Roxanna (Larkspur/San Anselmo, CA)
I am interested in meeting with a small group of experienced witnesses/movers who would like to use the discipline of authentic movement as a vehicle for anchoring and amplifying one's vision & focus in the creative/expressive arts and teaching. Interested in once/month studio meeting in Marin area. I have access to a sweet, clear, clean studio in San Anselmo.
© 2008 Roxanna
Welcome to the Authentic Movement Community Blog!
Therapy for Women/Teens with Eating Disorders
Sara (MA)
I am starting a program for women and teens with eating disorders to use authentic movement as a means of self discovery. Would love to hear from others who may have taken the work in this direction.
thanks.
© 2008 Sara
I am starting a program for women and teens with eating disorders to use authentic movement as a means of self discovery. Would love to hear from others who may have taken the work in this direction.
thanks.
© 2008 Sara
The Authentic Movement Community Directory
Elizabeth Reid (Averill Park, NY)
The Authentic Movement Community Directory has a listing of 140 people who want to be connected to each other in practices of Authentic Movement.
Here is a small sample of recent requests (with permission from each person) that were made on the Authentic Movement Community Directory.
Lucy Mahler.....would love to start an AM class and/or peer group in upstate NY in the Catskills near Phoenicia, NY. Call if you are in the area.
Laura Hays....I am looking for other experienced committed movers to form a weekly peer group in the Berkshires of Western Mass. Please contact me via phone or e-mail interested.
Jeannine Salemi: I am a dance artist and dance/movement therapist (finishing my thesis). I would like to find a community of like minded movers/explorers/artists to practice with.
Joan Webb:Co-editor of A Moving Journal. Authentic Movement and Jewish mysticism. Integrated Kabbalistic Healing
Paula Sager: I teach Authentic Movement to individuals, small groups, and in workshop formats. I am interested in how Authentic Movement serves contemplative practice, creativity, and social change.
For more information on the Authentic Movement Community Directory go to:
http://authenticmovementcommunity.org/directory.htm
© 2008 Elizabeth Reid
The Authentic Movement Community Directory has a listing of 140 people who want to be connected to each other in practices of Authentic Movement.
Here is a small sample of recent requests (with permission from each person) that were made on the Authentic Movement Community Directory.
Lucy Mahler.....would love to start an AM class and/or peer group in upstate NY in the Catskills near Phoenicia, NY. Call if you are in the area.
Laura Hays....I am looking for other experienced committed movers to form a weekly peer group in the Berkshires of Western Mass. Please contact me via phone or e-mail interested.
Jeannine Salemi: I am a dance artist and dance/movement therapist (finishing my thesis). I would like to find a community of like minded movers/explorers/artists to practice with.
Joan Webb:Co-editor of A Moving Journal. Authentic Movement and Jewish mysticism. Integrated Kabbalistic Healing
Paula Sager: I teach Authentic Movement to individuals, small groups, and in workshop formats. I am interested in how Authentic Movement serves contemplative practice, creativity, and social change.
For more information on the Authentic Movement Community Directory go to:
http://authenticmovementcommunity.org/directory.htm
© 2008 Elizabeth Reid
A self arisen case of "authentic movement"
Forrest Smithson (Santa Rosa, California)
In 2005 I experienced a clear opening within me that the opportunity to heal into wholeness was before me. Briefly after that the words Radiant Heart became part of my regular thoughts. Those specific descriptors have been with me ever since.
About the same period, I had a desire to attend to some physical issues that had afflicted me for some time.
I discovered a Rolfing specialist with a very intuitive approach and worked with her for 8 months. A surprising byproduct of this physical therapy was an ability to map out my inner being, to locate and follow my energetic process as it revealed itself to my awareness, and to discover my own inner silence.
Concurrently I was experiencing more frequent occurrences of intense emotional triggers.
I resolved to respond differently to whatever arose. I sought out a gifted transformational therapist, Roberta Godbe, to assist me and worked with her for several months. This personal work quickly moved towards finding my own personal meditative process, a key element of which was a self informing process of organic movement.
As I moved into this self arising process, I again desired to work with someone on very specific terms. I found another very gifted practitioner of transformational coaching and embodiment, Amrita Davidson. My inner guidance was very strong at this point. I enrolled her to work with me, for a couple of hours every week, in total silence, and for her to follow, support and accompany my meditational movements and process.
For some time, the process of transformation and embodiment was quite intense. However, the self informing process and accompanying revelations were consistently reliable, in spite of being completely non-linear and experienced out of time, and the process was highly reinforced by the unfoldment of innate and highly personalized abilities and an expanding awareness.
After working with Amrita for about a year, an unwavering certainty led me to move to a place of complete reliance on an inner authority. I continued to deepen my personal practice. And even though I embraced much of this process in private spaces, I was continually directed to bring subtleties and nuances of this process within my ordinary daily life, and is now deeply embedded within my moment to moment awareness.
I frequently made notations of the discoveries and expressions of this process as it has evolved. About a year ago I decided to set up a personal website for making entries from those notations. This can be found at www.energeticawareness.com
Many times while this process has been unfolding, I have sought for forms of corroboration. Interestingly enough, at every turn, if I felt the need, I was able to discover outside forms of information that described practices or experiences that were similar to mine. One of which is Authentic Movement.
However, because of the deeply personalized and uniquely tailored course of my process, I have never felt a need to adopt or follow any formal practice, as I am being informed from the inside out, so to speak. My coming to know of myself and existence is through my direct and ongoing encounter with the unknown.
