Provocation = BREATH By Dina Emerson

As part of Notes for Tomorrow, we asked five Las Vegans if they wanted to help us create one of the exhibition’s artworks, Amrita Hepi’s Soothsayer Serenades, a project that invites participants to curate playlists that can be shared on social media. Hepi asks each person to title their playlist with “a provocation.” In this essay, Dina Emerson reflects on the inspiration behind her playlist, Provocation = BREATHE.

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Provocation = BREATH

By Dina Emerson I grew up in the 70s and 80s, when the cassette tape was the medium of choice for creating sound art, collage, and what we called the “mixtape” (the analog equivalent of a playlist) … but along with the physical medium of the cassette (which could be decorated, written on, packaged as a gift, and thereby made into an individual experience) came the built-in requirement that the chosen songs must be listened to in the order they were added. It sounds like a small detail but, in fact, making a playlist that was designed to be experienced in a particular sequence made the task of creating it into a kind of “sonic storytelling event.” We designed cassette mixtapes for friends, lovers, collaborators in creativity, crushes, anyone for whom we wanted to offer a curated experience, unfolding in time, of connection. Yes, “connection” is the word that stands out when I reflect on trading or offering mixtapes (later on, sharing playlists); a desire to cultivate connection and intimacy. A desire to give the other person a gift and a chance to know us better. And a way to discover new sounds, new music, new artists. A chance to lose oneself for 30 or 60 minutes and take an aural journey, knowing that another human being created this JUST FOR US. I am primarily a singer, so the physical activity of breathing is central to all of my creative work.

Amrita Hepi’s project invited me to be inspired by a meaningful provocation, but it left me wide open as to how to interpret it. I started with letting myself become very quiet and listening to the sounds in my office/studio, and then I realized that my own breath had slowed down and deepened.

So I thought: what kind of songs make me physically feel like my breathing is freer, or deeper, or affected in some way? As I chose each song, I thought specifically about the mood and story of that

song, and at the end I got quiet again and thought, “what should come next?” If we go back to the idea that a chosen playlist is a Storytelling Event, meant to be listened to in order and in real time, I wanted the sequence to create an emotional journey that was coherent (although perhaps not logically so, but it should still feel like each song was necessary).

A short digression on breathing: If we cease to breathe, we die. There is a good reason that so many fables and myths include something akin to “the breath of life” for endowing a being with a living soul (either restoring it from death or animating a non-living object). A baby is born and until they take their first breath of air outside the womb they aren’t yet fully alive in this world. Research has conclusively shown that deep, diaphragmatic breathing can positively affect our nervous system, our mood, and can even lower blood pressure. The connection with the parasympathetic nervous system in particular is a profound feedback loop (which works in both directions — shallow, constricted breathing can tell the nervous system to amp up the cortisol and even bring on a panic attack, while deeper, slower, regulated breathing can do the opposite).

I invite you to try 2 simple experiments with your breath. First, imagine the shape of your lungs and ribcage. There is more space at the bottom than there is at the top, and the lower sets of ribs are all in the middle of your back. There is a lot of space down there in the bottom ribs that is often underutilized because many of us tend to breathe higher in the chest and miss out on the full potential of all that wonderful area a bit lower which is just waiting to be filled with new, invigorating air! If you’d like, place your hands on your waist so that you can feel your thumbs against your own lowest set of ribs (you may have to scoot your thumbs slightly back and open your chest up). Now take a few slow, deep breaths on your own and send the air all the way down to those lower ribs.

You can feel the pressure against your thumbs, like a balloon inflating. Visualize all of the lower ribs expanding away from each other, like opening and spreading the fingers of a hand. Try it a few times and see if you can feel all that fantastic space down there in the mid-back and sides of your body.

You may find that very quickly you feel a sense of grounded well-being, and some people feel their attention focus nicely, especially if they have just been rushing around or coming out of an ampedup situation.

Another experiment is to breathe on a specific numerical count (you may have done something like this in yoga class or meditation practice). My favorite is sometimes called the “Box Breath,” because each inhale, each pause, and each exhale is done on the same count, like a square with equal sides (you can choose any number, but a good starting point is 4, so I’ll use that example). A special feature of the Box Breath is that it includes a PAUSE at both the end of the inhale (full of air) and at the end of the exhale (empty of air). So it goes like this: Inhale while slowly counting to 4 in your mind. Pause and hold the breath and count to 4 in your mind. Exhale the breath as you count to 4 in your mind. Pause again at the end of the exhale for a count of 4. Start the cycle again by inhaling on a mental count of 4, pausing, exhaling, pausing, etc. By slowing down, and consciously both regulating and lengthening the breaths, you send your nervous system the message that all is well,

setting you up for a positive feedback loop of lowering stress levels, lowering cortisol, and bringing you gently but firmly into the present moment. Note: try to breathe only through your nose for this one as much as possible. If that isn’t working for you, and you need to breathe through your mouth, pretend you are sipping a straw on the inhale and slow-motion blowing out a candle on the exhale.

That way, the air is a bit slowed down and slightly constricted (not so much as to agitate you; find a way that feels focused yet relaxed).

I invite you to try one or both of these breathing experiments wherever and whenever you find yourself with a few moments of time. The Box Breath is a favorite of mine because even when I’m out and about, if I don’t have to be talking at that moment, I can do a few rounds and no one will even know, which is kind of fun, like a secret magic trick.

After a few rounds of conscious breathing, let’s come back to the playlist itself. When I revisited it and listened again, I discovered another “story” that I may not have consciously started out with but which later became clear to me. The playlist can be approached as the Life Span of a Love Affair.

Opening with an iconic, moody track by Portishead, I’m reminded of the beginning time of falling for a lover, where one feels enveloped in warmth and a kind of “letting go” of boundaries. When the string section becomes prominent later in the song it’s a gorgeous moment, a perfect time to take a few deep slow breaths and let yourself be carried away. Next, things get energized … so much fun!

This song, Radio, by Sylvan Esso, makes me connect with the pure physical joy that can happen in a new love affair. Because we are all complicated human beings, things don’t stay the same for long, so the next few tracks take us through different emotions of yearning, conflict, sensuality, and perhaps even disillusionment. Tonite by LCD Soundsystem has a sharp, cynical edge to it (the breakup! How did I ever think I liked that person??). And the last track by Steven Wilson reminds me of being alone and looking back at all of the gorgeous, painful, ugly, and transcendent emotions from the affair that has now become a part of our personal history.

I invite you take 35 minutes of your time, wear some earphones or earbuds, find a physically relaxing place (that could be walking, sitting, lying, anything that you find helps your own nervous system to calm down into a low-stress state) and listen to the whole “story” as you focus on your breath.

I hope it will create a temporal and physical experience that is meaningful (and maybe you’ll find a new favorite song or artist to explore in the future!). Happy Listening.

This essay was funded in part with support from Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Soothsayer Serenades is part of Notes for Tomorrow. Notes for Tomorrow is a traveling exhibition organized and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI) and initiated by Frances Wu Giarratano, Becky Nahom, Renaud Proch, and Monica Terrero. The exhibition was made possible with the generous support of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, VIA Art Fund, and ICI’s Board of Trustees and International Forum.

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