We sit. A lot.
Modern lifestyle for the most part is rather sedentary.
We aren’t gathering or hunting. We don’t walk miles to school. No more washing our clothes down in the river or getting our water from the well.
Life is much easier in terms of survival now and we live in a 24/7 gratification world of convenience.
The really active part of us now is the mind.
And what about our body?
“A lot of us spend a lot of our time living from the head up. We are on the phone. We are on the computer. We watch TV. We are caught up in our mind, with thinking and we forget about the body and our breath and what’s us.” Francesca Mitchell notes.
Francesca is one of a growing number of movement-based practitioners in Singapore. Having studied with founder of 5 Rhythms Gabrielle Roth, Francesca has been a certified teacher since 2001.
All healing is a return to wholeness and a rediscovery of the self.
Fear separates us from true wellness and movement is a pathway to our inner self, to allow us to embrace ourselves in all our perfections and imperfections. With no judgement. In freedom.
Movement bypasses the spoken word, and our need to explain. It taps into a part of us that most of us don’t access on a daily basis. The deep inner well of who we are. The light. The dark. And the very visceral.
As we journey inward, what needs to be healed surfaces and is cradled with a new understanding, in a new light.
When we dance, we wake up, we get down and juicy with ourselves, we have fun and forget all the heavy shit we carry around. In the dance we get real, get free, get over ourselves. Movement kicks ass.Gabrielle Roth, Connections: The Threads of Intuitive Wisdom
“It’s important to remind people that they have the choice and the freedom not to go that far. And it’s fine. We are not here to push them. If they are not ready to deal with it, they can come as close or as far as they want. They can use movement to go either deeper or move around and feel what it is. And little by little, they can go deeper but they always have a choice to say, this is it.” Syv Bruzeau, a Butoh performer and Oneness Flow practitioner reminds us.
Born in France, Syv has been travelling in Asia since university and discovered Butoh in Japan. Trained there, as well as in the Himalayas and New York, Syv has studied with many Butoh masters, as well as other modalities including Continuum, Feldenkrais Method, and Reiki.
Eurythmist Simone Zähringer continues, “Through movement you can get it out. Anger, you probably want to get rid of. You shift in awareness. Anger to happiness or to lightness or to luck. You can actually move that.” (Find out more about Simone and Eurythmy in her article here.)
We don’t have to be a dancer, graceful or even particularly coordinated. Though these qualities will come as we open up to the experience, and allow the body to lead. “Once you are moving, any way you like, any way you feel inspired to move, then the practice is to keep paying attention to yourself as you move. And we keep paying attention and then we notice what happens. Extraordinary things can happen. Often we limit ourselves in our daily lives to habitual ways of being, moving, of relating to people, and relating to ourselves, being with life and the world.” Francesca explains.
What’s the biggest obstacle for most people? Why do we disconnect from our body?
“It’s the fear of moving. Of being observed by others. But that is why it is so important. It’s not about being graceful or pretty. I mean it’s nice to be. It’s good to know your body and it’s good to know you are not limited by your own body. We are actually breathing through the whole body. We are breathing into the movement so you know where your arms are, where your fingers are, where your eyes are, where your nose is, and so on. So you get to know your whole body.
Through movement you are more conscious and that’s all it’s about. It’s important to let people know that movement brings you into greater consciousness about yourself, the world, how to be with others, how to meet with another person…even words and sentences can be created in your mind through movement in meditation.” Simone hits it on the head.
What would you say is the biggest change you have seen?
“It’s an expansion of consciousness. For me personally, being more aware of all the layers of my existence and finding acceptance within all those layers. Becoming more aware of my body, loving my body, loving the way it functions, loving it the way it is, loving all the imperfections of it, and finding beauty in those as well. And then developing an awareness of the even more subtle layers that go beyond that.” Amber Sawyer of Satsanga reveals.
Amber, a Biomedical Engineer and research scientist, returned to her first love of movement with yoga. Her travels to India and Nepal deepened her practice, taking her into various traditions as well as Vedic studies, Reiki, Yoga-Dance, and Osho’s active meditation. “Satsanga” means a community of Truth. What it has grown into is truly a community, of truth seekers, and a beautiful and loving environment where people gather to commune and practice.
Syv, Francesca, and Amber started Inside-Out, a celebration of body and spirit through movement in 2012. This year, for the third event, they are joined by Simone and Laura.
“It’s about finding your own sanctuary. What it means for you. Forget the world, the rushing…it’s just a space for people to drop everything to be themselves, to be with themselves.” Syv explains.
“I feel it’s coming to a bit more of a subtle place or a still place. It’s about discovering our inner sanctuary. I don’t know how it will be but it feels like this one could potentially be going really inward. Maybe it’ll be more gentle. Who knows…I guess anything can happen when you go inside.” Amber distills the essence of this third gathering.
The first one was more of a taste. The second one was transformation. “In 2012, we sensed a lot of people, like ourselves, were going through big shifts and changes and that theme, that particular Inside-Out, was to explore what transformation means for us and how do we embrace it or accept it and move through it with these different techniques.”
“With movement, it’s always different when you come. You are different that day. The people are different. The group, the feel of the group, is different. You never know what to expect.” Francesca reminds us that movement is flow.
“So we stay open and listen. I am not here to teach. It is their personal time. I’m just here to guide them, using a few words, to give them some direction. That’s all I do. I have no control over what’s happening in their own body, mind or their own self.” Syv elaborates further.
Inside-Out will be happening Saturday and Sunday June 8 and 9 2013. You can join for one day or both days and participate in as many or as few of the classes as you like. This is your day – your time to explore the inner stillness where our wisdom and the source of our light reside.
*What Therapy Reader Special*
The ladies of Inside-Out have extended the early bird from May 17 to May 31. Use the code SPECIAL when you register for the event.
