A Reflection On The Implications Of Somatic Theory And Practice: Used in the Movement Research MELT...

SOMATIC THEORY AND PRACTICE: MOVEMENT RESEARCH ‘14 1

A Reflection On The Implications Of Somatic Theory And Practice:

Used in the Movement Research MELT 2014 Intensive

Pushpanjali Sharma

Lesley University


A Reflection On The Implications Of Somatic Theory And Practice:

Used in the Movement Research MELT 2014 Intensive

This paper is written to reflect on the MELT intensive workshop series organized by

Movement Research, that I attended from Jan 6th- Jan 24th 2014, at Gibney Dance Centre

located within one of New York’s busiest and well-known dance and theatrical buildings

right next to Union Square, which is also home to the American Ballet Theatre company.

“MELT Intensives are a series of daily workshops in

technique, somatics, improvisation, composition and other areas

offered each summer (5 weeks) and winter (3 weeks). Taught by

Movement Research’s internationally recognized faculty as well as

acclaimed guest artists, these workshops provide students with the

unique opportunity to engage with some of the most highly regarded

and innovative artists in the field of dance today.” (Retrieved from

http://www.movementresearch.org/classesworkshops/melt/)

When I signed up for this intensive I instinctually felt that this intensive was going to

open the door to possibilities that I had been seeking to explore, both in terms of my artistic as

well as my scholarly pursuits. In my opinion this workshop surpassed my expectation by

introducing me to a variety of different somatic approaches that can help the artist/student

explore and research themselves.

To summarize, these workshops introduced me to various tools and approaches that

are characteristic to the field of somatic education. Through this intensive I got to taste and try

out for myself little bites from various schools of somatic practices such as Alexander

Technique, Ideokinesis, Rolfing, Feldenkrais etc. The facilitation method used by the teachers

in their respective classes was informed by one or more of these schools; as well as

incorporated various other tools, exercises, philosophies and systems of inquiry that cater to

the mind-body practices. The intensive was a diverse mix of different characteristics integral


to somatic practices such as body work, constructive rest, body awareness, visualization and

imagery, guided somatic exercises, ease of movement, locating support within the body,

relationship to gravity, exploration of space and time, attention to pro-prioceptive and

interioceptive signals etc.

When I applied for my Masters program at Lesley, I had laid down for myself a goal to

be able to research and uncover for myself the scope of spiritual as well as somatic practices,

to help the individual increase his potential; as well as enhance his experience of life. This

intensive has opened up a pathway to make this goal a reality. This paper will reflect on

somatic theory and practice in the classes of Gwen Welliver, Chris Aiken and Eva Karczag

individually in three different sections, as each of their classes brought out very distinct ideas,

thoughts and reflections. Three tables are placed at the end of this paper for further reference,

to outline exercises and themes that were a part of their classes.

Gwen Welliver

Gwen Welliver is a dancer, choreographer and a teacher. She has served as rehearsal

director for the Trisha Brown Dance Company ('00-'07). She is a Bessie award winner and is

a 2013 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Choreography. She has been a

Movement Research faculty member since 1997 and currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence

College (Retrieved from http://www.movementresearch.org/classesworkshops/faculty.php).

The focus of her class was on how to distinguish between skeletal and muscular

anatomy. This was done through - floor exercises, utilizing touch and bodywork by working

with a partner, and applying these practices into common modern dance exercises, sequences

across the floor as well as a choreographic routine.

Gwen’s workshop introduced to me, how to distinguish between skeletal and

muscular anatomy. We were instructed to move using only the skeletal structure with least

involvement of the muscles. Then we were guided to explore the lines, the curves and the


folds in the skeletal body through sequences on the floor where we were invited to

consciously recognize how is it that we transition from lying down supine to shifting to prone

into sitting and finally making our way to a standing position, all the while exploring the

relationship between the joints such as the ankles, knees and hips at any given point in the

exploration.

This was fairly a new idea for me for I had never recognized up until this class, that

efficiency in movement can be increased by just understanding the functionality of the

skeletal structure. Gradually I began to find ease through reduced muscular effort by just

working from lifting the bones, and trying to investigate the usage of bones as levers that help

distribute weight.

In her class, hands on partner-work was employed to help us receive feedback from

the body. In this body work exercise, we have an active partner who gives the touch and a

passive partner who receives it. I began to recognize how touch helps to draw attention to the

body part that we are otherwise unaware of experientially, for example I have been asked

many times in the past in a ballet class to find support in the upper torso, while

simultaneously executing movement beneath it, or I have been asked to find support in the

rib-cage, etc. Perhaps, it is assumed that everyone knows where their rib-cage is, or that a

verbal cue/instruction can be instantly translated into an embodied experience. However, in

body work the active partner traces through touch the entire rib-cage of the passive partner

and through that makes the person experientially recognize the ribcage and its functionality.

