Boga Exercises

Breathing exercises

1. Inhale(1...2...3..4...) raise both arms

Hold (1...2...3..4...) arms up... you can also tiptoes if you feel so

Exhale (1...2...3..4...) arms down

​

2. The same as before but when you exhale take your whole body down, throwing all the weight down... releasing all the tension, thoughts, etc.

In this exercise you can stay down all the time you need and after that you reincorporate easy, nice and slow – like building your own spine.

​

3. Head: The same as 1. adding head movements. From the centre to right and back – centre - left and back.

​

4. Shoulders: rotations - circles. Small to big movements.

​

• Tense or tighten them, like trying to connect the shoulders with the ears: stay there for a few seconds and hold. Then release all the tension (even what is in your head!) exhaling.

​

5. Head + Shoulders: clench your fingers together and while inhaling rise both arms up and take your chin down. Hold 4 seconds... and then exhale taking your head up, look to the ceiling (arms down)

​

6. Warrior position II: Virabhadrasana II

Rise up and release your arms. Let the right arm come forward and the left arm go back. Make sure that your right knee is still deeply bent over the right ankle. There is a tendency for the right knee to creep toward the centre, so check that you can still see your right toes on the inside of your right knee. Engage your quads and sink the hips a little lower.

​

7. Arms: rotation - circles. You don't need to stand still – move hips, head if necessary.

​

8. Shake!!

​

9. Feet: be conscious of their position, feel the weight of the body in them. Think in the toes (put all the weight there) and then take it back to the whole foot.
Experiment with every part of your feet: sides, front, toes.

​

10. Head: to the right (inhale) and back to the centre (exhale) – the same thing to the left.

Combine head movements with shoulders.

​

11. Focus exercise: hands together, paired thumbs, starting in the center. Make circles to the right and to the left, closing your eyes or looking at the thumbs. You can make small or big circles, always breathing!
For example: when you go up in the circle, breath in and when you go down breath out. (This exercise is really good for jet lag or when you feel tired or can ́t concentrate)

​

12. Hips: Being rooted to the ground move your hip to both sides and back to the center. Then make circles in both directions. Also connect both circles to the center, always breathing!

​

13.  ̈Chicken position ̈: contract your scapulae, leaving the shoulders backwards (?). Holding that position move the head, hips, etc.

​

14. Knees: plié combining with breathing.

​

15. Wall Painting: with both hands, imagine your fingers are a brush. Make movements imagine your painting – thick, creamy... without bubbles. Maybe it helps to think about the flexibility of the wrist and the consequence movement of the fingers.

​

16. Shake again!!

​

17. Seeweed: breathing moving both arms in different directions, totally relax. Feel the resistance. The guide could be your writs.

​

18. Arms: Spirals (one arm at the time)

Think in the wrist. Change speed going in and back to the center of the spiral – do it in both directions.

​

19. Exercise to warm up the fingers: Press your finger tips and push them up and come again to the starting point. Repeat this movement as many times as you want.

​

​

​

​

​

1. Take the bow: feel the bow, feel your fingers on it.

Take it to the front, lifting like if you are going to see if it is straight. Using your fingers move from one side to the other, like a wiper washer.

Starting from the center combine moving really quickly 180a, then coming back to the center and slow...

Repeat the same exercises taking the bow from the tip and the middle.

​

2. Put the bow near your shoulder (don ́t move it, or accommodate it to reach the bow). Repeat the same exercises than 1.

​

3. Close your eyes, choose a specific place and place the bow there. You can do as many combinations as you like.

​

4. Pull ups: with the bow in your hand move up and down your fingers (like closing and opening them). Combine this with breathing (breath of fire) inhaling up - exhaling down.

​

5. Circles: making big circles. Down and up bow direction. Without playing in the string

​

6. Circles + strings

... you can make big or small circles, fast or slow, always breathing, being conscious of the inhalation and exhalation of air.
Think in an  ̈airy ̈ sound.

​

Is important to exhale before finding the string.

​

7. Very small circles, like using only your wrist and fingers.

​

8. Hierarchy exercise:

From 1 to 10: 1 is the most light sound and 10 is the deeper in the string. Find this ten different sounds and its connections between the breath, the contact with the string and the right arm-hand.

In a 4/4 bar: apply this hierarchy. 1 strong, 2 weak, 3 more or less strong, 4 weak. Combine different strings.

​

9. Hierarchy + circles + up bows

​

10. Speaking voice:

̈say ̈ your name with the bow. Concentrate in the articulation and accents of it. You can do this with other words too.

​

11. Stations exercise:

Starting in the heel - divide your bow in four parts which are going to be the stations. Stop on each one and check your whole body: release any tension you feel.

Do this exercise in both bow directions

​

12. Weighting exercise:

​

• Play two strings at the same time and explore the difference in weighting one more than the other. Then shift the balance

*Chords exercise using the weight of the bow

Divide the bow in five equal parts. In each part play:

1. lowest string
2. 4th and 3rd strings

3. 3rd and 2nd
4. 2nd and 1st
5. higherstring

Do it in a down and up bow.

At the beginning you may need to do each movement stopping on each one (you can use station exercise to check everything's right and then continue)

​

13. Other bow exercise

​

​

​

​

• Start slow and speed up

• Practice with the bow taken by its middle.

​

Inegalité

• Start slow and speed up

• Practice with the bow taken by its middle.

• Practice it with french bow taken.

• you can place your instrument like a fiddle...

​

​

Siciliano

Using the circles, the flexibility of the wrist and its consequence fingers, play ̈alla siciliana ̈. First slow and then more and more speed

​

Mezza di Voce

Airy sound. Strong down bows and more light up bows (in general) Exercises:

1. Piano to Forte:

For instance, four beats down bow, starting piano to forte. The same thing up bow.
Be aware of the sound! It should sound the same in both bow directions.

2. Forte to piano

Same dynamic.

3. Piano, cresc, forte, decresc, to piano. Again the same dynamic in both bow directions. 4. P, cresc, f, decresc, P. four times per bow.

This is the moment to be really careful in dividing the box in equal parts. Get to know the middle really well.

​

4. P, cresc, f, decresc, P. four times per bow.

​

This is the moment to be really careful in dividing the box in equal parts. Get to know the middle really well.

• End of the note: to come away you need to be in the string and help the releasing of the sound with your wrist.

For instance, it can be practiced with dissonance - consonance exercises. (more sound in the dissonance and then relax on the consonance...)

​

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​