Sacred Movement, Sacred Sound

SMSS DEBRIEF, WEEK 3             MOVEMENT WORKSHOP R ESPOSITO

 

SENSATION > IMAGE > MOVEMENT

One can start anywhere and work in any direction, e.g., start with image and become aware of associated sensation, or, start with movement and sense an associated image, etc.

Recap of Weeks 1 & 2: “Three worlds”: Mirror-Curtain-Black-in (light) =  Sangha-Dharma-Buddha

• This association or METAPHOR is intentionally arbitrary; arbitrary in that I invented it, intentional in that I selected the metaphor to fit the program syllabus. You can do the same. You can control or direct or free your mind and body as you like or need. The mirror, the curtain, the absence or presence of light could stand for many things, if we deem it so (intentionality). For example, why couldn’t the mirror of selves and their shadows represent dharma, with its binary t’ai chi of transformative dynamic representing the laws of Universe? And the curtain-closed could be the reality of sangha, the flesh-and-blood or “real” community in which we seek or find ourselves relative to some purpose or meaning?
• SENSATION of muscle tension of 3 types: concentric, eccentric, isometric
• BREATH (prana) in 3 phases: in-breath, out-breath, retention (suspension/holding)
• FOCUSED MIND: discipline (niyama) & sustained concentration (dharana), using breath (prana) as a measure
• AUTOGENIC CONDITIONING, or, Projected PROPRIOCEPTION: creating SENSATION of: a) relaxation, b) rolling weight, c) wave (like an ocean wave)
• IMAGE, IMAGINATION: well-lit flight of stairs, ten steps in all, leading to large double door; opening door; threshold (liminality); your most beautiful place; sensation—see, touch, smell, hear, taste, move; special place within place—comfort, safety, beauty; falling asleep; sleep within sleep, dream within dream

WORKSHOP

1. SENSATION & THOUGHT (sensation-feeling-thought-movement = somatic awareness) – See Moshe Feldenkrais, Awareness Through Movement (1972).
   1. Hand

i.     Make hot by thinking “hot” or “heat”

ii.     Make cold

1. SOMATIC EXERCISES #1-7 :See Hanna, Somatics (1988, p.99); review and practice 3xs per week)
   1. Breath
   2. Body Shaping
   3. Today, be aware of 2 body parts for each exercise, i.e., Soma #1: abdominals & lumbar, #2: Forehead and tail, #3, scapula and opposite posterior hip, #4: elbow & knee, #5: shoulder and weighted hip; #6: sequence feet, lower leg, knee, thigh, hip;

#7: Eyes and space (Fibonacci spiral), plus 3-arm-circles initiated with shoulder, elbow, fingertips.

1. SHAPING OF SPINE AND ARMS IN THREE PLANES: Transverse (table-top = width and depth); Vertical (door = width and height); Sagittal (wheel: depth and height)
   1. Seated (on “zitz bones”, ischial tuberositys
   2. Standing (legs/feet decending to floor from floor of pelvis)

< break >

1. IMPROVISATION
   1. “Same-Time/Same-Shape”

i.     Follow the leader—Percussive, Whole-body SHAPE

1. Two poles—sending (leader) and receiving (group)
2. Active/Passive
3. Not to tense, not to loose—active receptivity

ii.     Form big circle

1. Each student to center: 3 percussive SHAPES
2. All mirror same shape at same time (percussive, sudden, whole)

iii.     Form 2 circles, repeat

1. Alternate doing and observing, discuss
2. Symmetry of “group shape” (don’t watch the leader; watch the group as a whole, as it creates a group “architecture” of symmetrical response
3. Discuss

1. Energy is Mass; Mass is Energy: E = mc²
2. All mass has center of gravity, therefore, when dancing (sending or receiving energy) MOVE FROM YOUR CENTER