Unlike in past dance classes where cues are mostly given verbally, after a bodywork

session, I found I was able to visualize better the support that I had received through touch

during the dance class. I began to visualize an imaginary partner. When I shared this

experience with my partner, she suggested that I could further imagine there was more than

one person supporting me. This made me realize once again that there is no limit to


imagination. I was amazed how utilizing the somatic-principles of body-work, touch and

visualization; coupled with a warm-up that works inside-out helped me make changes in my

dancing that would have taken months to achieve through the traditional route of try-try till

you get it right.

For me personally, Gwen’s workshop introduced me to a new way of experiencing a

dance class; her class unlike classes I had taken before gave time and space to explore what

was being focused upon. Traditionally dance classes are taught in the following manner- A

section in the beginning that includes principle warm-up exercises that explore movement-

technique, coordination, strength, balance, style of the dance class, etc. This section is usually

the longer section. The second section at the end of the class explores learning a

choreography (the length of which depends on the level of the class). The focus in this section

is learning, memorizing and replicating the choreography; as well as keeping in mind the

technique and principles explored during the first section of the class.

In my two years of training in New York, as a student I have found the following

inadequacies in the traditional methods-

1. A physical warm-up that assumes each body or mind is at the same level.

How do we recognize that no two-bodies do things in the same way, or the fact that no

two-people learn things in the same way?

2. A reliance on learning through repetition i.e. an exercise repeated regularly over a

course of time will become muscle memory.

How do we recognize that sometimes things appear similar on the outside but the

mechanics are very different on the inside?

3. The downside of mindless repetition-

Often one spends a year in a class and then receives a personal correction at a point

where perhaps it came too late as it becomes hard to undo the inefficient/incorrect


learning that has been repeated over and over, and has now become a default.

Similarly the correction is also adopted through repetition of the new learning, but in

this model there is no time to process whether the new teaching is indeed the optimum

pathway for our body at that given point of time. This for me, calls for a different

strategy or we run the risk of learning another ineffective pattern. A strategy where

learning comes from inside-out and not the other way round.

4. Lack of time- Getting more done in less time, is preferred over giving more time to

lesser work.

Perhaps in the world of a professional dance class one psychologically believes that

true value for money is to get to explore as much as possible in as little time. But what

we fail to analyze is whether we are able to capture the essence of the class or

establish connections in our body more efficiently through this model or can there be a

better model of teaching.

After studying for two years in a professional dance school and taking classes over

and over, I recognize that I failed to make a lot of connections physically, emotionally and

experientially, as we don’t have the time to observe ‘how’ we learn ‘what’ we learn in most

classes. Personal experimentation of giving myself time to observe my learning, has helped

me become a quicker learner who choses conscious learning over repetitive mindless

learning. Observing how I learn what I learn helps me reduce time and effort taken to learn a

new thing. I choose my body’s innate intelligence and organic way of processing new

learning over impatience, pain, obsessive control and forced learning. In order to become

more efficient and effective, one needs time.

While I fully recognize that the job of a teacher is not an easy one, but as a student I

believe in recognizing my own responsibility to teach myself new things through more

organic and efficient models. After living a life in a system of education where high-


standards of performance are expected, and recognizing the toll on emotional, physical and

mental state of the individual; how do I let go off models that involve high-pressure,

performance-anxiety, need for control, stress and forceful effort? My resume reflects

academic excellence, but it does not reflect the cost at which this excellence was achieved

and it does not reflect the experience one goes through to achieve it. For me I have always

been more interested in recognizing the truth behind the inner experience than fooling myself

by the misleading charade of the external appearance. After finishing my college with a first

division, and having observed that there was stark contrast behind the experience in trying to

achieve it, I realized that the end didn’t justify the means. Was constant performance-anxiety,

societal and self-imposed pressure to perform, worth it? Whom was I trying to please?

What I recognized is that I wasn’t equipped to learn in a manner that served me as an

individual. I began to question how we learn what we learn? Favoring the goal over the

experience, the quantity over the quality, building identities around success and failure,

unwilling to take risks because of fear of failure, harboring a constant need for approval and

recognition, living with judgement and self-criticism, with no room to recognize strengths or

transform limitations, and constantly failing to engage with ones own individual capacity.

