Doing Nothing is a vital skill that can be developed. In western late capitalist metropolis life most people are working long hours with free time potentially being another form of stressful consumption. Are we stuck in cycles of hyper consumption and production on many levels including our own heads? How do you do nothing?
DOING NOTHING – learning from a cat and following a technique described in the StreetTrainingManual.
Technique: in the winter if you are walking down the street and the sun shines on you just stop and feel it
Technique: watch animals for the ways they move and behave
December 1st 2007-11-29 12.46pm in Spice Cottage on Mile End Road
It’s sunny today with a sky so blue and clear it physically compelled me out of the door. A good day to get out of London, to be in the country. i just walk to see what will happen I walk past Whitechapel market along Mile End road feeling a bit unsure, my body swing providing the momentum not my mind. A cat is sitting next to a wall in the sun i lie down next to it on the pavement I stroke it, not too much and sit down to share its space, I lie down. The sky is totally clear and blue, the bare plane trees move in the wind, people walk past, and I begin to relax. The cat is still nearby I think but I can’t be sure, I can’t see it. Then it mews brushes against me and walks away. I’ve taken its place. so i just lie there for 20 mins in the sun on the pavement. People notice me and I notice people, no eye contact. One man asks me if I’m ok and I say yes. I lie there relaxing, watching the sky the trees wondering if the cat will come back and then I feel cold, the sun has moved behind a block of flats across the road. When I go to a cafe and order a tea and an onion bahjee I see there’s a cat hair on my jacket and a leaf in my hair.
Last Monday i lay on the pavement near to Habitat on Tottenham Court Road from 5.30pm - 6.00 as the commuters became fewer and the evening light changed - you notice different things when you stop and do close to nothing. I ignored people but occasionally when they caught my eye they smiled and i wonder if doing nothing in public space throws all the speed and activity into contrast i wonder if it makes people reflect differently on all the doing we are doing and the ways we behave in london.
Coming soon mass doing nothing in public spaces
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NothingPictures
your techniques for how to do nothing
I think that most people are best at doing nothing and thinking nothing when they are watching a fire, either indoors in a fireplace or outdoors at a bonfire. i think it is a form of meditation easily accessible to everyone.
thomas brock by email
lie on the ground put your hands behind your head and look at the clouds
kathrine(6)
just lean on your bike and watch people
Daniel Ledenfrost artist
drop everything you are doing go some where peaceful and just sit there staring into space
Saya mother
doing nothing doesn't exist even when you sit down and say you're doing nothing you're doing something
Eliu (9)
Stand there don't talk to any one don't do anything and try not to think about anything
Ade
Get into a hot bath and zone out
Mathin proprietor of a turkish bar Linz Austria
try to sit completely still for as long as you can
Carey Perkins teacher
you can't do nothing unless you're dead
Elfi (5)
I like to do capoeira or yoga or cycling to stay still whilst moving.
its impossible to do nothing....is it to do with a sense of stillness or peace or a
finding a stable ( therefore non-moving) point in yourself?
isabelle Courtney-Guy account manager
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