I keep thinking about the concept of a grace period, which some companies and things offer you and what is meant by that. Giving someone a wide berth. When I was working on a headstand the other day, my teacher mentioned not gripping the fingers so tightly together when creating the ‘basket’ in which the crown of the head rests. He mentioned that people can feel they need to grip tightly onto the fingers in order to create the foundation/support for the head but it isn’t so. In fact the opposite is true, have a little give in the fingers, in the hands. This came to me this week as an illustration of grace, not being so quick to jump on someones case if they miss the mark. Effectively creating within myself a grace period; so that things may be a little rough around the edges, a little loose, but thats OK.

Thinking as I have done often this week about the word grace and what is meant by that certain images keep coming to mind; swans, ballet dancers and Audrey Hepburn. How to live a life of poise, ease and elegance. I think it requires one to be well rested and balanced and so that when obstacles happen one does not lose ones cool but bounces simply over and above whatever comes to pass. Keeping a cool head.

Sometimes its helpful to think of somethings opposite to better understand the essence of what the thing is. For me, the opposite of grace would be anger, impatience, jumping the gun type behavior and cruelty. Looking at that list of words and then thinking of the word grace, I suddenly got an mage of a velvet blanket. Theres a softness to grace. Maybe thats what living a graceful life means, taking off the hard edges and smoothing them down. If grace was a material it would be velvet, a movement it would be elegant and smooth and a sound it would be melodic and constant.

Et voila, week two into our investigation of grace brings out primarily for me the warm, all encompassing softness of velvet. May whatever comes your way this week be able to be softened out by a big cosy velvet blanket and may all life’s hard edges be smoothed over like a shiny pebble in a fast flowing river.

 

Tags: Audrey Hepburn, elegance, grace, grace period, Mhairi Morrison, The bead movement, velvet