I decided that this was not my path and this is not how I wished to treat myself. I

started to explore philosophies, systems of inquiry and learning that helped me choose

experience over result, choose to recognize myself over needing to be recognized. This

decision changed my life and how I experience it. Adopting mind-body practices has played a

key role in helping me opt for a more efficient and effective model of learning which has in

turn helped me opt for a more efficient and effective version of myself.

I feel that somatic practices offer us a chance to relook into our current strategies

towards ourselves, and how we choose to relate to life. It helps us make new connections

within our bodies, offers us time to observe the effectiveness of the new strategies, pathways


and possibilities. It creates time and space for the mind-body to make its most productive

choice in harmony with the conditions in the given moment.

I find it ironical how most times, injury teaches dancers more about their bodies than

years of training. Injury forces us to recognize that which we have failed to pay attention too.

While suffering and pain are great teachers, I’m not a believer in self-inflicted suffering or,

misery and pain that we bring upon ourselves due to neglect and unconsciousness.

A class such as that of Gwen’s offers both space and time to the individual, before

beginning to dance. This helps us find and establish better connections between our mind and

body before we begin to dance. Giving time for learning to occur helps create proficient and

effective learning in the long run. Through use of tools such as Body-awareness and

visualization of support we come to utilize unrecognized parts of the being.

I wish to propose the value of having a learning model that helps the individual

recognize itself and how it learns and makes its choices, I find the somatic practices recognize

the value of the same. Sensing how I organize my learning, helps me create new pathways to

learn better. I also find that as I continue to utilize the tools from her class, I have made rapid

changes in how I learn, as well as how I dance. This kind of learning chooses the experience

over the end result, and in my opinion if the experience is organic and full, it is rewarding in

itself.

Chris Aiken

Chris Aiken is an acclaimed American improviser and dancemaker in the field of

improvisation and contact improvisation. He is also a teacher who teaches in the MFA

program at Smith College, Massachusetts. His work is significantly influenced by somatic

practices such as Alexander Technique, Ideokinesis, yoga and structural integration.

(Retrieved from http://chrisaikenangiehauser.wordpress.com/classes-workshops/)


His style of teaching helps explore space and time in a novel fashion, and helps

nurture the ability to sense, imagine and create through movement. The class he facilitates

helps explore what an ecological body is and what are the eco-poetic approaches that can

evolve from this body. We explored the ecological body as a ‘house of being and a habitat of

mind’ (C.Aiken, MELT class, 2014) and looked into compositional improvisation through

eco-poetic approaches, cultivating awareness of the fascia (connective tissue) and how that

feeds into the architecture of the body.

Chris’ class began with introducing us to the concept of the ecological body in space.

We were guided to understand our relationship to gravity through movement exercises that

explored Hubert Goddard (2003) concepts of ground-orientation and space orientation1 as

well as tonic function (C. Aiken, MELT class, 2014). ‘Tonic function’ according to Goddard

focuses on gravity response; i.e. how the body orients itself to weight and space in

relationship to gravity or centers itself in relationship to gravity. According to Goddard, each

body comes with its unique history, and this history it carries into the space. This means our

history will inform how we perceive, interact and negotiate with the space. Therefore the

space is the body and the body is the space.

To explore these concepts we did a series of exercises where we moved and walked in

space and were asked to explore whether we were more oriented towards the ground or the

sky, and how this affects our choices. We were reminded how each body is different from

other and thus its tonic function also differs.

Another transformative exercise that we were made to do is explore the act of

standing. Aiken pointed the little micro-adjustments that the body continuously keeps making

to maintain a standing position, which he referred to as a ‘little dance’. We were invited to

recognize that we are a ‘series of falls’ and that equilibrium or perfect balance is just a notion

1 Godard talks about both these concepts in ‘Phenomenological Space’ (2005)


that we build up. He pointed how as people, especially dancers, we wish to believe that we

are always stable and in a state of equilibrium; instead he invited us to embrace the

vulnerability as a human as well as an artist. Aiken suggested that as we embrace the

disequilibrium we open ourselves to the unexpected. ‘The audience wants to see vulnerability

and relate to it, it wants to see how one handles the risks one takes’ (C. Aiken, MELT class,

2014).

He thus facilitated a process for us through which we explored these concepts e.g. we

were asked to lie on the floor and explore what happens between movement and stillness.

