My job is to teach physical practices that create conditions for positive changes in people. Positive to me means – more feeling, more awareness, clarity and choices. First of all, it is important to understand why we need the practice at all, and then to understand how to practice.
The need for practice
This need stems from a simple observation – processes are taking place throughout our lives that cannot be stopped, but only directed. The process of adaptation, for example, cannot be stopped, but we can choose what to adapt to. If a body system or function is left without the proper stimulus, it gradually loses its ability. In order to keep the systems in working order, it is very important that they are loaded and challenged in an appropriate way. In most people’s days, there are not many situations where this is the case, and gradually our capacities degrade. From childhood to adulthood, motor activity, play and mobility gradually decrease, reaching a critical minimum. Modern lifestyles generally overload the cognitive system and underdevelop the physical, but the physical underpins the cognitive and sooner or later, the red light goes on. Symptoms such as overexertion, headaches, stomach problems, sleep problems, joint pain, muscle cramps and more are an attempt to get attention. Is it maturity to replace all motor activity with intellectual activity, or is it maturity to be able to combine both?
The need for purposeful action is so that our abilities do not stagnate and atrophy, in the first place, and to take care of ourselves in the aspects that generally remain in the background. Each practice has its center – principles around which the action revolves and allows the orbit of development to be organized.
The core of the practice
1. Terminology
It is very difficult for people to express their bodily sensations. During an orthopedic examination, for example, we have to explain – in which region of the body, during which movements, what sensations are provoked. The powerlessness at this point is due to the lack of knowledge of the alphabet and body language. As with learning any language, having a rich vocabulary and grammatical knowledge will also allow us to express ourselves more accurately and appropriately. In order for the guidelines to be conveyed and understood, it is important to standardize terminology – for body regions, anatomical structures, body positions, planes in space, movements performed. All this helps us communicate and transmit information. Often the lack of a common language is a serious obstacle in the learning process.
2. Quality
A skill or movement can be improved in four different directions – quantity, quality, intensity and complexity. How the action is performed – from the simplest movements, to the most complex tricks we are capable of – is what matters most in its effect on the body. Any compromise in quality becomes a stumbling block along the way and is one of the high priorities in the process from the start. Also, the pursuit of higher quality is a never-ending path, as any creator and craftsman knows.
3. Sensitivity
Any stimulus below the threshold of pain does not register unless illuminated by our attention. Most of our problems stem from not feeling them. The way we feel about our body is not a given, but is the result of the processes that take place, combined with the attention we have towards them.
What is happening inside us?
*Where is the attention?*
How strong is our attention = What we Feel
We can influence our sensations in more ways than one, but we will only be able to master the things we feel. Feeling more of what is going on inside us is the first step to having a greater degree of control. In our body map there are many dark spots, inaccurate drawings, distorted images of reality. Improving the map also allows us to navigate better. Listening inward and developing inner vision – these are very important aspects of our activity. Over time, we not only pick up more of the signals sent, but we also manage to decipher them better. It changes every moment of our lives.
4. Breadth
“If all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Breadth means we work with a very wide variety of practices and tasks. This allows us to cover more of the territory of our anatomy and leave no place untouched. Because of the enormous variability we human beings have physically, it is impossible for one discipline to encompass all of our potential abilities. When we practice for a long time, in a well-organized way that regularly changes the topics of work, we can cover the whole territory gradually and refine every aspect of the body. The natural disadvantage is that a certain depth is sacrificed from the development of each individual component, at the expense of the balanced development of the whole – the approach is oriented towards general rather than specialized development. The other advantage of having many tools to work with is that the practice can be sustained and transformed as all sorts of different circumstances arise – internal and external. Wealth allows us to build ourselves much more accurately and precisely. That is why we use a variety of systems for distinguishing and mastering the individual parts of the body (body mapping, somatic work), exercises for physical training (physical capacity), for organizing the body in space (floor systems, locomotion, soft acrobatics, handbalancing), for interaction with external objects (partnering, object manipulation), for rhythm and more…
5. Complexity
What is the way to upgrade our abilities? What is the way in which we do not always substitute one thing for another, so that the sum remains the same? Increasing complexity, or complexity, is the answer to these questions. Every complex thing contains within itself the elements of which it is composed. When we complicate the situations we can deal with, then all the simpler scenarios become like child’s play, and resolved with ease. Each exercise is part of a larger system, and we work towards combining the small parts into larger ones. This is the “Way of Mastery” observed in every sphere – from isolation, through integration to improvisation. The free and spontaneous use of our entire repertoire is the highest degree of mastery in any discipline.
The frameworks in which we choose to work are chosen in the name of the main mission of the practice – to get to know and master more than unknown territory of our body. Our service is aimed at enabling people to get an education and a chance to self-educate about their bodies. Just as in school we did not receive quality information and an idea of how the human psyche works, in the same way the bodily processes on which our lives depend are completely unknown to us. Fortunately, there are ways to improve!
If you are interested and want to start working in this direction, contact us: [email protected]