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Our goal is to reach a sense of 'being' and, when moving, of ‘being moved’. Getting there is a process of relaxation leading to receptivity & dynamism. The Basic Practices, done with undivided attention and seamless concentration are doorways to deep meditative states and springboards for intuitive movement flow. Basic Practices fall into two categories: Sequences & Subjects. Sequences deepen meditative capacity and sensorial subtly, while gently and globally expanding flexibility and strength. Subjects are explorations—in essence, movement mantras—that tie one’s mental focus sufficiently to interrupt habitual patterns and let the Unseen emerge. They activate intuition and creativity. Below are a few examples. (Instructional DVDs are available thru the shop.) Basic Practice Sequences include: • Rocking Array: Each part of our body has its own voice and we strive to let each part speak. This might mean, for example, unhooking the shoulder from the ribcage so each can articulate distinctly. Rocking gently shakes these often frozen body parts loose, freeing them. Rocking is emotionally comforting and stimulating for the nervous & circulatory systems. • Sand Tracings: The prone circular & spiral movements of this sequence, done with awareness of skin sensation and gravity, encourage relaxed flexibility, whole-body integration, and coordination. (instructional DVD available thru shop) • Opening Sequence: This breath-based fluid yoga emphasizes equality of awareness in all stages of the movement. Breathing motivates and roots the oceanic repetitions. The oscillations lull the cognitive mind and accentuate an understanding that the act of stretching, rather than holding, is continuous motion. This method engages our body's fascial network, relieving joint stress. Opening Sequence video (instructional available thru shop) Basic Practice Subjects include: • Breath Dances: We bring awareness to the continuous base note of breathing inside our moving bodies and experiment with different relationships to that pulse. Rhythmic & Non-rhythmic breathing • Gesture: Hands immediately spring to awareness here, but gesture can be made by any body part, or with the entire body. Gesture's semaphoric, symbolic language opens the realms outside ordinary perception and interfaces elegantly the hypnotic study of ornament. • Deep State Motion: Moving in full receptivity—the sense of being moved—can’t be predicted or forced but it can be gently, sincerely invited. Deep State Motion is this mystical communion. To be moved is to be in what the Sufis call tawhid, or Unity. Deep State practices are a direct handing of the energetic lineage of Sufism. • Whirling: Whirling is a dynamic Sufi purification practice. Begun by the beloved mystic, Jallauldin Rumi, it has been handed directly down in an unbroken lineage from practitioner to practitioner for centuries. At the same time it is inherent in all humans; children naturally whirl. video of whirling |