This we did by listening to the initiation/start of each movement and then listening to the

beginning of stillness. We were directed towards observing how our body orients itself to

gravity during movement or stillness. We tried to recognize how we choose movements that

allow for equilibrium, and were encouraged to break free from the same by surprising

ourselves through risky movement choices; choices that would make us fall, for it is the

recovery that makes our choices real and interesting. This method helped me really recognize

how certain choices in movement are made so that gravity supports it, and how we usually

choose movement patterns that support equilibrium to maintain control. It made me think of

whether I avoid risky choices due to the cultural history or upbringing that fears risky options

or the state of instability; this fear has now has become a part of the space in my body, and

influences how I make choices or react in the space2. So through this exercise by deciding to

surprise myself into making a non-safe movement choice, I learned to open space for new

pathways. It takes me back to Goddard’s principle that if we clear something in the body, we

are able to open up how we access the space around us, and as I learn to have more access to

the space around me, I am able to open up more space in my body and thus make room for

more experience.

2 Going by Hubert Godard’s concept that the history of the individual becomes a part of the body of the individual, and this history is projected into the space around the body.


After this exercise, Aiken introduced his core teaching, that of the ecological body.

‘An ecological body is one that notices what is being created as its being created and

responds to it’ (C. Aiken, MELT Class, 2014). As human beings we often go into the space

with pre-determined notions, expectation and desires and usually the choices we make are not

organic to the experience and do not adapt/evolve in relation to what is happening in it. Thus

we fail to listen and respond.

Goddard talks about how diminishing expectation gives freedom for space to arise. He

also points to how when we go into a space and fill it with vectors of our expectations, it

clutters the space in the room and thus inhibits the possibility of a true meeting, for e.g. two

people are not able to truly know or meet each other as they have too many expectations from

each other. I find this to be the crux of why we are not able to enjoy a proper relationship

with each other, with ourselves, with our life, with our work etc. It is because we have so

many expectations, fears, desires and insecurities that come in between.

For me, Aiken opened up a new possibility of how a class is facilitated, and how the

manner of facilitation changes the experience. I found it very fulfilling that the philosophy

that was informing the class was shared at the beginning of each session. His exercise helped

me explore space and time in a completely new way. The most potent idea for me came

through the exercise of altering how we perceive time and space. Tuning into different time-

frames and dimensions in space helped create a shift within. Never before had I been given

time to experience the stillness before the movement begins, or time to listen to the initiation

of each movement. For me listening helps generate a more spontaneous and organic response.

Aiken’s directives constantly invoked the breaking of patterns to create more choices, instead

of repeating that which we immediately become accustomed to. He thus sent us in all

directions, and himself kept a watchful eye to notice if we were beginning to repeat a pattern

over and over again by virtue of convenience or habit.


I find that work like this has various implications on our psychological, physical as

well as emotional perception of the world. A class like this is a lesson that helps experience

life in a more rich and diverse manner. I have noticed that creating multiple choices in

movement exploration, allows me to create multiple choices in life. Taking risks and

abandoning comfortable choices in movement, helps me become more comfortable with

making new, risky choices in life as a person.

Learning to embody an ecological body teaches me to respond to that which is

occurring in the moment and helps me embrace the unexpected phenomena that occurs within

it. In a world where one is often taught to choose the known over the unknown, the stable

over the risky, the control over the surrender one suffocates the diversity of possibilities and

thus we shrink the space around us, and with that we shrink within our minds and our bodies.

Being exposed to work like this carries the possibility of a transformation in the

experience of life. By constantly breaking comfortable patterns, we open ourselves to the

freedom of possibilities. When we have possibilities, we increase our potential. What this

class did for me is what I wish my work to do for others. This is where my belief is made

stronger that somatic awareness and practice can reshape and transform how we experience

ourselves and in turn how we experience life.

Eva Karczag

Eva Karczag is a dancer, restager and instructor who has practiced, taught and

advocated explorative methods of dance making since the early 1970s. Besides being a

dancer for the acclaimed Trisha Brown Company she has performed her own work in diverse

places. Her work and teaching are informed by dance improvisation and mindful body

practices such as Alexander Technique (certified teacher), Ideokinesis, tai-chi chuan and qi-

gong (Retrieved from http://www.trishabrowncompany.org/?section=80)


The class with Eva included embodied exploration of the anatomy (jaw, digestive

system, lungs, skin, diaphragm, domes, sockets and hollows within the body etc.) through use

of imagery (Ideokinesis approach) and guided somatic practices. We explored the internal

movement within the body that is enhanced by the dance of breath. So also was the

relationship to gravity explored. The most potent idea from the entire class for me was the

idea of constructive rest.

