Spiritual Practice

Yes, AM is a spiritual practice for me. As a yoga teacher for 40 years I’ve learned to appreciate the awareness of breathing as a beautiful practice for gaining access to the unconscious. And in Jungian thought this is a very spiritual process. Other somatic disciplines such as Feldenkrais, Continuum, tai chi, Sensory Awareness, trance dance, and sports have entered into my personal and idiosyncratic path of finding my way towards awareness. I practice out of doors a lot, even in the dark at thirty below zero F in the interior of Alaska where I live. A thousand dollars worth of expedition equipment make this quite comfortable and quite mystical. Moving in two feet of powder snow generates a relationship to gaia and gravity. For one thing, one can fall any time and land on a soft, springy cushion. Higher vibrations seem to manifest in different ways when it is cold and dark. I learn to appreciate the shadow and the yin as well as the light and the yang.
© 2008 Teri Viereck

Are There Standards of Practice for AM?

As I see rules and regulations for standards of practice becoming increasingly specific in dance/movement therapy (d/mt), following suit with other mental health professions, i.e., counseling, psychology, social work, I am increasingly puzzled by what I perceive as a lack of rules or regulations re the practice of authentic movement ( AM), and I wish that the AM community would articulate this information publicly.

If AM IS perceived as a branch of d/mt, it seems to me that it would be helpful to actually collaborate with ADTA to officially come to terms w/ these issues, to promote it and to help regulate the practice of it. Currently, I/m confused re WHO is considered skilled enough to practice and how that’s communicated to the public. I believe though that one doesn’t have to have a dance background or be a d/mt in order to be a facilitator of AM and that they could do this in a private practice setting although only our ADTRs would be considered acceptable to provide similar experiences in a private practice setting. I have many questions re how AM practitioners can do this without having some kind of credentials or license.

As I express myself in this message my questions grow and I hope there will be some discussion re these issues.


© 2008 Susan Kleinman, MA, ADTR, NCC

The joys of blogging?

A recent note from a long time member of community described himself as shy and unpracticed at communicating on a blog. As editors we are aware that we are challenging many of you to a new mode and one that may be keeping us in our seats too often and not moving.

But I just reread many parts of this blog and find it so inspiring. The comments we have so far are helpful and remind me that the practice is a great source of joy to me.

One advantage of this form is that you can take your time with it... go back and reread and savor other's thoughts on these subjects. I myself and still thinking about how to respond to Aileen Crow's thoughts about my article. It has been in my mind for a couple of weeks now and I am still not sure what I want to say, but it is nice to know that when I am ready to write the blog will be there. So even though it may be a response to something written a while back anyone can respond anew and refresh the conversation.

A great part of the joy of practicing is a deepening sense of myself. I hope the blog can bring us all into deeper and broader conversations.

© 2008 Elizabeth Reid