About the Size of It

It is me, lying on the floor, my body large enough to almost fill the space of the room I am. It is me, a mere dot of a concept on a planet rotating in its orbit in a universe of movement. I am so full, the breath so large it pushes against every edge of its confines. I am too big for this limited body. I am just one small person with so many ideas. I am almost non-existent as I walk through the woods, a mere human, so minuscule within all this Nature. My presence as Human is so large it invades and affects every inch of this planet Earth. This is about the size of it.

i think it is really important to scrub at our perceptions on a regular basis, give them a good shake up and dust off. Our point of view can so easily become stale, patterned, so much a part of the background of our being that we forget that it is there. We take things for granted - which can be very helpful because consider how overwhelming it would be to have to constantly have to consider every aspect of all the things we take for granted - yet it is also important to take some time to notice, to observe, to ponder the ways our perceptions have become patterned and to seek out ways that they can grow and change.

I think it is important to consciously choose perspective palate cleansers, like the lemon water between courses of a meal, intended to give us space on our tongue and in our experience to truly enjoy each dish for its own merit, The movement form of Express Yourself that I offer is designed to be that sort of thing, an opportunity give some space in your life so that you can access more enjoyment, more flavor of the every day.

The concept we will be exploring in the next Express Yourself is the perspective of size and how we take up space. The journal entry I shared above is one way I’ve explored this concept. I will share other ways to explore when we meet on Tuesday. During this event we will have the opportunity to be creative, to play with taking up space, to move ourselves, to share our stories with other equally curious folks in movement and words. And that, my friends, That’s About the Size of It. Look forward to moving with you soon.

Reflections and Transformations

I have a vivid memory of watching a television show many years ago about a girl finding a cave that allowed her to see and interact with her future self: this idea of communicating back and forth throughout time is one that has always fascinated me. It was this idea of sending messages across time, of letting someone in the future know some of what I am experiencing now - also prompted by early 1970’s television - that started me writing down my thoughts, ideas , hopes and dreams in journals when I was only nine years old. A practice I continue to this day.

Facebook - while it has many drawbacks and some would even say the whole thing sucks - has a marvelous way of reminding me of where I’ve been in time and place, and what I was thinking about when I was there. Facebook, like my journals, lets the-me-that-is-now check in with the future-idea-I-had-of-me-then and to see how they get along. Facebook, in many ways, is actually better at this than the old journals sitting on a book shelf on our back porch. Unlike the journals, which require a conscious action on my part of me choosing to review them, the algorithms of this beast we know as FB choose to cough up reflections of the past without any input from me. I see these nuggets - or hairballs - in my feed as if they are posts written fresh today by one of the many of the people known as FB Friends, except that this FB Friend is the me of sometime past.

It is really quite a phenomenal experience, to have a past Victoria manifest from out the mists to talk with me today. Recently this came across my feed:

when people ask me what Embodiment LLC does, I now that I can know say I am in the business of facilitating transformative movement...this does not limit me to the physical realm, but places equal emphasis on the method as well as intention! TRANSFORMATIVE MOVEMENT

- Facebook shares with me in 2019 from Victoria of November 15, 2010

I am so grateful for this note from my self, to be able to sit with it and allow my Self of now and my Self of nine years ago to share a cup of tea and to consider how things have changed, what part of this idea to keep fresh, and what part(s) to reclaim that had gone stale! I do so love that young woman, writing to me on the beginning of a journey that then took her to and through so many interesting, challenging experiences to arrive to be the woman I am sitting here today.

She reminded me, in her note, of the core idea underpinning everything I do now - and reminded me that I can sometimes lose (and had recently felt I was losing) the sight and sensation of the passion in the midst of doing the demands, actions, decisions of my daily functional life.

To be reminded that my work, my play, my practice, my purpose is to support, facilitate, and create transformational opportunities. - for myself and for those interested in creating change in their lives - is quite a blessing.

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You may have noticed that the Victoria of today has removed the word “movement” from the original note. This is not because I no longer facilitate transformational movement opportunities - oh no! Creating transformational movement opportunities is still my passion, my love and that which I always desire to share MORE of in my life; however, I have also learned that there is a need for transformational opportunities that most people don’t consider movement at all, although it is. This is the movement of how we ARE in our bodies in relation to our bodies, our thoughts, our emotions, to the planet, to the landscape, to each other. This is the place my work - as a somatic-based mental health counselor and as a somatic movement therapist/facilitator - has taken me that the Victoria of nine years ago could not even have begun to imagine

“Consciousness is only possible through change; change is only possible through movement.” -Alduous Huxley

It's all an Experiment

“It’s all an experiment.”

To understand the significance of this phrase, you can visit this post on Facebook that I made today about being part of the nation-wide performance art piece 54 Capitals, 54 Dancers and about what it is like to be a CMA (Certified Movement Analyst) and to be in the world of other folks similarly inclined and trained.

And it is also a comment on trying out a blog post of this short size…and trying out a blog post based on and linked to something I wrote on my Facebook page.

It is all an experiment.

I would love to hear any comments.

Functional Anatomy: Some of the Bony Conversations of the Lower Body

This is a blog for anyone interested in being more mindful and informed about the ways that the Grounded Support offered by the Earth communicates itself through your whole body.

This is also a blog intended especially for any of the folks who have been part of the Summer 2019 or will plan to join me in Autumn 2019 Mindful Move Groove as we have explored and continue to move with the intention of balance, strength and softness.

Taking time to learn new information about the way your anatomy works functionally is an important part of being mindful in your body and movement. Understanding or believing or imagining how the femur bone communicates to the pelvic bones and the pelvic bones then communicate to the vertebra sets an intention for those parts to move with more support, integration and ease!

Moving with more support, integration and ease. Living Life More Fully! Exploring safely in the realm of movement! This is what Embodiment is all about!

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.