For myself, the act of expressing from wholeheartedness, of sharing from unity awareness, actually activates, deepens and evolves the pathways of truth within me, moving me through the maintenance of unity awareness towards sustainability of the awareness of all that I truly am.
In my case, the body prayer of authentic movement is a ceaseless motion of surrender into the openness of receptivity and acceptance, experienced as unity awareness within ordinary life
Forrest
© 2008 Forrest Smithson
In 2005 I experienced a clear opening within me that the opportunity to heal into wholeness was before me. Briefly after that the words Radiant Heart became part of my regular thoughts. Those specific descriptors have been with me ever since.
About the same period, I had a desire to attend to some physical issues that had afflicted me for some time.
I discovered a Rolfing specialist with a very intuitive approach and worked with her for 8 months. A surprising byproduct of this physical therapy was an ability to map out my inner being, to locate and follow my energetic process as it revealed itself to my awareness, and to discover my own inner silence.
Concurrently I was experiencing more frequent occurrences of intense emotional triggers.
I resolved to respond differently to whatever arose. I sought out a gifted transformational therapist, Roberta Godbe, to assist me and worked with her for several months. This personal work quickly moved towards finding my own personal meditative process, a key element of which was a self informing process of organic movement.
As I moved into this self arising process, I again desired to work with someone on very specific terms. I found another very gifted practitioner of transformational coaching and embodiment, Amrita Davidson. My inner guidance was very strong at this point. I enrolled her to work with me, for a couple of hours every week, in total silence, and for her to follow, support and accompany my meditational movements and process.
For some time, the process of transformation and embodiment was quite intense. However, the self informing process and accompanying revelations were consistently reliable, in spite of being completely non-linear and experienced out of time, and the process was highly reinforced by the unfoldment of innate and highly personalized abilities and an expanding awareness.
After working with Amrita for about a year, an unwavering certainty led me to move to a place of complete reliance on an inner authority. I continued to deepen my personal practice. And even though I embraced much of this process in private spaces, I was continually directed to bring subtleties and nuances of this process within my ordinary daily life, and is now deeply embedded within my moment to moment awareness.
I frequently made notations of the discoveries and expressions of this process as it has evolved. About a year ago I decided to set up a personal website for making entries from those notations. This can be found at www.energeticawareness.com
Many times while this process has been unfolding, I have sought for forms of corroboration. Interestingly enough, at every turn, if I felt the need, I was able to discover outside forms of information that described practices or experiences that were similar to mine. One of which is Authentic Movement.
However, because of the deeply personalized and uniquely tailored course of my process, I have never felt a need to adopt or follow any formal practice, as I am being informed from the inside out, so to speak. My coming to know of myself and existence is through my direct and ongoing encounter with the unknown.
For myself, the act of expressing from wholeheartedness, of sharing from unity awareness, actually activates, deepens and evolves the pathways of truth within me, moving me through the maintenance of unity awareness towards sustainability of the awareness of all that I truly am.
In my case, the body prayer of authentic movement is a ceaseless motion of surrender into the openness of receptivity and acceptance, experienced as unity awareness within ordinary life
Forrest
© 2008 Forrest Smithson
Sensing Shakespeare's Language: I see, I move, I witness
Mary Jane Masiulionis (Buffalo, New York)
I am a graduate student completing my MA in English at Buffalo State College. I am working on my Master Thesis, proposing the concept of Authentic Movement as a way to approach teaching the meaning of Shakespeare's text. I believe it is essential to approach teaching the language of Shakespeare not just through a literary lens, but through what I call the "lived body" experience. A heightened somatic awareness can enable us to more fully discover, witness, and embrace our beings in the world. Authentic movement, as integrated as a discourse for approaching teaching Shakespeare's language can extend movement research, illuminating the possibilities grounded in bodily ways of knowing. Authentic Movement extends the student's ability to sense Shakespeare language in the body, taking the text off the page and embodying its meaning through the kinesthetic senses. In this thesis study, the body is the researcher and the movement the immediate source of data and meaning making. This research will define the relationship of the meaning of the text as understood through the practice of Authentic Movement. In Authentic Movement, Shakespeare's language and energy emerge from a physical awareness to a specific part of the body, felt internally through proprioception. Energy also surfaces from the body's relationship to the text through the kinesthetic awareness-- the brain's ability to recognize and respond to organic impulses. I hope this research will further illustrate the validity of Authentic Movement and its relationship to language, creating a new pedagogical discourse in teaching Shakespeare's text. Shakespeare's language becomes organic through working with the physical, the kinesthetic and the sensory. This thesis celebrates the important contribution of Authentic Movement in revealing the depth of language in its truth- to be present in the experience of language.
