Body and Earth – Day 11: Movement

The most thought-provoking idea that was brought up in this chapter was the idea of movement being efficient and having a purpose. As mentioned on page 71, “in a simplified view of a conscious motor activity, the brain sequences movement for efficient interaction with the environment”. I often think about movement as being more about the mover’s experience rather than an interaction with the environment. In thinking about movement as such, it was interesting to think about all the ways that the environment and our surroundings truly does impact our movements. For example, in class, I am often influenced through my environment because of the other dancers that are in the space. As such, I sometimes have to change my path because there is another dancer that is in the area where I was planning to go. It was also interesting to read about how much movement impacts our health and well-being (page 72). Movement has always been a part of humans’ lives as can be seen through early forms of meditation such as yoga.

In the Yielding and standing (page 75) exercise, I was required to be aware of the feelings and sensations in the surroundings and then yield my weight to the floor. I was able to feel how I was affected by the softness of the carpet I was standing on and also feel the breeze that was coming in from the nearby open window. The Authentic Movement (page 75) exercise allowed me to listen to my body and think about what I wanted to do. Unlike some of the ideas about the externality of movement that we brought up earlier in the chapter, this exercise felt much more internal and I was not feeling very impacted by my surroundings. When I think more about it, though, I do feel like even when I was focused more on the internal aspect of my movement, I was still impacted by the outside environment; how I wanted to move was influenced by how my muscles and body in general felt, which was changed by my surroundings and my interaction with them. The Place visit: Attention to movement (page 76) exercise allowed me to further listen to my body through authentic movement, but in this case I was more impacted by my surroundings. In the moment, I am aware of where I am because I was able to carefully look at the environment around me. I feel a sense of one with the area.

Below is a poem that was inspired by the exercise of Yielding and standing.

Yielding
Giving way
To the earth
My body falls to the ground.
To gravity,
I succumb
Nothing can hold me up.
Feeling the earth
Holding me,
Supporting me.
Mother Nature
Takes me under her wings
And makes me feel
As though we are one.