Each session with Eva began with being introduced to pictures, illustrations of the

parts of the body that were going to be explored in the class. This was the first-time that I was

introduced to visualization as a somatic tool, It was my first taste of the Ideokinesis approach

that was developed by Mable Todd. After we saw the images and discussed them, the rest of

the class was an exploratory class, with guided verbal cueing by Eva. This cueing was often

done in a very low voice, and spread across large intervals of time. The internal body as well

as the external body was explored at a very slow pace.

“If you forget yourself, you become the universe”

(Nachmanovitch, 1990)

This method of somatic practice has often led me to a place between wakefulness and

sleep. There were times I felt like I was following her soft voiced instruction and physically

moving, but to an observer it might seem like I’m motionless. I began to loose sense of time

and place, but yet continued to be very connected to the space. I felt a deep sense of

relaxation, and deeper connections being created between me, and a completely unexplored

part of myself. Being able to access a place like this through the somatic work is what attracts

me the most, and the practice of constructive rest plays a big role in helping one access this

space.

Therefore the class with Eva was perhaps the one class that I was instantly attracted to

when I read the description of her workshop prior to the intensive. For me the class she


facilitated came closest to what I had initially wanted to explore in the somatic world. I have

always had a keen urge to integrate the somatic practice into the creative process and taking

classes such as Eva’s as well as Aiken’s really showed me the potential of this vision;

Exposure to classes like these helped me realize that what I had been seeking for a long time

is very much out there and is accessible and available for me to be able to research and build

on.

I have always wondered why is it that the concept of rest is so largely ignored in our

society. Thinking about this has brought up a number of questions such as - why is there such

an imbalance between the concept of work and rest? Why is it mostly believed in society that

rest is a waste of time? Can we actually rest without deliberately intending to do so?

The use of rest phases in the somatic practice has always intrigued me. It has often led

me to a space between wakefulness and sleep. I have often pondered on the possibilities for

the human in this space, where he has the potential to process and assimilate without trying to

force or control. A space which allows for total surrender of the need to do, to force, to push

and to become. In this space new connections are made, new ideas are birthed, pain is

released, time is transcended and space is transformed. This is a potent space for re-patterning

to occur, through choices that share an affinity to ease and all that is natural and organic.

On the first day of Eva’s class she brought in illustrations of the jaw, that of an infant,

a child and an adult. Once everyone had seen these illustrations, she directed us to focus on

how the jaw drops. Having a medical history of pain in the temporomandibular joint (locked-

jaw syndrome), I was excited to receive this new information. I observed that consciously

choosing to drop the jaw directly affects a lot many things in the body.

When Eva introduced us to the practice of releasing the jaw, I tried to notice what

other parts of my body got released with this simple practice. Then she asked us to start


deliberately yawning, and send the yawn to different parts of the body. Deliberate yawning to

me seems like an exercise that can help create more time in the mind and space in the body.

I feel when we clench our jaws, fists or any other part of our body unconsciously, it

immediately sends a message to our body. A message that creates a feeling of discomfort

with the situation or the task at hand. I have observed in myself as well as in other people that

we tense our faces when we are trying to work outside our comfort zone e.g. while learning a

new choreography in a very short window of time. I have often experimented with

consciously relaxing my face and any other tight muscles during a difficult task in a class.

This has often had immediate positive effects, as by eliminating this tightness, I shut off the

fight-flight signal (which according to me is a situation which makes us either fight and push

too hard or makes us want to run away from the class), and instead choose a state of being

that is more relaxed and thus more open to being able to absorb. I sometimes feel that we

have inherited a defective model of engaging with new or challenging tasks/situations where

learning almost always seems to be accompanied by performance anxiety, and a constant

failure/success anxiety depending on the unsatisfactory/satisfactory outcome. We need to find

a way to tap into that part of ourselves that creates ease in the body,that allows us to

experience things as they are and not as we make them to be.

I think that perhaps children learn faster than adults simply because their bodies are

in a state of ease and they haven’t yet been taught to identify with the outcome. Sending a

yawn into our tense spots, is like clicking a refresh button on a computer, eliminating the

windows that are not responding and slowing down the system, and choosing a new screen

that is ready to process at a faster speed.

Another thing that Eva introduced to us was the concept of giving weight into the

floor and receiving support from it. She facilitated an entire somatic process for an hour, in

which she invited us to explore how we release weight into the ground in various everyday


positions of rest on the floor, and kept encouraging to release more. As I released the weight,

I began to recognize that I need to understand my relationship to the floor all over again.

