can learn from each other’s differences. We can broaden our range of movement, strengthen our weaknesses, and create a wide variety of new ways to move that open up exciting possiblities. I recommend you understand your body and move in accordance with your own self-image, and then you can learn from other styles, such as ballet, T’ai Chi, Flamenco, belly-dancing, modern dance, etc.
I have often had the experience of starting out to teach a group of participants a particular skill by using a preselected movement. Then I observe different people with different body types and ethnic and cultural patternings. I observe the many structural variations that are equally valid to achieve the same skill. This diversity is always exciting to me and I treasure each person’s input as a truly creative and enriching experience.
In doing any movement you need to study your own body by paying attention to the physical sensations evoked by your movement. Use yourself as your own model. If you notice that you have a sway back (lordosis), emphasize the movements that are based on flexion and avoid the back bends or the hyperextension. Hyper-extension will only reinforce lordosis; flexion will stretch those tight short muscles that reinforce an arch in the lower back.
If you have a sunken chest, then emphasize the movements that contract the upper back and expand your chest. A forward head needs to lengthen and the muscles in the back of the neck need to stretch. Notice if one shoulder is higher than the other, or one hip down or up. As you move, try to make the necessary accommodations. Since each person is unique it is impossible to predict what you will need to do to adapt a series of movements to your particular body type and personal posture preferences. Study yourself in the mirror; have a friend take side view and frontal photographs of you. Try to get in tune with your body image as it is now and how you would like to alter it.
SOME PREPARATIONS FOR MOVEMENT RITUAL
It is helpful to set aside a specific time every day to do movement just as you set time aside for eating and sleeping and bathing. You are taking care of your body in the same sense.
The first thing in the morning and before you retire in the evening is a good schedule, although each of you needs to determine your own natural rhythm.
Arrange a place, a physical environment that is aesthetically pleasing, comfortable, private, and conducive to your concentration. The air should be fresh. It is especially invigorating to move outdoors. The feel of the sun or a cool breeze can add sensual pleasure. The light will affect your eyes and mood. The size of space will influence your sense of body scale. Your physical environment does have an effect on you, whether you are conscious of it or not. Create environments to move in that have a positive effect.
The use of sound plays a part in the environment you work in. Sometimes you might want to use quiet music or simply be aware of sounds in your environment that are already there. There are always the sounds of your breathing, and your body as it moves. Sensitize yourself to the sensory stimuli in your environment. Select ways to use stimuli to create a scene for performing your movements deeply and with pleasure.
What you wear also affects how you feel in your movements. Avoid wearing tights and leotards because you think that is the uniform to move in. Try moving without any body covering or with baggy sweatpants and shirt, or a loose-fitting wraparound. Try different body coverings until you find what works best for you.
Transition Ritual
A transitional ritual can be used to begin Movement Ritual I or can be used as a way of discovering what you need from the day ahead of you. Allow the energy you feel from this transition ritual to carry over to your daily tasks ahead.
It is a process of shifting your attention away from external stimuli toward internal body awareness. You can use your mind to perceive kinesthetic sensations within your body, rather than being influenced by any moral or aesthetic preconceptions as to how you ought to look or feel. This ritual is a process for quieting the mind, letting go of muscles, and neutralizing your feeling states. It is a process of self-caring, or bringing yourself to a receptive attitude, and of opening and heightening your own self-awareness. This process allows you to concentrate without effort and awakens your energy.
This is accomplished by closing your eyes, relaxing all over, giving in to gravity, softening your body resistance, releasing inner preoccupations and voiding the mind.
You also need to get in touch with your breath rhythms and appreciate how your breath operates of its own accord following your own natural rhythms.
Begin this movement by sitting with your body comfortably balanced, knees raised, your elbows resting on your knees, your head dropped into your hands, your feet firmly touching the ground and leaning forward at your hips, allowing your back to be open and rounded.
Palming. While you are in this position, cover your eyeballs with the hollow of your palms, using the rim of your palm like the rim of a cup that contains the heat of your hands and brings your palm’s energy into your eyes while keeping light out. Relax your eyes, let go of your face muscles, attend to your breath. Whenever you relax, let go. Breathe out, drop your jaw and let your lips part and hang loosely. Now drop your shoulders and breathe into your back, expanding and widening your back. Breathe out and sink into your pelvis, allowing yourself to feel your weight moving into the ground.
Massage your face. Bring your awareness to your face and your scalp. Use your hands as though they are fine sculptor’s tools. Press your fingertips into your scalp and rotate, rubbing your scalp and loosening the skin. Use your fingernails and lightly scratch until your head tingles. Use your fingertips to vigorously stroke your forehead. Use the heels of your hands to press into your cheeks. Explore with your hands, moving them into all the parts of your head and face until you have wiped away all expression and your face becomes relaxed, neutral and ready to receive.
Lie down. Keeping your eyes closed, slowly lower your body to the floor, touching one vertebrae after the other, sequentially. To do this movement slowly and smoothly, you can use your arms to counterbalance your movement. When you sense your lower back on the ground, contract your lower abdominal muscles and slowly unroll your spine with control, letting your legs, arms, and head touch the ground simultaneously. Sink. Sense the full weight of your body letting go. Breathe out—let go—relax.
Breathing. Open your palms; place them above your breast, just below your shoulders, and breathe deeply into your hands, with the movement of your breath rising into your hands as you inhale. Rather than being cupped, your palms are now touching and resting on your body. As you exhale, breathe out and let your chest fall. Soften your rib case. Make room for your lungs to expand as you breathe in and to empty as you breathe out. Sense your movement passing through your body and into the ground. Keep breathing, drawing air through your nostrils and exhaling through soft relaxed lips.
If you are aware of your lower back arching off the ground after you’ve extended your legs in front of you, then it would be better to bend your knees and draw your legs back so that your entire back can rest on the floor.
Now, pass your hands over your rib case to the sides and continue breathing. Sigh as you breathe out. Slide your hands over your abdomen, bringing them to rest on your lower belly just above your pubic bone. Let your diaphragm softly press your viscera into your lower belly so your belly swells and fills your hands. Breathe out and let your movement pass through your lower back and rest on the ground. Let your sigh become a low relaxed sound of your voice. Now let your arms slide off your body and drop to the side.
Be still and quiet and spend as much time as you need to concentrate on how your body feels. With your inner eye, scan all the parts of your body and be aware of any holding on. Breathe into any areas that feel tight, and let go.