© 2008 Mary Jane Masiulionis
I am a graduate student completing my MA in English at Buffalo State College. I am working on my Master Thesis, proposing the concept of Authentic Movement as a way to approach teaching the meaning of Shakespeare's text. I believe it is essential to approach teaching the language of Shakespeare not just through a literary lens, but through what I call the "lived body" experience. A heightened somatic awareness can enable us to more fully discover, witness, and embrace our beings in the world. Authentic movement, as integrated as a discourse for approaching teaching Shakespeare's language can extend movement research, illuminating the possibilities grounded in bodily ways of knowing. Authentic Movement extends the student's ability to sense Shakespeare language in the body, taking the text off the page and embodying its meaning through the kinesthetic senses. In this thesis study, the body is the researcher and the movement the immediate source of data and meaning making. This research will define the relationship of the meaning of the text as understood through the practice of Authentic Movement. In Authentic Movement, Shakespeare's language and energy emerge from a physical awareness to a specific part of the body, felt internally through proprioception. Energy also surfaces from the body's relationship to the text through the kinesthetic awareness-- the brain's ability to recognize and respond to organic impulses. I hope this research will further illustrate the validity of Authentic Movement and its relationship to language, creating a new pedagogical discourse in teaching Shakespeare's text. Shakespeare's language becomes organic through working with the physical, the kinesthetic and the sensory. This thesis celebrates the important contribution of Authentic Movement in revealing the depth of language in its truth- to be present in the experience of language.
© 2008 Mary Jane Masiulionis
Dance Teacher, Artist
Ellie Boyle, (Nottingham, uk)
I am very interested in beginning an authentic movement class, please can you point me in the right direction, thanks.
© 2008 Ellie Boyle
I am very interested in beginning an authentic movement class, please can you point me in the right direction, thanks.
© 2008 Ellie Boyle
I'm new to this...Would love some guidance
Vanessa (Brooklyn, New York)
Hi, I am not sure I can make this post, but hopefully I'll get some guidance either way.
My therapist has brought up the idea of Authentic Movement a few times and it scares me a great deal. I'm overweight and nervous about what I'll look like... I can feel my mind trying to make up movements before I try this, and I know it's not the point of the exercise. I would love some guidance and reassurance. Has anyone experienced the insecurity and anxiety I am talking about?
Thanks for any help!!
Vanessa
© 2008 Vanessa
Hi, I am not sure I can make this post, but hopefully I'll get some guidance either way.
My therapist has brought up the idea of Authentic Movement a few times and it scares me a great deal. I'm overweight and nervous about what I'll look like... I can feel my mind trying to make up movements before I try this, and I know it's not the point of the exercise. I would love some guidance and reassurance. Has anyone experienced the insecurity and anxiety I am talking about?
Thanks for any help!!
Vanessa
© 2008 Vanessa
Authentic Movement Research
by Eila Goldhahn (Germany)
Having completed a PhD thesis at University of Plymouth in collaboration with Dartington College of Arts, both UK, here is an abstract of my thesis and for those of you who are interested to find out more please visit my website www.eila-goldhahn.de
Abstract:
Shared Habitats: The MoverWitness Paradigm
This practice-led research thesis analyses and visualises central components of Authentic Movement, with particular reference to the work of Dr Janet Adler. By contextualising and comparing this improvisation method with modern, post-modern and contemporary movement practices the author describes the emergence of Authentic Movement and distinguishes it from other practices. A new and original viewpoint is adopted and the practice’s aesthetic, visual and empathetic characteristics are explored in relationship to and through visual art. The author, a learned Authentic Movement practitioner, critiques, deconstructs and reframes the practice from a visual arts- and performance-based, phenomenological perspective renaming it ‘the MoverWitness exchange’. Embedded aspects and skills of the MoverWitness exchange, usually only accessible to firsthand practitioners of the method, are made explicit through research processes of analysis, application and visualisation. Hereby the practice’s unique capacity to contain and express binary embodied experiences and concepts is exposed. Resulting insights are crystallised in a distinctive understanding of the MoverWitness exchange that emphasises its suitability as a new learning and/or research methodology for inter- and cross-disciplinary application. (© Goldhahn, 2007)
Abstract:
Shared Habitats: The MoverWitness Paradigm
This practice-led research thesis analyses and visualises central components of Authentic Movement, with particular reference to the work of Dr Janet Adler. By contextualising and comparing this improvisation method with modern, post-modern and contemporary movement practices the author describes the emergence of Authentic Movement and distinguishes it from other practices. A new and original viewpoint is adopted and the practice’s aesthetic, visual and empathetic characteristics are explored in relationship to and through visual art. The author, a learned Authentic Movement practitioner, critiques, deconstructs and reframes the practice from a visual arts- and performance-based, phenomenological perspective renaming it ‘the MoverWitness exchange’. Embedded aspects and skills of the MoverWitness exchange, usually only accessible to firsthand practitioners of the method, are made explicit through research processes of analysis, application and visualisation. Hereby the practice’s unique capacity to contain and express binary embodied experiences and concepts is exposed. Resulting insights are crystallised in a distinctive understanding of the MoverWitness exchange that emphasises its suitability as a new learning and/or research methodology for inter- and cross-disciplinary application. (© Goldhahn, 2007)
More Thoughts About Projection
Martha Lask (Philadelphia PA)
PROJECTION------- A GIFT?
Recently, I have been thinking about “projection” as a gift we can give one another, in Authentic Movement, in our everyday lives together and in my role as consultant and “coach” in organization settings.
I can see “my projections” as a gift to another because to share my experience of another, as witness, (coach and consultant), and to own it as my experience emphasizes our differences as humans. Paradoxically, it also creates a powerful connection between us, because rich dialogue and connection becomes possible when people share their distinct perspective and experience of a particular event whether in movement or otherwise. Together we can construct meaning based on my projection and yours. We are not striving for truth and we are not interpreting. We are discussing the frames of reference that inform our assessments, examining our assumptions, and discovering how we make meaning of what we see. Through that we can learn about the different ways people see the world.
