Modern Technique

I was having a little bit of a difficult time at the start of class today...I think it's partially because the floor was really disgusting. Since we start our warmup on the floor, I had a really hard time connecting just because I felt like I was holding myself up, instead of just allowing the floor to support me. Also, my hip is still bothering me, so some of the stuff we do in the warmup is hard for me to do full out, and I hate not doing everything. But it doesn't hurt quite as bad as it did a week ago, so I'll get there...I'm just not always very good at being patient.

During class we had a good discussion, about how we need to be sponges, and discover movement.

I need to be able to open up my mind, and allow my body to take on what's given to it. I can't grow if I'm not challenged, which is something I really need to remember. I tend to get in my comfort zone, where I'm happy to be content and complacent, and I get frustrated when I'm pulled out of that comfort zone. Whenever I look back on times when I was forced out of my comfort zone, that's when I've seen the most growth within myself.

We talked about how we have to be able to feel the movement, rather than trying to just think through everything. Obviously there has to be some thinking involved, but the movement has to come from a feeling place, and not from a thinking place. The thinking is there to assist, not perform. I know that when my movement comes from a thinking place, I go back to old habits and old tensions, and I get all sorts of weird in my movement. There is so much more freedom through feeling. I thought about how it's kind of like stability vs. mobility. You have to have just enough stability (thinking) to keep yourself up and moving, so that the mobility (feeling) can allow for the freedom of movement.

Going back to the "sponge" theory, we talked about how we are in the process of discovering our own movement. There are times when I know I tap into what is truly my movement, but otherwise I'm generally just mimicking movement that is given to me. It's by absorbing everything I'm taught, and sort of calling on what works for me that I can really learn how I move. For example: I grew up doing ballet, but then when I came up to school here, I decided that I wasn't very good at it, and I didn't really love doing it, either. But then this semester, I decided that I was going to do my best at it, and try applying somatic principles throughout, and see what I can learn from it. Surprisingly, I'm actually really enjoying ballet now! I'm still not a "ballerina", but I definitely don't dread going to class anymore.

I'm learning that keeping an open mind...I mean really open...is crucial to growth. I was the one limiting myself before, and now that I've decided to allow growth and change to happen...I think it may actually be happening! Pretty exciting, if you ask me!