Showing My Belly for 'Stone on the Belly'

 

I remember deciding to start a blog for Brigit poetry, initially my own (because I had nowhere else to share them and didn’t want to wait until I had a book). It didn’t take long to decide to include other folk’s prayers and poetry to Brigit as well, and now I have to remind myself now and then to include my own.

I was studying the three cauldrons at the time, as part of my hedgeschool’s study or Erynn Rowan Laurie’s (magnificent) book, Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom. I liked the idea of the stone on the belly being used in meditation for training the breath for chanting and singing — enterprises close to Brigit’s heart — so I chose it for the name of this blog, but then was faced with finding a graphic for it.

Finally I broke down and took a photo of my own belly with a stone on it, then applied filters to alter it enough that my modesty didn’t prevent me from sharing it.

What a rewarding journey this blog has been. I am so grateful for the writers who wishes to share their heartfelt poetic writings to Brigit with the rest of the community. If you want to read past works, please go to http://stonebelly.blogspot.com/ . If you would like to offer your own writing, please comment below with your email address or website. I will answer as soon as I see it (which should be pretty quick) and delete the comment to protect your privacy.

*Stone on the Belly: Why?*

"Many societies have meditation techniques based

around control of the breath and observation of breathing.

There are hints in the Irish material that this was so for the

Filid as well. One exercise is described as 'stone on the

belly' and refers to a meditation involving lying on one's

back with a moderately sized stone on the belly under the

diaphragm to strengthen the breath for the purpose of

chanting and singing. The Auraicept na n-Éces or Scholar's

Primer contains a cryptic phrase that tells us 'five words

are the breath of a poet' and so the regulation and counting

of breath was also likely to have been important to the

practice of Filidecht (Calder, 1995, 71)."

Erynn Rowan Laurie

from Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom

Image: Photo by Mael Brigde, used on Stone on the Belly blog as its header.