When someone shares his/her experience of me that is different then mine, another possibility may open for me. Another’s experience of my movement or story, carefully shared, is a gift. Been truly seen and attended to by another whether their experience resembles mine or not, creates a wonderful, satisfying connection.
AGREEMENTS TO CONSTRUCT IN ORDER TO HEAR PROJECTION AS A GIFT
But agreements must be in place for that connection to occur.
I. One is the notion that Aileen spoke about in her post: owning the different “parts of me”. I have been influenced by the work of John and Joyce Weir, pioneers in self development and self- differentiation, who taught what they called “percept” language: “Here is what is happening in me as I watch you…As I listen to you, I am reminded of the ….part of me. I have you be the xyz part of me”. So, in my view, in order to establish safety, we must have the agreement that we own our projections as our own experience, not an interpretation of the others’ actions.
II. Another agreement is that not everything needs to be spoken – that each of us will be mindful in speaking our experience and will choose carefully. As a listener, I must agree that what is said is said in good faith.
III. A third agreement is that we will check out responses with the other person after we speak. That is how we illuminate our differences and our commonalities. From there we make meaning together.
TEACHING THE "WITNESS STANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS" As a consultant and coach in organizations, I teach what I call the “Witness Stance” as the foundational skill within the context of team or peer coaching. First and foremost, the stance of witness is to create a compassionate non judging, non interpretive environment. But, how can we not form judgments? We constantly develop judgments to help us make sense of the world; it is the suspension of judgment of another as right or wrong, bad or good that is the gift of the witness stance. There are 2 quotes I use to help establish the environment:
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there."
Rumi 13th c Sufi
"The experience of being understood versus interpreted is so compelling you can charge admission."
B. Joseph Pine II
The Experience Economy
Quoted by Susan Scott in Fierce Conversations
I also use witnessing in my individual coaching work. I have felt tremendous freedom in allowing myself to have whatever experience I have when witnessing someone. Then, what I choose to offer depends first on my role vis a vis the person, and our agreements, (facilitator is different than therapist is different than peer). As a consultant, which parts of my experience would be helpful? What are the benefits of containing and not speaking? I, myself, have learned to be much more discerning; I contain much more. At the same time, I also venture more. I am more willing to speak from my heart about my experience, which is different than offering my impressions of the other person, or what we commonly think of as feedback.
I find this subject of projection continually interesting, as I debrief interactions in my personal and professional life.
© 2008 Martha I. Lask
PROJECTION------- A GIFT?
Recently, I have been thinking about “projection” as a gift we can give one another, in Authentic Movement, in our everyday lives together and in my role as consultant and “coach” in organization settings.
I can see “my projections” as a gift to another because to share my experience of another, as witness, (coach and consultant), and to own it as my experience emphasizes our differences as humans. Paradoxically, it also creates a powerful connection between us, because rich dialogue and connection becomes possible when people share their distinct perspective and experience of a particular event whether in movement or otherwise. Together we can construct meaning based on my projection and yours. We are not striving for truth and we are not interpreting. We are discussing the frames of reference that inform our assessments, examining our assumptions, and discovering how we make meaning of what we see. Through that we can learn about the different ways people see the world.
When someone shares his/her experience of me that is different then mine, another possibility may open for me. Another’s experience of my movement or story, carefully shared, is a gift. Been truly seen and attended to by another whether their experience resembles mine or not, creates a wonderful, satisfying connection.
AGREEMENTS TO CONSTRUCT IN ORDER TO HEAR PROJECTION AS A GIFT
But agreements must be in place for that connection to occur.
I. One is the notion that Aileen spoke about in her post: owning the different “parts of me”. I have been influenced by the work of John and Joyce Weir, pioneers in self development and self- differentiation, who taught what they called “percept” language: “Here is what is happening in me as I watch you…As I listen to you, I am reminded of the ….part of me. I have you be the xyz part of me”. So, in my view, in order to establish safety, we must have the agreement that we own our projections as our own experience, not an interpretation of the others’ actions.
II. Another agreement is that not everything needs to be spoken – that each of us will be mindful in speaking our experience and will choose carefully. As a listener, I must agree that what is said is said in good faith.
III. A third agreement is that we will check out responses with the other person after we speak. That is how we illuminate our differences and our commonalities. From there we make meaning together.
TEACHING THE "WITNESS STANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS" As a consultant and coach in organizations, I teach what I call the “Witness Stance” as the foundational skill within the context of team or peer coaching. First and foremost, the stance of witness is to create a compassionate non judging, non interpretive environment. But, how can we not form judgments? We constantly develop judgments to help us make sense of the world; it is the suspension of judgment of another as right or wrong, bad or good that is the gift of the witness stance. There are 2 quotes I use to help establish the environment:
"Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there."
Rumi 13th c Sufi
"The experience of being understood versus interpreted is so compelling you can charge admission."
B. Joseph Pine II
The Experience Economy
Quoted by Susan Scott in Fierce Conversations
I also use witnessing in my individual coaching work. I have felt tremendous freedom in allowing myself to have whatever experience I have when witnessing someone. Then, what I choose to offer depends first on my role vis a vis the person, and our agreements, (facilitator is different than therapist is different than peer). As a consultant, which parts of my experience would be helpful? What are the benefits of containing and not speaking? I, myself, have learned to be much more discerning; I contain much more. At the same time, I also venture more. I am more willing to speak from my heart about my experience, which is different than offering my impressions of the other person, or what we commonly think of as feedback.
