May 3rd, 1997
MOVE, FEEL, AND NOTICE
by Jackie Giuliano
"When we place our attention in our body, we begin to feel, and our feeling
connects us to our energy. Our energy then informs us of our direction and meaning in
life. If we respond from our energy, we are responding from that part of ourselves that is
least conditioned. If we act from our energy, and not from our ideas, social images, or
what others expect, we feel enriched with genuine expression and life."
--Heckler, Richard S. The Anatomy of Change. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 1984.
This has been a week of examining obstacles. There seem to have been many this week, in
all shapes and sizes, right up until this morning when I couldn't get my telephone company
calling card to work at a pay phone at the airport and right now when the seat in front of
me on this airplane is pushing my laptop computer into my stomach. But there have been
greater obstacles up for examination as well: obstacles in my personal life that keep me
from having satisfying relationships with those around me and obstacles that keep all of
us from having a satisfying relationship with the natural world.
In Los Angeles, someone is working to remove some of those obstacles. Eve Ray conducts
powerful workshops she calls "Movement Expression." In these weekly two and one
half hour sessions, twenty people are led through exercises, some individual, some with
partners, and some with groups, that explore various themes. This week, the theme centered
around connecting and disconnecting. With music in the background, and Eve's gentle
directions guiding us through various body movements, deep and profound explorations take
place. Before we began, with the group sitting in a circle, Eve spoke of using the dance
studio as a safe place to explore ourselves though our bodies. She said we need to feel
like we can come home to ourselves, to feel at home in our bodies.
I have never really felt very at home in my body. And try as I might, I struggle to feel
at home on our planet, the place from which all life sprang, the planet where we are
intimately connected through a complex web of life that touches all of us every moment of
every day. Yet how many of us can say we feel "at home" on our Earth, let alone
in our bodies?
One of the exercises in Movement Expression was about feeling what it is like to move from
one dance partner to another, feeling the sensations of trying to connect with that person
(whom we had met only an hour before) and then, without warning, being told to move on to
another person - with a different type of music playing in the background. It was an
enlightening experience.
The process with each new partner was a fascinating metaphor for how we connect to our
surroundings in life. Initially, I was quite nervous with the new partner. Would this one
accept or reject me? Would I be judged? Would I "do it wrong?" As the dancing
began, I would wonder what every gesture and movement of the other person meant. But
always in the back of my mind, even during my discomfort, was the awareness that this
connection would be temporary. I didn't need to really know this person. It didn't really
matter if he or she didn't like what I was doing. It didn't really matter if we connected
at all - I was going to move on soon anyway.
I started thinking about how this was an interesting metaphor for my relationship with the
natural world. Many of us don't put down real roots and don't stay very long in one place.
And even if we stay in our homes for months or even years, we don't really connect with
our environments - we don't develop a sense of "place." How can we be expected
to develop a relationship with the natural world if we don't take the time to get to know
the Earth beneath our feet?
We travel so much. How can we get to know the land? One day last weekend, I started the
out the day doing some writing, then I shopped for a wedding present for a former student.
That afternoon my fiancee and I went to the wedding at a pretty botanical garden about 40
miles from where I live. After the ceremony, we greeted the new bride and groom and then
drove to Ojai, a town about 2 hours north of Los Angeles, to have dinner and pick up a
Beatrice Wood drawing that Bonnie had purchased during a visit there a couple of months
ago. We drove home that night.
During that day, I visited many different environments, encountered many different people,
but I didn't really connect with anyone or anything. How could I? We never stayed in any
one place long enough to get a sense of it.
Richard Heckler, in his insightful book, The Anatomy of Change, speaks of the schism that
exists between our minds and bodies and the disconnection in our lives that results. He
says, "our culture has become imbalanced, leaning toward cognitive learning and has
lost touch with the wisdom of the body." He says that the, "body is a way of
accessing people and their deeper urges and potentials. Through the body, we can learn how
to embody the values and qualities we think important. Experiencing the life of the body
brings us into contact with the quality of compassion."
