On page 30 in Hartley:
"Each body part will learn that it can initiate movement independently of the other parts, but is at the same time related to them through the naval, affecting and corresponding to the whole. This process of differentiation and integration will be seen again at each level of development of movement and consciousness and so it is basic to all methods of education and therapy, both physical and psychological. As we differentiate, we can dis-identify from the part, then reintegrate it at a whole new level of wholeness and awareness."
Please reflect on this and give 3 examples of how you have had this experience and give 3 examples of how you have yet had this experience. Please discuss.
thanks
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In terms of my academics as well as my movements, I have found it much easier to learn and adapt when each process is broken down into parts.
ReplyDelete1) In karate, when learning a new kata, I found myself first having to adapt to new movements, learning sections at a time. When I began to put these pieces together, I came to realize and understand the power of the kata as a whole.
2) When learning new music whether it be for vocals, drums, or guitar, I find myself having to first learn musical lines, notes, rhythms, etc separately before I can make a song come alive in its entirety.
3) I remember distinctly learning to read. Before I could understand and comprehend entire passages, I had to understand certain aspects of grammar, syntax, vocabulary etc.
1) While I am in the process of learning Spanish, I find it difficult to piece together all aspects and speak/read freely. I am reaching for fluency, which is the embodiment of all learned aspects of the language.
2) I am also learning to finger pick on the guitar and have found it difficult to integrate all of my fingers into a finger picking "unit".
3) In our Sensing in Motion class, I have begun to piece together different aspects of movement, but I have not yet seen the "big picture".
I am having an interesting experience with this in regards to cooking. I think of the whole before breaking down but without planning I very much do things piece by piece until a whole becomes seen..hard to explain but definatly working with wholeness and separation here- of thought and in terms of sequence.
ReplyDeleteIn pregnancy things are happening step by step but as soon as you are pregnant you are fully with that being- yet we break it up and the naval energy is astounding.
Creating a painting I am moving along a stream of conciousness and I have no single picture of a finished product- yet many- the process takes me through centering, being disjointed and back to wholeness. I have to go through a series of steps to find my own heart space- my centering becomes dependent upon pieces as solo experiences too.
Learning how to organize- wow- I am really tangled in this- I can't get out of a chaotic mode - I am going through the motions of working on singular pieces yet never experiencing the center for an extended period of time- if that makes sense. I am upset by the fragmentation of things.
I tend to think I understand a whole concept in school- psychology for example- without speaking to the parts or definitions- I have thoughts that reach beyond the understanding and try to run ahead of what I need to know.
Financially- I divide and multiply my dollars beyond reason- trying to stretch them into many places- I need to see it for what it is- a dollar is just one.
I get stressed out easily and with it comes anxiety. I have realized that I can almost section my life into pieces, and once I do that it is much more manageable.
ReplyDeleteIt is also the case with school work. I now have a system of breaking what I have to do into different parts. Often making a list is very helpful and it makes it easier for me to wrap my head around.
Whenever I have a challenge to overcome I take it bit by bit, and without looking at it as a whole I can conquer it.
When I create a piece of art, whether it be a drawing or even dinner, I tend to create a picture of what I want it to be like in my head. Once I have the general picture laid out it is a lot easier for me to focus and create my own masterpiece.
As I learn a new dance piece I first look at it as a whole. I then do the movements and get them memorized in my body. After that I can break it down and fine tune it, because I already roughly know the complete combination.
Throughout my life I have always had several different groups of friends. In the beginning of high school I looked at all of my friends as a whole and I tried very hard to bring them all together. I wanted them all to be friends, but the groups were two different to mesh as one. I realized later that my friendships are more meaningful when I keep them separate. I feel like the center of a wheel, and my friends are the spokes, or I am the naval and they are the limbs.
My process with college and travel has followed this model; while in school I am predominantly in a mode of taking separate parts of my body structure and cognitive structure and exploring, pushing and growing within them; learning new ways to move in and experience the world. When I leave school and travel and work and live, I get a feeling of these parts of myself falling into a new order of integration, flow and accessibility. This new way of meeting the world raises new curiosities, interests and awarenesses to pursue in the intensified environment of school.
ReplyDeleteTraditional rites of passage and initiations are often based around a basic form of separation from previous roles and patterns, followed by an intensification of the transitory experience and then reintegration into a new role within the culture.
As I move towards intimacy with other people, I find myself in an oscillating wave between deep attunement and connection, which blur the boundary between you and me and differentiation which allows me to redefining who I am, who you are and what our relationship is from a more internal perspective.
It seems rare that these inherent processes of growth, differentiation and integration, are explicitly acknowledged throughout our lives. I know that I, as an individual and our culture as a whole would benefit from a more conscious attention to these patterns.