I find this subject of projection continually interesting, as I debrief interactions in my personal and professional life.
© 2008 Martha I. Lask
Authentic Movement and Performance
Emma Meehan (Dublin, Ireland)
I am writing my PhD thesis at Trinity College, Dublin, about Irish performer Joan Davis who uses Authentic Movement and Body-Mind Centering to create her performances. The area of Authentic Movement and performance is a vast field. I want to create an overview of the use of Authentic Movement in dance, theatre or film. I wonder if this is possible? Are you a performer who uses AM for performance? Can you tell me about the way in which you use the form to create performance? Can you suggest some people or projects that use AM for performance? I'm looking forward to your help in this research, as I am very excited about what AM has to offer performance.
Emma Meehan emeehan@tcd.ie
I am writing my PhD thesis at Trinity College, Dublin, about Irish performer Joan Davis who uses Authentic Movement and Body-Mind Centering to create her performances. The area of Authentic Movement and performance is a vast field. I want to create an overview of the use of Authentic Movement in dance, theatre or film. I wonder if this is possible? Are you a performer who uses AM for performance? Can you tell me about the way in which you use the form to create performance? Can you suggest some people or projects that use AM for performance? I'm looking forward to your help in this research, as I am very excited about what AM has to offer performance.
Emma Meehan emeehan@tcd.ie
Thank you
I wanted to thank you (Elizabeth and blog (not green blob) people) for sending me the reminders that we have a blog. I would never look otherwise, and I am always so glad when i do. This way of living in the world, electronically, has some getting used to, I have to admit. With paper (AMJ) somehow the tactile always aroused this sense of relaxation and allowance to drop in long enough to be inspired. I haven't learned yet to live intentionally electronically, alas. it's also kind of antithethical to the form, i'm finding; so easy to peruse, so hard to sink in. how to reconcile.....
but it IS SO GOOOOOD we have this forum. For me, it just means adjusting, reaclimating, switching gears. I should be able to do this more naturally before long. I hope.
I did think of something to contribute. I actually wrote somethng for AMJ years ago about AM moving out of the studio into life. And I lately have been reinspired by my life work, and my time in a narrow kitchen and these awesome, divine moments of AM impact, where I am revealed in all my selfness. an absolutely divine connection graces me. whew. very powerful even if its not AM in its most classic form.
so let me get by this next life hurdle in front of me. and i will mull over what is this experience of living AM outside of a studio in the meantime. Looking forward to writing. and I so appreciate this is here as a forum for us all. I wish not to take it for granted.
And again, thank you for the reminders. The magnanimous, benevolent electronic parent to an errant resistant non-electronic child.
are archetypes always to follow us around? another thing to muse about.
warm wishes,
© 2008 Germaine (Fraser)
but it IS SO GOOOOOD we have this forum. For me, it just means adjusting, reaclimating, switching gears. I should be able to do this more naturally before long. I hope.
I did think of something to contribute. I actually wrote somethng for AMJ years ago about AM moving out of the studio into life. And I lately have been reinspired by my life work, and my time in a narrow kitchen and these awesome, divine moments of AM impact, where I am revealed in all my selfness. an absolutely divine connection graces me. whew. very powerful even if its not AM in its most classic form.
so let me get by this next life hurdle in front of me. and i will mull over what is this experience of living AM outside of a studio in the meantime. Looking forward to writing. and I so appreciate this is here as a forum for us all. I wish not to take it for granted.
And again, thank you for the reminders. The magnanimous, benevolent electronic parent to an errant resistant non-electronic child.
are archetypes always to follow us around? another thing to muse about.
warm wishes,
© 2008 Germaine (Fraser)
Making film about movement therapy
Hi Everyone,
I am making a documentary film about movement therapy - including dance, yoga and martial arts based modalities in the greater Olympia\Seattle\Tacoma area. The film will also speak to the healing and growth potential of the movement arts in general - even when not practiced as therapy. I am looking for professional therapists, clients or movement practitioners who would be willing to be interviewed or filmed doing anything movement related. This film will be displayed for public viewing at Evergreen State College - during their annual spring fair. The goal is to raise public awareness around this growing field. I will be filming through April. Participation in this film is on a volunteer basis - but I wish I could pay people!
Tristan Elliott < tristan@seattle-kajukenbo.com>
I am making a documentary film about movement therapy - including dance, yoga and martial arts based modalities in the greater Olympia\Seattle\Tacoma area. The film will also speak to the healing and growth potential of the movement arts in general - even when not practiced as therapy. I am looking for professional therapists, clients or movement practitioners who would be willing to be interviewed or filmed doing anything movement related. This film will be displayed for public viewing at Evergreen State College - during their annual spring fair. The goal is to raise public awareness around this growing field. I will be filming through April. Participation in this film is on a volunteer basis - but I wish I could pay people!
Tristan Elliott < tristan@seattle-kajukenbo.com>
Writing within the breath of Contemplative Dance/Authentic Movement
by Roberta Whitney (Massachusetts)
Authentic movement has often afforded me a tool I'm not conscious of. I write and think about things on paper without relating it consciously to the work I have done over several years now in Contemplative Dance. And yet, once written, I can see as can others, that the very process of attuning to my body and letting words flow from a mind-body connection elicits even more as the spirit and heart join into the relationship and there is a touching of the human...of the universal...of something I might name as "inner knowing" or even "inner divinity". Here is an example that came through a look at the moon at the close of 2007. I'd love to hear of others' creative deepening through Authentic Movement.
