Is it possible to stretch the time? PHASE 3/ENTER THE SPINE

 Last Friday I scratched the surface of another phase and I have got ,thanks to (this time) only one (with the dog Bounty) but still very playful and creative participant, new ideas around this theme. We were exploring how to being open and how to enter to the spine, how to think spiral and how to stretch the time rather then think about how to stretch the muscles. These thoughts led us to the question how long can we stay in the moment, what is needed to stay longer in the posture and how to stop the time. I am here very interested in stretching the time, enjoying the nowness, enjoying the posture, breathe into that part of the body, rather then rushing  (which is still delicate part for me, cause i love being fast and very quick in the changing the movement) but still that was very short time to explore everything around this subject.  Here we were exploring sensing as a mental factor which corresponds to time as a motion factor. We continued to work on head and tail connectivity and connections between pelvis, femur and spine. This class, I started warming up from very easy yoga postures and put an accent on the different body parts, such as palms, fingers, elbows, head, knees, hips touching the floor and slowly making a composition for the fluid spine. We kept the same concepts of Laban's fundamental directions of dynamic actions and introduced direction/ focus and non focus through lively interplay between us on the zoom, environment,  body and its limbs and just slightly went through qualities of WRING effort (body in heavy, indirect, bound, sustained expression) and PRESS effort(body in direct, heavy, bound and sustained expression). There is NO perfect schedule, time, environment or right way to teach or learn. Learning is a creative process and my classes, phases definitely serves to that kind of teaching/learning. We are each class going through phenomenology of movement and the dance. We are curious and exploring... Each class we are interested in change in the Body and movement in a different way, working in many different inroads to personal expression/such as imagery, visualization, inner characterization. we are working on trust and harmony in the mind and the body, focusing on initiating movement from pelvis and shifting weight forward/backward in space. This kind of movement needs start from intent observing, listening and from that kind of practice can never follow a rigid plan. "In abstract movement, any learning is only self learning and it adds a small piece to another collective process" (tom weksler/movement researcher). Movement is a powerful language, opens up blood flow, oxygenation of tissues, removal of waste products, promotes growth of new tissues, etc... Using also Joe Alegado movement language, if we try to come to the edge, to explore our instinctive body, we will know how to make the new step, the body knows how to connect with the breath and how to stay between consciousness and  impulse. We were at the class open to attention, mindful movement and curiosity, without being judgemental. When we finished the research on our inner connectivity and outer expressivity, we closed the session with the interesting play with the small ball. Participant loved that last part of the interplay, cause that ball became like a witness between her, me and the dog. It was really interesting observe what is happening in the body during this short, quick, long (depends of the ball) dialogue with the ball. Where creativity and the movement can take you, when you have an object in your hand or on the ground and how creative movement can become when you use whole your body and imagination.  This is just a question for our next level when we will connect more with the touch, movement and the breath. 

When a movement is expressive, the components are in harmony.