I would like to cultivate a greater understanding of the felt sense of the internal organs and systems of my body through this process of differentiation and integration.
I am realizing that a greater didactic understanding of ecology allows me to feel a greater sense of integration with nature. I would like to pursue this relationship more…
What strikes me most is: what would happen if in ALL of our classes, especially in middle school and high school when people's brains are developing in so many magnanimous ways, we got up and WIGGLED after learning anything. Can't you just see 30 highschoolers shakin' it off, then clambering back into their chairs and realizing that, somehow, in the confluence of mind and body, they understand a bit more clearly?
ReplyDeleteI know that when I have sat for too long, my breath becomes shallow, my neck and back begin to hurt, and my eyes get cranky. I don't take in the information. But if I get up and wiggle before reading I'm more alert to the information, and wiggle whenever I'm zoning out I learn more, more quickly, and more thoroughly.
(Melissa, you inspired me in the cooking route.) When I think of a meal, I often start with the big picture: what size? how heavy? how many courses/side dishes? Does it need to focus around an ingredient? Example: I want to make a sidedish, but it has to be gluten, dairy, and sugar free. Okay. With protein, but meatless. Okay. Quinoa salad of some sort. And then I start picking apart the big idea: what flavors, textures, and colors go well with quinoa? Nuts! Chard? No, Kale! Hmmm.... something sweet and rich, but light in flavor. Chevre! These flavors are all pretty calm. Perhaps some pucker: basalmic vinegar. And LIME juice! A dash of salt, and white pepper and VOILA! A detailed, but big-picture side dish.
Sometimes I get stuck in a rut: I only have certain ingredients, or I only know a few cooking tactics. I get frustrated with the same-ol' same-ol' food. Any ideas for soup, anyone? I guess the best thing to do is to jump in and give it a whirl.
I am learning how to communicate with specific friends. As I deepen into the commitment of our friendship, we take time to pull back, examine what impacts us, then come together to discuss and re-evaluate. We act and communicate authentically and honestly, and then the next flow stage of the friendship goes. Eventually, the pulling back, diving in, and swimming pattern continues.
It's difficult to dive into new friendships, though, when the language and terminology isn't practiced enough yet to communicate clearly. I'm trying to bring my embodied truth, along with the 'meeting' nature that Julie shared with us in class, to establish body-communication so that verbal communication can happen without miscommunication.
1. When I first start working at a new job I am worried about learning and remembering all the different tasks that are my responsibility. It is hard to imagine getting it all down, but after just one or two work days I just think of "work" as opposed to "all the details I must remember at work".
ReplyDelete2. As with Elian, when I learn a new kata or combination in karate I first go just a few moves at a time, and then soon I have an idea of the kata as a whole. With this example though, I also usually have to go back to the pieces in order to perfect the movements.
3. I can see my life as a six year old, a ten year old, a thirteen year old, a seventeen year old, and now... but I can also see the whole person that has slowly morphed into who I call Elizabeth today
1. Pertaining to my concentration at Fairhaven: I have taken a wide array of classes that interest my highly so far in my time spent in school. I do not yet have a clear idea of what my major will end up looking like in its completed form.
2. I have several friend groups, including one in Battle Ground, one in the Fairhaven dorms freshman year, one from the dorms this year, one that I party with fairly consistantly, one that I live with, one that I spend my chill time with. In some places there is a lot of overlap, and in others there is none. I would like to see the gaps be made a little tighter so my friend group is less fragmented.
3. One of my biggest passions right now in my life is political economy, alternative economics, a critique of corporate capitalism. I have learned bits and pieces of this, but from where I stand now the picture is large and complicated. Although I have a strong sense of the interdisciplinarity of it all, I don't yet have a clear idea of how exactly it all works together.
1.) I really notice compartmentalization of movement when I first begin to dance. I feel the music or rhythm usually in one are: my feet, hips, shoulders, or arms. Then, as my heartrate increases, and the music begins to become more complex, I notice integration.
ReplyDelete2.) Learning new Muay Thai kicks, footwork, or punches. I have to do each new movement slowly, and I notice when I am not using my core/navel spiral. After a few days or a few hundred times doing the movement, it begins to feel cohesive with the other movements.
3.)Doing math always feels very compartmentalized. I've never thought to do math homework with my navel!
1.) I know alot about the bits and pieces of western astrology, yet still am working to blend my knowledge into a wheel of knowledge so I can cast people's birth charts/maps.
2.)Cleaning and organzing bills and paperwork. Always feels very heady and full of pieces. I must learn to flow and continue like water through my own buraucracy.
3.)Cooking still is very sectionalized. I have a hard time not using a recipe. (Except with salads, those are a work of art every time.)