There was a line that Eva kept repeating throughout the process that really has stuck with me

“the more you release, the more support you will receive” (E.Karczag, MELT class, 2014). I

found it hard to receive support from the floor, I found myself collapsing into the floor as I

released my weight. When I asked Eva about not being able to receive support, she explained

to me that relationship to the Earth takes time to develop, and to learn to receive support from

the floor is a continuous exploratory process. Now after a month of trying to establish a

relationship with the floor I can say that I am beginning to understand what it means to

receive support from it. It has changed how I stand, walk and dance. I now am constantly

engaging with releasing weight into the floor, and studying at what stage do I sense the

support coming back from the ground. I believe there are many other positive implications

that will come with establishing a relationship with the ground on which we tread on.

Eva directed a Somatic Process for us through which we could learn to recognize the

presence of the digestive track within our bodies and the journey that occurs within it. As a

continuation of the same yawning exercise, we were encouraged to send the yawn into the

throat, the food-pipe, into the stomach, the small and large intestine, all the way down to the

anus. We were encouraged to visualize the whole digestive system, the length of each organ,

the origin and insertion, and how it coiled inside our bodies. We were also asked to visualize

the diaphragm and explained how it contracts and moves down during inhalation and moves

up during exhalation. The idea that there is so much movement inside the body was an

important realization for me. It helped me expand my inner consciousness to understand the

place/role of fluidity, flow and motion that occurs internally inside the body. I had never

consciously registered, that besides muscle and bones, there were other organs that are very

much a part of my movement. That these organs offer a soft support inside my body and that


these organs were being constantly massaged by the breath. Visualizing the internal structure

of my body has changed my approach towards my movement and dancing.

Body-work was another important feature that I got exposed to in Eva’s class. It is one

thing to know that the humerus (arm bone) attaches to the scapula through a ball and socket

joint, but its another to embody this knowledge. In a session where we were exploring the

hollows and domes within the body, Eva started the class by showing us pictures of domes in

architectural structures such as that of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. We were asked to recognize

how a dome stands without any interior support. We were also asked to share what a dome

means to each of us. Then we did a body-work session with a partner. In which we were

asked to give gentle feedback and support to the various domes in the body. So while one

partner lay on the floor, the active partner gave a sense of support by placing their body parts

(or convex body parts of their body), into the hollows (concave parts) of the passive partner’s

body e.g. person A performing the body-work places his shoulder (convex dome) inside the

arch (concave dome) of the foot of person B. We were directed to intend support instead of

use of effort to direct it. Using intention over effort seems characteristic to the somatic

practice, and is an important element in the work. Here awareness is cultivated through subtle

work.

For me the entire workshop with Eva is an inspiring model of facilitation which I

want to adopt and incorporate in the future while creating my own work as an artist, teacher

and facilitator. There is a beautiful space that the somatic practices can help access. A person

exposed to this often reports to relive the classroom experiences in their sleep. I had beautiful

experiences in my sleep too, where I felt I had returned to a place where I could listen more

than I wanted to do, where I could let go instead of trying to manipulate/control, where I was

moved instead of trying to move. In this environment, breath, body, spirit, space and time had


all converged into a cosmic dance. I felt as though I was experiencing what it is to be born

with a clean page.

Ekhart Tolle has talked about why we are unable to truly experience the ‘now’ in his

book The Power of Now. According to him it is the ego that comes in the way of experiencing

the present moment. The ego exists due to thoughts of the past and the fantasies of the future;

but it cannot exist in the now. The ego attaches itself to history, to desires and expectations

from the future, and so it fears death in the now, and that is why it avoids the present moment,

but through the somatic practice I feel we can experience this now moment in the space

between wakefulness and sleep. I feel this is the space where one can experience the self that

exists outside the boundaries of physical dimension, space and time. It is here that one gets to

meet the part of the self that is indefinable and operates beyond the constructed sense of

space, time or need for identity or meaning. In a world in which we are constantly building

identities around what we do and think; trying to control or feeling controlled; looking for

stability, security, success; gauging personal achievements; defining ideologies etc. It is

important to visit an uncluttered space free from all this, a place that sieves out the non-

essential and nurtures the essential to serve that part of us that is indefinable, boundless and

free.

References-

1. McHose, C. (June, 2005). Phenomenological Space.[Interview with Hubert Godard]. Contact Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www.resourcesinmovement.com/images/Articles/Phenomenological%20Space%20CQ%20Article.pdf

2. Nachmanovitch, S. (1990). Free play: Improvisation in life and art. U.S.A:

Tarcher/Penguin.

3. Tolle, E (2001). The Power of Now. India: Yogi Impressions.


Table describing Facilitation, Focus and Key Personal Realisations in G.Wellivers class

Daily Exercises with prime focus being utilizing the skeletal anatomy • Floor Sequence • Slow-Tracking over the joints i.e. understanding relationship between ankles,

knees and hips in going from a position on the floor to coming up to a standing position.

