video Archives - Improvised Life

Uplifting Finds, Visual Poetry, Tender Blessing

Like the I.C.U. nurse in the breathtaking image, above, we are looking for refreshment, air, and sky. Here’s what we found…

W.S. Merwin On Hope and What to Do On the Last Day of the World

In this short video, the renown poet and activist sepaks eloquently about hope and our interconnectedness, two themes so many are working to encompass.

An Incredibly Relaxing Walk through the Cherry Blossoms at The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (Garden Bathing)

Watching this perfectly shot video felt so much like we actually were ambling slowly through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden that we felt palpably relaxed and dreamy. It is a balm for anyone craving nature.

Jenny Holzer’s Very Important Messages

Fifty years after the first Earth Day, Jenny Holzer’s timely messages resonate more deeply than ever as we face unprecedented global health and environmental crises. As does her succinct commentary.

It Feels SO Great to Laugh at Our Dark Fear

We found ourselves laughing out loud at this perfect 1-minute clip from a 1983 segment of Cheers. That would be US.

Slow Down at a Traditional Japanese Spa with a John O’Donohue Blessing

This steamy virtual Japanese “sento” bath somehow helps us to calm and slow to the pace we need to be. As does this John O’Donohue Blessing.

Easy-to-Make DIY Clear Face Shield

Tokujin Yoshioka created a simple, easy-to-make face shield held in place with ordinary eyewear. It gives an added measure of protection against Covid-19.

Escape to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s Casa Azul

Transported via the virtual tour of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera’s Casa Azul in Mexico City, we found ourselves wandering through gardens, studios and living spaces: much-needed escape and delight.

4-Minute Workout For Sheltering in Place (Like an Hour at the Gym)

This simple four-minute workout routine yields the same benefits as working out in the gym for an hour. It’s proving terrific exercise when sheltering in place due to the Coronavirus.

Uplift and Surprise Sparked by a Jane Hirshfield Poem

We’re loving Jane Hirschfeld’s wonderful poem I Wanted to Be Surprised. It is the lens through which we’ve been looking to discover uplifting…surprises…

5 Hopeful Views that Counter Coronovirus Fear (Science and Art)

Over the past week, I’ve been collecting information and video that yield heartening-yet-realistic views of the frightening situation we are experiencing together, from wise-men scientists explaining the science, to singers joining together virtually to serenade the world.

Quarantined, Italians are Singing out of their Windows + Mary Oliver

As grim notices come in announcing closings and suspensions due to the Coronavirus, we saw THIS video from Italy and had to smile, heartened…

William Forsythe on ‘Choreographing Your Own Role Within the Choreography’

In his beautiful kinetic choreographies of pendulums, artist William Forsythe draws our awareness to ways we negotiate and choreograph our paths…

What to Do When Sleep is Like an Angry Sea (Simple Things that Help You Sleep)

Charlotte Arene’s remarkable stop motion animation captures the restless agitation of not sleeping well as though roiled by an angry sea. It’s a feeling many of us know well. Here is my list of tiny steps that can help you sleep, learned by trying them on myself.

Li Ziqi’s Soothing, Addictive Videos Portrays Living ‘in the Flow’

On Chinese vlogger Li Ziqi’s mesmerizing YouTube channel. she doesn’t speak and there are no how tos or manic hosts,. Instead she evokes a quiet, very pastoral, very ancient way of life whose effect is deeply soothing.

9 Answers to Krista Tippett’s Powerful Interview Question Inspire Our Own

This short video compiles some very surprising answers to On Being’s Krista Tippet’s favorite interview question. It evokes “a very fertile place in everybody’s imaginations, whatever their story is…full of questions and searching and softness.” It’s a wonderful question to ask ourselves…

All articles filed in video