The Moon at First Light by Roberta Whitney
I stand in the early morning darkness, save a blue glow on the kitchen wall phone. The ceiling lights are now off. I had switched them on to avoid stepping on either cat as I fumbled toward the cupboard for their food. I let my eyes adjust. I stand still at the back door, rhythmic crunching from the bowls off to my left. Looking out at the picnic table now covered with a brown tarp in anticipation of snow, my eyes are drawn up toward an almost-full moon as I tilt my head back slightly and open my throat to yellow-white beams streaming through nine glass panes. My eyes close. I bathe in this soft stream of light. Eyes reopened, I feel grateful that I may look at the moon in a way I cannot at the sun.
I slice green beans on a rectangular wooden board, aligning the lithe strands of green so the knife can separate several at a time. I don't often cut them this way. By habit, I usually snap the ends and sometimes the midsection of the strand. Seeing the neat slices before me, I recall canned produce I grew up on, a metallic wave crossing my nostrils amid a yellow-brown swirl of mildly salty water and floating beans…I wonder whose hands lined up the vegetables at the factory from where the cans were prepared? What machine was fed by a gentle hand…a large hand…and to whom was that hand attached? Their hands are on mine now.
We are all seated before an almost-dry but nevertheless magical waterfall at Yosemite National Park one warm evening in July. Newly arrived, we have already sighted a baby bear bouncing through tall meadow grasses and have seen a deer five feet from our room. Talk circulates of hiking possibilities, of the threat of bears to our rented car (did everyone empty food out?), of shuttle schedules to a mule ride booked for the next morning. We are graced with a menu of delicate foods and desserts. It is cool enough to have tea afterward. I look across at my husband, whose work has brought us here. I look to the eyes of the person serving us…I think of the kitchen and cook staff making my ease possible. I consider the drivers who carried the fresh produce and meats here…and the garden and ranches from where these grew…The hands that nurtured them for us.
Sometimes I feel like a moon made full and bright by another who like the sun's rays, shines full and steady on me whether I am aware or not. There may be encouraging words as I work to write, a joke that gives me laughter, the professional hands that support my healing, a voice of family and friends on the phone, the patient hand supporting me as I try Ian's skateboard, the cry of a hawk centering me as I walk, free DVD rentals that my family is given by a generous man, a yellow day lily opening in the front yard, a blue sky as I hang clothes, or the mind behind the complexities of cell phones and computers that allow me to do so much with the "press of a button/key".. the washer that faithfully does the work of my hands.
Other times, I feel like the dark side of the moon washes over me. At such times, I am reminded that unlike the sun, I am not pure light. I may become angry. I can grow impatient in the evening when I am tired. I might seem evasive in my response or stubborn in my desires. And when I fight the shadowy parts of me in a day, like the phases of the moon, my light wanes. I feel a loss of energy expended at war with myself or another.
I speak before an eighth-grade social studies class on being a veteran. How do I convey what I myself do not know, having served during a cold war? My mind wanders to those who are fighting for us now. Five of eleven 13-year old boys raise hands and say they will consider the military as a career. These boys are Ian's age, his peers. Several are his friends. I don't want them fighting in my name in the future. I try to see through the eyes of parents, spouses and children of those fighting now…in my name.
So much of individual and collective suffering seems brought about in fighting deep, less-than-savory aspects within, especially those hidden or want to be kept hidden. Experience has taught me that to truly live, I need to bring these to light and this often necessitates that another light my way, like the sun does for the moon as it swells and waxes into light. Bright rays stream always behind the moon I call myself. You are there, encouraging me to fullness, pushing me into my own light.
Your rays connect me with something beyond human experience, like the heat of the sun…like the miracle of a birth in the darkness of night. There I know something vast is part of me and that aspect may serve as the ray I offer to someone else who is a moon in the same galaxy...on the same planet. That he/she might feel light embracing the darkness within. That in this shared human relationship, we both might experience love.
May 2008 bring you abundance of rays.
Authentic movement has often afforded me a tool I'm not conscious of. I write and think about things on paper without relating it consciously to the work I have done over several years now in Contemplative Dance. And yet, once written, I can see as can others, that the very process of attuning to my body and letting words flow from a mind-body connection elicits even more as the spirit and heart join into the relationship and there is a touching of the human...of the universal...of something I might name as "inner knowing" or even "inner divinity". Here is an example that came through a look at the moon at the close of 2007. I'd love to hear of others' creative deepening through Authentic Movement.
The Moon at First Light by Roberta Whitney
I stand in the early morning darkness, save a blue glow on the kitchen wall phone. The ceiling lights are now off. I had switched them on to avoid stepping on either cat as I fumbled toward the cupboard for their food. I let my eyes adjust. I stand still at the back door, rhythmic crunching from the bowls off to my left. Looking out at the picnic table now covered with a brown tarp in anticipation of snow, my eyes are drawn up toward an almost-full moon as I tilt my head back slightly and open my throat to yellow-white beams streaming through nine glass panes. My eyes close. I bathe in this soft stream of light. Eyes reopened, I feel grateful that I may look at the moon in a way I cannot at the sun.
I slice green beans on a rectangular wooden board, aligning the lithe strands of green so the knife can separate several at a time. I don't often cut them this way. By habit, I usually snap the ends and sometimes the midsection of the strand. Seeing the neat slices before me, I recall canned produce I grew up on, a metallic wave crossing my nostrils amid a yellow-brown swirl of mildly salty water and floating beans…I wonder whose hands lined up the vegetables at the factory from where the cans were prepared? What machine was fed by a gentle hand…a large hand…and to whom was that hand attached? Their hands are on mine now.
