Hello again!
I have processed the first four Jellyfish recordings and posted them via Soundcloud. As I mentioned in the previous post, the Jellyfish Exercises are a set of breathing and interoception exercises Bob developed over the last four or five years, starting when I was in still in Salt Lake City. They steadily became a regular and important practice for him; he viewed the exercise as connecting with the most fundamental fact of being alive and embodied in the world.
This exercise, which we might call a form of “mindful walking” if we were into that sort of thing, is a mobile practice centered around—you guessed it—walking. However, we’re going to walk with intention. The use of intention is what takes this exercise beyond mindfulness. Yes, we will be paying close attention to what we are doing and listening to our body in a “mindful” way, grounded in the present moment. However! We will be actively creating something to pay attention to, and this is as much the point of the exercise as the listening component.
This is a movement, breathing, and attention exercise. The intention is to work with the breath, and understand the breath as not simply a passive activity, but as a form (and source) of movement. It is simple, but can be quite challenging and can be a rich practice. An audio version of this exercise that guides you through it will be produced in the future. For now, simply read it and give it a try. It can take anywhere from five minutes to as long as you would like.