• Foot Exercises- Picking-up with the foot, exploring demi-point and point. • Focus on the Hinge of the Hip & Pelvic joint through battement kicks and

attitude kicks. Moving from the bones and finding stability in the return back to the center

• Adagio Choreographic Sequence exploring joints, folds, lines and curves in the body (Adagio Sequence enhanced by giving an invitation to Improvise).

• Across the floor Allegro sequence involving jumps • Modern Choreographic routine explored on both sides

Personal realizations-

How to learn slowly? i.e. The importance of the altering the pace of Exploration and how it affects the learning.

Day 1: Focus- Distinguishing between skeletal Anatomy and muscular anatomy. Personal learnings:

- Learning to understand the folds, lines, curves in the body. - Centering- coming back to the center to move out again, by giving time to

be centered - Relationship to gravity: How bones respond to gravity - Creating ease in the body: How understanding of the skeletal structure can

change the colour of the movement. Day 2: Focus- Body Work and feedback. Focus was on the Rib cage, giving feedback at the bottom of the rib-cage Personal learnings:

- Touch : How touch enhances the feedback possibilities in the body - Imaging Support: making space in the front by feeling support in the back.

Creating imaginary support by imagining one is being held by someone else, at the same place where the body work has been explored.

- Helping another is as though you’re helping yourself Day 3:

Focus- Isolation of Joints Day 4 & 5:

Focus- Body Work - Lying down next to each other and tracing the spine profile on the floor, counting up the sides of the spine, creating awareness of the ribs at the back, the space between ribs and the pelvis, and space behind the neck)


Table describing Facilitation, Focus and Key Personal Realisations in Eva Karczag’s Class

Day 1 Exercise 1-‐

• Showed us anatomical pictures of JAW (infant, child, adult).Emphasis on how the Jaw Drops

• Releasing weight generously into the floor, breathing into places making contact with the floor

• Yawning to release-‐ sending the yawn to different parts of the body. • Moving and exploring by the giving of weight into the floor-‐

She facilitated a whole somatic process on engaging with our weight, releasing the weight into the floor. She kept giving directives softly and repeatedly in an interspersed manner. Most affective one for me “The more you release, the more support you will receive”. Coming to a point where body dances on its own and we just happen to be in the body.

Personal Realizations -‐ -‐How do I release my weight into the floor without a collapse? -‐How do I find the relationship to the floor in which it gives me back the support in response to my weight? -‐Understanding the implication of releasing the jaw in the somatic practice -‐ Looking up spiritual practices like tai chi and chi-‐gong to understand the whole concept of weight and release and receiving back from the floor. -‐She told me it takes practice to work with the floor and learn to receive support from it. Day 2 Exercise 1-‐

• Jaw exploration continued-‐ Brushing down the sides of it. Relaxation of face muscles

• Yawning exercise-‐ Creation of time and space through yawning. Exercise 2-‐

• Introduced to the Digestive Tube, the functionality of the Lungs in exchange of air and that of the Intestine. How through excretion and respiration we get rid of the old to create space for the new.

• Skin introduced as the third lung • How organs and the body are massaged by the breath

Exercise 3-‐

• Shown picture of the diaphragm (separator as well as connector of the thorax & the abdomen), how heart and lungs rest on diaphragm and the three-‐dimensionality of diaphragm

• Then through a guided Somatic practice we encouraged to explore the soft

support of the organs in the body and were taken on a journey of the digestive tube.

• Swallowing and yawning and seeing how that travels form the throat, into the food pipe, into the stomach, the small intestine, the large intestine (encouraged to visualize the whole system, the length of each organ, the origin and insertion,


how it is coiled inside the body, and how it ends in the anus) • How these organs fill up the space below and so there is softness, but there is

support too. It is a soft support • The spine was explored though the guided somatic practice of the cat and cow, in

which one tried to find the connection between the two ends through breath, this spine with the thorax and the pelvis. This was to understand the firm support

• Combination Exercise-‐ Then as we were encouraged to get off the floor, told to explore how we move keeping both soft support and firm support in mind.