We are all seated before an almost-dry but nevertheless magical waterfall at Yosemite National Park one warm evening in July. Newly arrived, we have already sighted a baby bear bouncing through tall meadow grasses and have seen a deer five feet from our room. Talk circulates of hiking possibilities, of the threat of bears to our rented car (did everyone empty food out?), of shuttle schedules to a mule ride booked for the next morning. We are graced with a menu of delicate foods and desserts. It is cool enough to have tea afterward. I look across at my husband, whose work has brought us here. I look to the eyes of the person serving us…I think of the kitchen and cook staff making my ease possible. I consider the drivers who carried the fresh produce and meats here…and the garden and ranches from where these grew…The hands that nurtured them for us.
Sometimes I feel like a moon made full and bright by another who like the sun's rays, shines full and steady on me whether I am aware or not. There may be encouraging words as I work to write, a joke that gives me laughter, the professional hands that support my healing, a voice of family and friends on the phone, the patient hand supporting me as I try Ian's skateboard, the cry of a hawk centering me as I walk, free DVD rentals that my family is given by a generous man, a yellow day lily opening in the front yard, a blue sky as I hang clothes, or the mind behind the complexities of cell phones and computers that allow me to do so much with the "press of a button/key".. the washer that faithfully does the work of my hands.
Other times, I feel like the dark side of the moon washes over me. At such times, I am reminded that unlike the sun, I am not pure light. I may become angry. I can grow impatient in the evening when I am tired. I might seem evasive in my response or stubborn in my desires. And when I fight the shadowy parts of me in a day, like the phases of the moon, my light wanes. I feel a loss of energy expended at war with myself or another.
I speak before an eighth-grade social studies class on being a veteran. How do I convey what I myself do not know, having served during a cold war? My mind wanders to those who are fighting for us now. Five of eleven 13-year old boys raise hands and say they will consider the military as a career. These boys are Ian's age, his peers. Several are his friends. I don't want them fighting in my name in the future. I try to see through the eyes of parents, spouses and children of those fighting now…in my name.
So much of individual and collective suffering seems brought about in fighting deep, less-than-savory aspects within, especially those hidden or want to be kept hidden. Experience has taught me that to truly live, I need to bring these to light and this often necessitates that another light my way, like the sun does for the moon as it swells and waxes into light. Bright rays stream always behind the moon I call myself. You are there, encouraging me to fullness, pushing me into my own light.
Your rays connect me with something beyond human experience, like the heat of the sun…like the miracle of a birth in the darkness of night. There I know something vast is part of me and that aspect may serve as the ray I offer to someone else who is a moon in the same galaxy...on the same planet. That he/she might feel light embracing the darkness within. That in this shared human relationship, we both might experience love.
May 2008 bring you abundance of rays.
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
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
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
Authentic Movement, Projections
More about projections, in response to Elizabeth Reid
The subject of how to get the good out of our projections fascinates me: not just within authentic movement groups; but in the relationships between me and other people in daily life.
These relationships mirror those between my whole self and its many different inner parts (new ones coming all the time). It’s a question of which parts get identified with, and which parts get excommunicated. If something or someone ‘bugs’ me, and I identify with the upset part, I tend to exile the ‘something’ that bugged me and blame it. It’s Not Me. It’s his or her fault. A part of me, not the whole me, gets re-stimulated (a co-counseling term) by an old unresolved problem, or by seeing someone do or say something IT would NEVER do, or by comparing itself negatively to someone who does something better than IT could ever do. That part is ‘shen pa’ (a Buddhist term). IT has taken over my identity, or been put out onto another person.
One thing that helps me is to be careful about language. I learned this from Ann Weiser Cornell, a Focusing teacher, who wants us to distinguish between only using the word “I” to mean the whole self (which she calls ”Presence”), and calling it “something”, or “a part” when there is a sense that something urgent is disturbing us.
The fascinating aspect of all this, to me, is the prospect of taking that ‘something’ that got disowned and projected out onto another person, and mining the gold within it. Here’s one way I know to do it for myself by myself, which comes before dealing with projections within an AM group.
First, I need constant practice in being aware that I am my whole self (via meditation, AM, art, Focusing, etc) so that I know when something in me is shen pa, or re-stimulated. The whole me is curious and interested to explore that something, not get rid of it, trusting that there’s something of value in it.
I personify whatever IT is: I find its rhythm and do that physically. And its sound. I can role play it, and move like it. I write dialogs between IT and my Process Mind part, which is curious about IT’s fears and desires. I almost always draw IT, and often make figures of IT. Projection is the stuff of art.
All this is Process Work (Thank you, Arnold Mindell), mixed with Authentic Movement and art, that allows relationships to be worked out, no matter how difficult they may seem in the beginning. As Cornell says in her book, “The Radical Acceptance of Everything”, “There are no enemies within.”
©2007 - Aileen Crow
The subject of how to get the good out of our projections fascinates me: not just within authentic movement groups; but in the relationships between me and other people in daily life.
