Authentic Movement

The practice of authentic movement allows a mover and a witness to share an experience of creating sacred space for moving deeply into the mind-body connection, thereby gaining insights and awareness through spontaneous expression of the body's wisdom. Practitioners may gain a sense of incredible emotional freedom and release. I can personally recall a number of powerful emotional releases over the years during sessions, from intense happiness to anger, with previously unimagined healing effects lasting in my whole being to this day. These have been small 1:1 sessions with a witness and with larger groups of movers and fewer witnesses. Each time has been a unique opportunity to move inward and discover a new aspect of self previously hidden, I believe, behind an overactive mind masking and numbing intuition and self-awareness. Authentic movement can begin with the simple intention of allowing your body to start a journey from a movement impulse or memory, and following (not leading) the course of action until a closure occurs and the body rests. The voice of the mover that sometimes arises during authentic movement can be startling, even unsettling, for the participant, as the sounds are felt so intensely and the impact of the words may feel more genuine than in daily conversation.

With a beginner to authentic movement, it can take some time to feel comfortable to open up in this way - a way sometimes described as allowing yourself to be raw and vulnerable, unexpected, and going into an unknown place in yourself. My experience is that trusting and not trying too hard to make movement happen allows for an optimal experience, even if you lay on the ground for 10 minutes and merely move a finger, that may be all that is called for that day. Was it an authentic experience? Only you can say. Learning what that is, is part of the experience.

I am eager to experience authentic movement this week in my class, and have to admit I certainly have a bit of an agenda going in - working on dealing with feelings from the birth of my daughter. However, I can not say what will actually surface once I begin, and that is part of the beauty. I also look forward, always, to the experience of being a witness for others, and sharing in the authentic expression of our deeper selves. Witnesses, and witnessing, help create a sacred and safe space. The witness responds to the mover's comments about what he or she experienced, and the witness reports in terms such as, "I felt" or "I saw", careful not to interpret or analyze. A witness receives incoming images and thoughts with mindfulness, that is to say with a certain receptivity to seeing clearly what is happening in the moment. Non-judging, and holding the space for the mover to be seen and heard.

Authentic movement is a creative process of opening and going deeper into the self, healing, and being in a spontaneous moment of self-awareness. See you there!