle Labèque, David Chalmin and Bryce Dessner.
Every good music does something to us, if we listen carefully. I propose that if you ever do this exercise, you can listen to a playlist or choose some pieces and listen to them with your whole body. Try to feel which part of your body this music is talking to , or even touching. It is a great way of meditating with music and practising one of the layers of deep listening.
I had a little lunch pause and made some delicious cacık, or tsatsiki (with grated cucumber, yogurt, chilli, garlic and salt), a beetroot salad with fresh basil, lime and olive oil, some baked cold salmon seasoned with black pepper and lime juice and freshly cooked jasmine rice. I must admit it was delicious.
Coming back to the chit chat
Another 2 remarkable events happened while I was lying in bed and not going out for 5 days consecutively. One is that Cansu Ergin (yes here she is again, and slowly you will discover who this woman is) sent me the recordings of the last rehearsal she did with her group of highly professional amateur dansers, the Janushdance team! Cansu, besides being a fabulous dancer and a choreographer and a contemporary dance teacher, is also one of the most fervent dance activists in Turkey. She is like the “Che” of a secret dancing army. Her dance students and dancers who are following her are so engaged in dancing and expressing, that surely soon all of Izmir will be dancing.
Now this young woman is about to complete a 1 hour contemporary dance performance with a group of about 25 amateur dancers. Don’t get me wrong, they are real amateurs, that is, people dancing because they truly love dancing. I have had the honor of being Cansu’s mentor for her creative work for many years now, and I must say that this piece is lovely. It is full of sincere energy and presence, the dancers are there unpretentiously, expressing themselves simply and relating to each other, feeling the power of being together and producing energy and metaphors as a group that can come and touch you in the depths of your heart. I watched the 40 minute recording twice and made 2 pages of notes for Cansu. This experience is so precious: I know that she is now thinking and working on them and I can’t wait till I watch the next rehearsal.
And last but not least I have been talking to my dear friend, storyteller and writer Nazli Çevik Azazi for more than an hour. We realized that we are going through similar moods in our professional life, asking ourselves the questions:
What are we doing?
Where are we going?
What am I serving?
Why am I doing this and not something else?
Nazli and I are working on a very exciting project which I will announce some time later, but she is coming to work with me on this common project this July.
With Nazli we concluded that we do not find answers to our questions, but questioning ourselves brings us a step closer to what we really want. To that place where we can face our courage and our fears at the same time and still go on, making changes, which may not please others, and knowing that we may fail, we hold that hand of courage and move on.
It has always been extremely encouraging to know that you have such friends and colleagues with whom you can talk about the very essence of your questionings, knowing that you won’t be judged and that you won’t be demanded answers or solutions.
Because as we all know, there is no solution.
We all need to be courageous to be able to follow through to the destination.
We all need to be fearless even if we know we are failing.
We all have to acknowledge when life goes well and we are in harmony with it.
We have to also be able to accept when it is not.
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