• Note-‐ Jelly fish first organism to gain movement, similar to the diaphragm Personal realizations -‐ -‐ Understanding the importance and significance of breath. Spiritual as well as physical implications. How the breath is constantly dancing inside our body. How the blood is constantly flowing and bouncing within. Understanding the fluidity and movement within. Expanding the inner consciousness to understand the place/role of fluidity, flow and motion that is internally occurring inside the body. -‐Looking up, why somatic practices think it is important to understand the movement and structure within. What are the implications of this information on our potential and functionality and creativity? -‐ Experiencing the body like never before, experiencing time like never before, experiencing space like never before -‐ The significance for me of the space in between wakefulness and sleep, the implication on my creative practice and my experience as a human being -‐Reworking through the realization of finding the soft support of the organs and the firm support of the spine , understanding that there are two kinds of support in the body and they both are equally essential, brought a lot of change to the improvisation, it helped take more risks, I felt I was able to access spirals and turns unlike I had ever experienced before. Day 3 Exercise 1-‐

• Introduced to the sockets and the hollows within the body. • E.g. Eye sockets, shoulder sockets, hip sockets • The idea of letting the sockets teach each other • The idea of centering i.e. the deeper the limp center into the socket, the freer the

limb • The idea of being simple (not mistaking it to be simplistic) • Guided through somatic practice to explore these sockets and movement inside it • The idea of the arms dropping backwards into the socket, being heavy and nicely

nestled into its socket for the deeper it is the freer it is • Similarly for the hip-‐socket, the idea that the hips rest on the legs but also that

the legs push into the hips and get support through this. “You sit below where you stand, you stand below where you sit”-‐ Barbara Clark Note-‐the arms are for reaching, therefore they are more mobile; whereas legs are made for support so less mobility

Personal realisations-‐


-‐Kept falling in and out of sleep, so much so that I am remembered this exercise only on reflection. I have been thinking about this idea ever since, about limbs firmly snuggling into their sockets, wasn’t quite sure where I learnt it. -‐How the re-‐patterning occurs without too much force of decision making Day 4-‐ Focus-‐ Domes and Spirituality Tensegrity = Tension + Integrity (the idea that you move one thing and everything else moves) -‐What does a dome mean to me? Resonance, Reflection, Protection like a womb, the Earth, The center point, no corners Where does the support come from in a dome? -‐Shown pictures of the domes in the world and then she placed a trail of anatomy pictures on the floor, we moved from arches of feet, to dome of knee, domes below torso, dome of the diaphragm, dome of the armpits, dome of the upper palette, dome of the skull Exercise 1-‐

• Partner Body work-‐ Going through all the domes mentioned above by giving partner feedback and support through ‘ touch’ and using creative ways to do the same

• Supporting with Intention and not Effort Intention is upwards for the support, but thrust is gentle and light.

• For the Diaphragm dome intention was to go underneath and upwards etc. • Finished by lying head to head, pushing into each other’s domes. Then person

was encouraged to move gently after this re-‐integrated embodied sense, Can do whatever they feel like, eyes are still closed, practioner helps support them in a similar fashion as they move.

• Both practitioner and client made to write their experience, then they switch the body-‐work roles

Day 5 Exercise 1-‐

• Structure v/s Space in the body explored Personal realizations-‐ Had multiple dreams in the days that followed, was actually dancing on the bed in sleep, Soul was moving, the choices were being spontaneously made, consciousness was shifting, deeply healing and relaxing, body had exited real time.

Chris Aiken Themes Focused upon-‐ Eco-‐Somatic approaches Earth Body v/s Sky Body What is the Ecological Body? Tonic Function Disequilibrium, Exploration of self in relationship to Gravity. The Somatic practice of Re-‐patterning Personal realizations-‐ -‐ We are a “Series of Falls”, letting go of urge to grip towards equilibrium and embracing


the disequilibrium and surprising the self. Embracing the Vulnerability as an Artist. -‐Embodied Awareness to kick in when no time to think. -‐The unique History of experience of every Body urging towards abandoning outward imitation. Day 2 Themes Focused upon-‐ What are Proprioceptive, Exterioceptive and Interioceptive? Introduction to Fascia (an ignored layer of perception) Mechanoreceptors, neuroreceptors Personal realisations-‐ -‐Making ecological choices -‐Inhabiting a world without words Day 3 Themes Focused upon-‐ Fascia: Idea of Stability and Plasticity Precision, volume, adaptability and mobility. Morpho-‐dynamic capacity Day 4 Themes Focused upon-‐ Fascia and the mechanoreceptors travel at the speed of sound, that’s faster than the nervous impulse Personal realizations-‐ What are the implications/possibilities of this system of communication that exists within our body? Day 5 Themes Focused upon-‐ Fascia Massage Cultivating the grounded body, the relaxed body, the earth body and the sky body.

A Reflection On The Implications Of Somatic Theory And Practice: Used in the Movement Research MELT...

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