to yield: an end of Summer, turning to Autumn blog post

Although I have had every intention of writing a new blog post long before this, I have found myself waylaid by too many ideas and too many wonderful yet demanding changes in my life.

This blog post came out of a writing I did for a post to Facebook about an event I am hosting this week . I am sharing it as a blog post because I think it exemplifies the very process I am exploring in the post itself: letting go of an idea about what a blog post MUST be and, as a result, allowing myself to get exactly what I’ve desired all along, which is sharing with you, my lovely Embodiment community, some of the ideas about movement as they exist in my head. Ideas and thoughts about movement in all the ways it happens.

Here is the post as extracted from my Facebook page:

As I allow myself to be prepared for Wednesday's ritual movement, Yield: TranceforMotion shamanic movement, I find myself contemplating the sacrifice within the harvest, within the yield.

Not an external sacrifice like putting lamb (or man) on an altar...but internal sacrifice like in the Al-Anon slogan, "Let Go and Let God."

When we harvest we take something FROM something in order to have it for where we are moving TO. In order to harvest, we also must let go, allow, accept the change of Spring's sprout and Summer's flowers to become this other thing - often not as conventionally beautiful, sometimes hard and dry looking, often brown instead of vibrant green or delicate pink. The Yield requires being present and knowing when it is time to be an active participant in the process of collecting for yourself and your nourishment.

The same is true with yielding in a movement sense. To fully harvest our movement abilities as adults we must do what came more naturally to us as pre-verbal beings, we must let go of trying to force and control this body into a specific form or action and (re)discover that movement is easier, movement is integrated and natural, when we allow ourselves to move with the support of our planet. Embodied movement requires curiosity in relationship. The practice of embodiment invites us to renew our relationship with the gifts of connectivity given to us at conception and through our first few years of life.

Yes, yield is to harvest. It is also the capacity to slow down and give attention to the space to be aware of ourselves in relationship with whatever might be approaching. Yield is also one of the energetic components gifted to us as beings on a gravity planet as key to all bodily movement. Yield is necessary for the ability to Push. To practice Yielding is to practice the ability to relax, trust and allow the world to support us...to harvest our birthrights.

Letting go. Accepting. Yield.

The Practice of Finding Safety Within and of Reaching Out with Confidence

When we use phrases like "going within," "getting in touch with myself," and "reaching out for help" we are cognitively calling on physical actions that are supported by the Bartenieff Fundamentals, especially the use of Developmental Progression and Connectivity.  Developmental Progression is one of the twelve basic Bartenieff Principles of dynamic movement.  It is the series of basic movement patterns established within your body through stage-specific developmental sequencing from conception until about two years of age.  

These patterns of this early life development are then access by all human movers throughout the entirety of their life span:  the adult version of these early development skills are called Patterns of Total Connectivity.   These Patterns of Connectivity are an active component of all that I share in my somatic movement work, whether I explicitly talk about them or not!

When we use phrases about getting in touch with ourselves or reaching out to another we are more specifically cognitively calling on our physical inner wisdom that is supported by the Pattern of Total Connectivity called Core Distal or Navel Radiation.  This pattern develops early in the womb and builds on the growing/shrinking foundational pattern of Breath, our very first developmental building block of movement!

Physically, Core-Distal is the pattern that supports us in moving toward the Core or Navel area of our bodies as well as in radiating outward to the farthest reaches of our Distal points of fingers, toes, tail and head.  Our ability to withdraw into ourselves and to extend to the farthest limits of our personal space is dependent on this early pattern.

Psychologically, Core-Distal is the developmental and connectivity pattern that supports us in safely going within and claiming our sense of self.  It is the skill of safely and comfortably going within that allows us to more confidently find connection with and move out into the Outer world.

Enhancing your skills of consciously moving with your Breath and Core-Distal Patterns of Connectivity supports you to more fully and resiliently move in all your more-complex activities of daily living!

Recently I have had several wonderful opportunities to introduce and explore the Breath and Core-Distal Patterns of Connectivity with folks at the Heart, Body and Soul Mindful Move Groove class,  in my monthly Movement Fundamentals workshop, as well as with some of my private clients In both the clinical and in the somatic education settings.  This blog post is my way of supporting the home exploration and practice experience of those who have moved with me recently as well as introducing this basic and yet powerful movement concept to those who didn't have a chance to be a part of one of these sessions.

To support your understanding of this pattern, I offer three videos.

In this first video she gives a brief explanation and then she moves the basic action of Core-Distal movement.  https://youtu.be/wDyvO70mlw8

In this second video the dancer uses the Core-Distal pattern as his inspiration to create a series of complex movement phrases.  https://youtu.be/HfTbo-gL2co

In this final video we have the opportunity to see several different young dancers exploring and sharing their perspective of moving with the Core-Distal Pattern of Connectivity (which they call Navel Radiation) as well as moving the other more complex patterns in the developmental sequence.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8fORKlNYFA

I hope that these videos are helpful to inform your understanding of this small basic part of the more dynamic and encompassing Principles of the Bartenieff Fundamentals.  I also hope that they inspire you to move yourself more consciously, whether with my support or otherwise!

As you move, I invite you to ask yourself:  do I move from my Core, or is my movement usually initiated by my appendages and/or, possibly, things outside of my Self? 

I wish for you, in all ways, to move so that you can Live Life More Fully!

If you have questions or comments, please share below or email me.  I look forward to moving with you in some way very soon!