(from the book: 'wingwave – like the wing beat of a butterfly' – Cora Besser-Siegmund and Harry Siegmund, Junfermann Publishers, Paderborn 2010)

  • Try to sense in which part of your body you feel uncomfortable / tense / stressed.
  • Describe the feeling in your body with words: 'pressurizing, stabbing, circulating (eg in the case of tension or an unpleasant feeling in your stomach)
  • develop an image from these words, a metaphor:
    • what does the feeling look like?
    • how does it sound perhaps?
    • Formulate words for your image: 'It's as though a stone were pressing against it, as if I were carrying a rucksack..'
    • Or imagine the discomfort in more concrete terms: X-ray image, reddened tissue, tense muscle strand etc?
  • Now put on your headphones and listen to the music
  • Now think the words described and look at or listen to the image/metaphor. Think these contents to the rhythm of the music.
  • If you notice a small change, formulate words and sentences such as
    • 'The feeling is slipping downwards'
    • 'It's rising like a wave'
    • 'Something is dissolving'
  • Repeat these sentences or words inside yourself like a mantra to music.
  • Allow yourself to think of other things:
    • 'I'm thinking about my work'.
    • 'Which emotion matches this?'
    • 'Which feeling is developing in my body?'
    • 'Which word or images describe this feeling?' Etc.
    • 'Then return to your body perception.
  • When the first pleasant emotions, feelings, associations emerge, continue in the same manner:
    • compose what you sense and feel in words: 'It's light, it feels free..etc,'
    • Find images and metaphors
    • Perceive and think positive words, images and metaphors in rhythm with the music
    • Continue the process until you achieve optimum relaxation/until you achieve the best possible result


Grade:
The experience runs in waves: each up and down is allowed, sensed in the manner described, focused with words and thoughts and then 'let go' again.

  • Symbols for the initiation of balancing, calming effect:
    • breathing deeply
    • distinctive swallowing
    • yawning