Body Mind Centering practitioner, Doug Mackenzie visited our class and lead us on a deep exploration of the body-mind. We explored the anatomy from within including the skin, bones, fluids, organs. We pointed at pictures exploring our relationship with lymph. We shook our bones and visited our cerebral spinal fluid. The journey covered a vast landscape of images and sensations. Each of us explored a unique world.
What will you harvest from this class?
If any of you interested in learning more about Body-Mind Centering, Doug would be happy to help direct you in that exploration. He can be reached at dougmack@crocker.com.
Please add any thoughts from Thursday's class on Body Systems to this posting. On Thursday we explored the breath, organs, nervous and muscular systems with a hands on approach. What lesson or experience will you remember from this class?
We began this class with an exploration of our end points: the top of our heads, our pelvic floor, fingertips and toes. Using the idea of the starfish, we focused on the idea that we developed neurologically around these endpoints.
Next, we explored the five fundamental movements: yielding, pushing, reaching, grasping and pulling. We felt these five fundamental movements physiologically as well as emotionally in a variety of ways. We yielded the weight of our arms into the arms of partners. We pushed away what we did not want and reached and pulled what we did want to bring into our world. On Thursday, we explored the Alexander Technique. What exercise will you remember most clearly from this class? Which learning would you most like to integrate? How do you think you might achieve this goal?
Joan Laage in her Very Intimate Stage butoh dance performance to honor butoh founder and master Kazuo Ohno. We are very fortunate to have Joan teach a masterclass on May 28th for our class. Don't miss it!
This week, we explored the evolutionary story through movement. Beginning with the single celled organism, we danced through millions of years of evolution in these two classes. The asymmetry of the cell to the radial symmetry of the starfish are still apparent in our present day selves. Our head/tail connections evolved in the oceans until the push of the head brought us onto land as both species and individually in our own lives.
If we believe the evolutionary story, as early mammals we took to the trees where we learned to crouch and extended our spines by hanging from branches as life on the ground became dangerous with large carnivorous animals. When our ancestors returned to earth, the brachiation (cross lateral swinging of the arms) allowed us to reach upward with our heads and balance as we learned to walk by falling forward.
We finished this journey in class by standing still and taking note of the small dance of proprioception that keeps us from falling over. Each day this week, we also took time to revisit Authentic Movement.
What will you remember most from this week of evolutionary movement? How do your in-class experiences connect with your readings for this week?
Waiting to be moved. Following the body's lead. Gathering with others to move and be still together. Making time and space for the unconscious to manifest in the movement and stillness of the body. Attending to impulse. Embodying the flow of the imagination in movement and stillness. - Daphne Lowell
The universe unfolds in the body, which is its mirror and its creature. - Octavio Paz "Animals, children, and all the elements are constantly responding to the forces of life moving through them. Imagine a horse full of excitement--prancing, whinnying, rearing its head, tossing its mane. Of all the life forms on this planet only humans have the option of not responding with such immediacy to thr forces of life. Through the twists of evolution, humans have the ability to shape, modify, and outwardly inhibit their organic responses to the world.
The British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) called the responses of animals complete expressions. Darwin believed that the full repertoire of animal movement that preceded us in evolution remains with us. Consider the toddler excited to see a friend. As they greet, he may resemble a horse described earlier, prancing about, squealing in delighted anticipation, unable to contain his spontaneous natural movement. Unfortunately, by the end of toddlerhood, around age three, many children in our culture have already begun to inhibit their natural movement." Susan Aposhyan from Natural Intelligence, (20-21).
This week, we began the exploration of Authentic Movement. To review, we explored the relationship between the mover and the witness. The mover moves with eyes closed following any impulses and the witness simply observes making no judgements nor interpretations. After the period of moving, the mover shares her impressions first speaking in the present tense. Then, if the mover wishes, the witness speaks to what they observed, again speaking in the present tense.
What was your experience with Authentic Movement? Could you experience your uninhibited self? Perhaps you had glimpses, what did it feel like in the body. What does it feel like in the mind? If this was purely a struggle for you, that is completely fine. Struggle is still learning. What learning can you take away from the struggle? How does this idea about inhibition change your understanding about you, your body and/or the human species?
What parts of the readings most influenced your in class experience?
Authentic Movement invites participants into a very deep, personal experience. For something a little lighter, check out this video.
What shape waits in the seed of you to grow and spread its branches against a future sky? David Whyte
Hi Everyone,
Great start this week! I'm really happy with our group and I anticipate this being a wonderful quarter of learning and connecting to ourselves and one another.
This week began with a guided body scan meditation. Taking time to become aware of the nature of the mind will be key as we continue to explore our physical intelligence. Our thought-streams carry us away from our physical selves and sensations. Again and again, we will free ourselves from our thoughts and return to the present moment through the portals of sensation.
On Thursday, we continued to scan the body and moved into a standing meditation focusing on the small dance. We moved through space to discover the sensations of proximity, touch and eye contact. In pairs, we sat and spoke of our experiences while working to maintain an awareness of our embodiment.
The reading for this week was Chapter 1 and 3 from Natural Intelligence by Susan Aposhyan. These chapters discussed Concepts of Body/Mind Integration and Embodied Relationships.
What connections did you make between the classes this week and the reading? Which experiences or learnings were most clear for you? Did you discover something about yourself or others that gave you new insight?
We began this class with an exploration of our end points: the top of our heads, our pelvic floor, fingertips and toes. Using the idea of the starfish, we focused on the idea that we developed neurologically around these endpoints.
Next, we explored the five fundamental movements: yielding, pushing, reaching, grasping and pulling. We felt these five fundamental movements physiologically as well as emotionally in a variety of ways. We yielded the weight of our arms into the arms of partners. We pushed away what we did not want and reached and pulled what we did want to bring into our world.
On Thursday, we explored the Alexander Technique. What exercise will you remember most clearly from this class? Which learning would you most like to integrate? How do you think you might achieve this goal?
F. M. Alexander
Remember to include citations from your readings.
What shape waits in the seed of you to grow and spread its branches against a future sky? David Whyte
What connections did you make between the classes this week and the reading? Which experiences or learnings were most clear for you? Did you discover something about yourself or others that gave you new insight?