These relationships mirror those between my whole self and its many different inner parts (new ones coming all the time). It’s a question of which parts get identified with, and which parts get excommunicated. If something or someone ‘bugs’ me, and I identify with the upset part, I tend to exile the ‘something’ that bugged me and blame it. It’s Not Me. It’s his or her fault. A part of me, not the whole me, gets re-stimulated (a co-counseling term) by an old unresolved problem, or by seeing someone do or say something IT would NEVER do, or by comparing itself negatively to someone who does something better than IT could ever do. That part is ‘shen pa’ (a Buddhist term). IT has taken over my identity, or been put out onto another person.
One thing that helps me is to be careful about language. I learned this from Ann Weiser Cornell, a Focusing teacher, who wants us to distinguish between only using the word “I” to mean the whole self (which she calls ”Presence”), and calling it “something”, or “a part” when there is a sense that something urgent is disturbing us.
The fascinating aspect of all this, to me, is the prospect of taking that ‘something’ that got disowned and projected out onto another person, and mining the gold within it. Here’s one way I know to do it for myself by myself, which comes before dealing with projections within an AM group.
First, I need constant practice in being aware that I am my whole self (via meditation, AM, art, Focusing, etc) so that I know when something in me is shen pa, or re-stimulated. The whole me is curious and interested to explore that something, not get rid of it, trusting that there’s something of value in it.
I personify whatever IT is: I find its rhythm and do that physically. And its sound. I can role play it, and move like it. I write dialogs between IT and my Process Mind part, which is curious about IT’s fears and desires. I almost always draw IT, and often make figures of IT. Projection is the stuff of art.
All this is Process Work (Thank you, Arnold Mindell), mixed with Authentic Movement and art, that allows relationships to be worked out, no matter how difficult they may seem in the beginning. As Cornell says in her book, “The Radical Acceptance of Everything”, “There are no enemies within.”
©2007 - Aileen Crow
Moya Powers Keating: Authentic Movement as a Spiritual Practice
Hello friends,
I have been invited to give a talk for the Circle of Wisdom at The Community for Peace and Spirituality in NYC. The invitation was to discuss my spiritual path. Immediately, Authentic Movement came to mind.
Brothers and Sisters in movement, do you experience AM as a spiritual practice?
As Aileen has asked....how do we take the practice into our life? Do we always have to be with a witness?
How is AM different from/similar to meditation? Is AM a form of meditation?
Any and all topic of discussion in relation to AM and spiritual practice is welcome.
You are all my teachers!
Moya Ⓒ2007 Moya Powers Keating
I have been invited to give a talk for the Circle of Wisdom at The Community for Peace and Spirituality in NYC. The invitation was to discuss my spiritual path. Immediately, Authentic Movement came to mind.
Brothers and Sisters in movement, do you experience AM as a spiritual practice?
As Aileen has asked....how do we take the practice into our life? Do we always have to be with a witness?
How is AM different from/similar to meditation? Is AM a form of meditation?
Any and all topic of discussion in relation to AM and spiritual practice is welcome.
You are all my teachers!
Moya Ⓒ2007 Moya Powers Keating
Dance Research Project
KAREN DALY Eugene, Oregon
In response to Aileen's request for sharing I thought I'd share the experience I'm having being a part of a University of OR dance department MA student's project. Loosely it's about cancer survivors who are dancers. I must qualify that I sometimes can say out loud that I'm a dancer and sometime shudder at the thought. I am a cancer survivor (right leg amputee in 1962)and have done AM fairly regularly for the past 20+ years. I studied at the AM Institute in Berkeley for 4+ years. I've performed with Alito Alessi's DanceAbility and with BodyCartography (Olive B). That's about me...here's about the project.
We've had two videoed 45 minute movement sessions, which have felt entirely like AM to me even though the project author, Laura, does not have an AM background. I've spontaneously responded to her questions about various things in my life in 20 minute writing bursts. Laura has used my words from these, and from a taped interview, during the movement sessions, softly speaking to me as I moved with my eyes closed. Each time I have "dropped in" after just a few minutes and had wonderful dances. Each time Laura and I have shared like mover/witness after the dance.
I'm hungry for my next movement time with her and to know the results of this project. AM has been a powerful, delightful, awe-inspiring way for me to connect with my real body, those girls inside bright with all of every emotion, always looking for creative ways to reframe my mostly narrow mind's chatter.
Happy Dancing. Ⓒ2007 Karen Daly
In response to Aileen's request for sharing I thought I'd share the experience I'm having being a part of a University of OR dance department MA student's project. Loosely it's about cancer survivors who are dancers. I must qualify that I sometimes can say out loud that I'm a dancer and sometime shudder at the thought. I am a cancer survivor (right leg amputee in 1962)and have done AM fairly regularly for the past 20+ years. I studied at the AM Institute in Berkeley for 4+ years. I've performed with Alito Alessi's DanceAbility and with BodyCartography (Olive B). That's about me...here's about the project.
We've had two videoed 45 minute movement sessions, which have felt entirely like AM to me even though the project author, Laura, does not have an AM background. I've spontaneously responded to her questions about various things in my life in 20 minute writing bursts. Laura has used my words from these, and from a taped interview, during the movement sessions, softly speaking to me as I moved with my eyes closed. Each time I have "dropped in" after just a few minutes and had wonderful dances. Each time Laura and I have shared like mover/witness after the dance.
I'm hungry for my next movement time with her and to know the results of this project. AM has been a powerful, delightful, awe-inspiring way for me to connect with my real body, those girls inside bright with all of every emotion, always looking for creative ways to reframe my mostly narrow mind's chatter.
Happy Dancing. Ⓒ2007 Karen Daly
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