Creative Deconstructions for Little j and the Ginger Ninjas

Welcome to a special page created for and inspired by Little j and the Ginger Ninjas. Click on their names to check out their phenomenal websites.

Ginger Ninjas

What follows is an example of a daily Creative Deconstruction routine for use on the Bicycle Music Festival.

Ginger Ninjas and Little j: An individual Pleasant Revolution to begin your day. This daily series of movements will fit you for your Great Work of Celebration and En-joyment. If Gurdjieff or someone like him asks you, “Have you shit today?” you can answer, “Yes.” One might aptly call this routine “Emptying the Garbage Pail.”

If y’all have any questions about any of this, email me at: escapeplans at gmail dot com, ask Little j, or get my number from him…

Warning: These exercises produce real results. Persevere. Go easy on yourself. Lighten up!

1. Human Tuning Forks: This can be done alone or all together with great benefit toward harmonizing with each other and with your surroundings.

Simply hum together for at least one full minute. If done alone, hum from the depths of your belly, as deeply as you can without straining yourself. You can use hmmmmm or Ommmmmm, as you wish. When done together over time, this will harmonize the group and each individual internally

2. De-hypnotizing Breath: A teacher of mine once said that the whole purpose of society and culture was to hypnotize people into remaining unaware of things. What things was he referring to?

To do the De-hypnotizing breath, stand upright, knees slightly bent, belly relaxed. Take a deep breath, beginning the inhalation in the low belly, expanding the chest outward. Say, “Ahhhhhhh” as you exhale. Repeat 5-10 times or as much as you would like. This can also be fun done in synch with a group. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

3. Stretchy Face: Stretch every part of your face for 5 full minutes. Do it for 3 minutes if you are pressed for time. Remember to move and stretch your: eyes, lips, tongue, nose, mouth, cheeks, forehead, brow, jaw (in, out, left, right, open, closed), ears, and scalp. Continue breathing while you stretch your face.

After a few minutes of this, close your eyes and relax your face completely. Sense and Feel everything going on in the face and body for a few moments.

4. Saying NO to Time and Thought: As S-L-O-W-L-Y, smoothly, and gently as possible, rotate your head and neck from side to side, as you would shake your head to say, “no.” Do this for 2 or 3 minutes.

It may take a few repetitions to notice the complete stoppage of thoughts and the passing of time. Enjoy the timelessness and thoughtlessness if you find it. Remember to continue breathing rhythmically during this and each exercise.

5. Shrug it all off: Pull your shoulders up toward your ears. Pull them up firmly until you feel some tension and pressure. Hold them up for at least 1 minute. After at least 1 minute, inhale fully and then shrug the shoulders down with a loud, “Ah” sound. Drop the shoulders as low as you can. Wait a few moments and then repeat 2 or 3 times.

Between each exercise, do not forget to remember to take time out to Sense and Feel the effects of the exercise on your body. The power of this simple step cannot be overstated or overestimated.

6. Trusting Gravity: The Flop: Stand with feet comfortably spaced, about shoulder width apart. Put a very slight bend in the knees. Let the belly relax completely. Inhale fully. At the completion of a full inhalation, say, “Ah,” and let the top half of your body flop over at the waist while you exhale completely.

You will notice a bounce effect when you are getting closer to trusting gravity. After exhaling fully, inhale very slowly while raising your body upright again. Synchronize your movement with your breath so that at end of the inhalation your body is upright. Say, “Ah” and flop over again. Repeat The Flop 10-15 times.

To really understand trusting gravity, you can exaggerate the flop by doing it fast, followed by doing it with hesitation. What you are after here is a simple flop, no hesitation or speeding it up.

7. From Restriction to Infinite Freedom: This can be done on a mattress or soft ground. If it is done with a mattress, begin by laying on your back. The variation I have created for your tour is meant to be done while standing/squatting.

Squat down, put your head down, and wrap your arms around your legs. Squeeze all the muscles in your whole body, including your face, as tightly as you can. Keep breathing, and notice the restriction. Feel it fully for about 2-3 minutes. At the end of 3 minutes, jump up and shout “YES!” or “I Love It!” while raising your arms up, out, and back, with your head up, as if you are welcoming the entire universe into your embrace. If done correctly, you will look something like the DaVinci drawing of the human inside a pentagram. Feel the deep freedom inherent to this new pose. Repeat a couple more times if time allows.

Like this, with arms and legs spread wide!

(If done on your back, do the same exercise, but after 3 minutes, explode your limbs outward and let them all flop onto the mattress. Lay there and feel your freedom.)

8. The Laughing Breath: This can be done alone or together. It proves especially profitable when done while experiencing negative emotions and mood states.

There are 4 parts to this:
1. Inhale fully. For the full exhalation say, “Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.” This may sound like just saying, “Ha” over and over. Say it loud and with gusto or moxie. Do 5 full exhalations of “Ha.”

2. Repeat #1 with the sound, “Hee.” Do 5 full exhalations of “Hee hee hee hee hee.”

3. Repeat #1 with, “hahahahaheeheeheeheehohohohohoohoohoohoo” or some such variation. Do 5 full exhalations using this wicked laughter.

4. Let go and laugh your asses off as loud and as much as you can.

If at any moment your planned laughter turns into real laughter, go ahead and let it loose!

Ok folks, thanks for an inspiring day in Eugene, and for inspiring me to keep up with my Great Work and Pleasant Revolution!

I love you all.

Enjoy Everything,

-Garrett Daun, Liberation Consultant, Creative Deconstruction.