I can really feel the meaning of these words when I am in Movement Expression class.
Heckler says that when we pay attention to our bodies and act from our energy and not from
our ideas, we are acting with fullness and richness for life. He says that if we act from
our energy, we are acting from that part of ourselves that is "least
conditioned." It's true.
Our intellect-driven society places a premium on "rational thought," and on
"logical thinking." We are taught in classrooms where the seats lock us in. We
are directed more and more to passive forms of entertainment - sitting in front of the TV
or our computers - like you are doing right now!
In fact, we should start right now reconnecting with our bodies and try to find that part
of ourselves that is least conditioned.
Push yourself away from your computer right now. Whatever the time, wherever you are, just
stop and stand up. Reach your arms up towards the sky, palms outstretched, underarms open,
and stretch. If your body doesn't allow this kind of movement, do whatever you can, even
if it is just visualizing some movement. If you are able, stop right now and go outside.
If you are "differently-abled," just close your eyes and visualize the outside.
That's right, just leave your computer - it's not going anywhere. Just go outside. Notice
where you live or work. Feel.
When we move, it is hard to not notice the world. When we begin to reconnect with our
bodies, it is hard to ignore the responsibility we must take for our lives and the lives
of those without voices all around us. When we move, we feel the boundaries of our bodies,
we feel our flesh - maybe there is too much or too little of it. When we move, we feel our
presence on this Earth.
If we try to take the time to stay in one place and notice our surroundings, then maybe we
can feel the Earth beneath our feet, feel her support, feel her energy moving through our
bodies. If we stay in one place for a while, maybe we can start to feel how sacred that
Earth is beneath our feet. We may want to stop that building from being built or that
wetland from being destroyed.
If we try to take the time to stay in one place, then maybe we can feel the air moving
around and through our bodies. The precious atmosphere, which is such a thin fragile shell
around our Earth, gives us life. If we stop to feel it, move our bodies through it, maybe
we can start to feel how sacred that air is. It is part of us and we are part of it. We
may want to stop that factory from polluting it or tune up our car so it pollutes less.
So much can come from mindful moving. Just take a moment. Raise your arms above your head.
Move them around. Dance through life. Claim the space around you that you are in,
experience it, appreciate it, and feel its importance. Declare the Earth, the air, the
water, yourself, as sacred. Move through life.
We have got to do something. Maybe it can begin with getting up and moving around.
RESOURCES
1. Eve Athey Ray, MA, MFCC, conducts Movement Expression classes in Southern California.
She is available for consultations and custom designed workshops. She can be reached at
818-788-3740.
2. Richard Heckler gives workshops in Northern California. His book, The Anatomy of
Change, is out of print, so look for it in used bookstores.
3. For more information on this idea of a "sense of place," check out terms like
"bioregionalism" and sustainable communities. A few sites to visit include the
Intentional Communities web site: http://www.well.com:80/user/cmty/index.html and the Los Angeles
Eco-Village home page at http://alumni.caltech.edu/~mignon/laev.html
4. Interested in overcoming consumerism? Check out http://www.hooked.net:80/users/verdant/index.htm
5. And look at the web page for Adbusters, a great magazine and organization dedicated to
getting us to turn off our TVs http://www.adbusters.org.:80/~adbuster/main.html
6. Beatrice Wood, a 104 year-old ceramic artist, is dancing and living life in Ojai,
California. She can be visited at http://detroit.thesource.net/features/artcalendar/beatrice_wood.html
{Jackie Giuliano is a Professor of Environmental Studies for Antioch University, Los
Angeles, the University of Phoenix, and the Union Institute College of Undergraduate
Studies. He is also the Educational Outreach Manager for the Ice and Fire Preprojects, a
NASA program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to send space probes to Jupiter's moon
Europa, the planet Pluto, and the Sun.} |
