Massage and Movement

Last June I left New York City for the Berkshires, for 12 days, for a 'leg' of the Somatic Education program that I am in. I was so looking forward to being in the country--to sitting in the sun on my friend Deborah and Davio's deck in between classes, to visiting local nature spots, and to enjoying the light streaming in through the floor to ceiling windows of the dance studios at Earthdance.

It rained almost every day.

 (forest illustration: painting by Heidi Smith:"Spring Runoff in Santa Barbara Forest", http://heidismithartist.com/)

My mother is German, and on a recent visit to me in Brooklyn, we were talking about a law in Berlin that just changed. Before, if children were loud, anyone could call the Police. Imagine! Even laughter, children playing too loudly, were warrant for this call. It was common for pre-schools and Kindergartens to get shut down because of this law. My mother grew up with this law in the 40's, and until 2009, I believe, it stood.

I think children learn through making sounds. What kind of repression or developmental delay, or non-development happens when children are not allowed to make noise? During my Mom's visit, I went to my developmental movement class, and my teacher shared, (unprompted I think, it came up in conversation separate from news of my mom's visit) that when she teaches in Germany, she has to be really careful in the public pools. Here in the US, people have an awareness in the space of the pool. Folks stick to their lanes, and when in the open pool, people have a sense of the space around them. But not in Germany! My teacher explained. In public pools she has to watch out for her safety, and often gets hit. It seems adults there, and this may be a generalization, but its my teacher's experience, do have less of a proprioceptive awareness, of what is outside of their bodies.

I find this incredibly interesting. Is sound expression as children and babies part of what grows our awareness of what is outside of ourselves, and our awareness of where we are in relation to what is outside of our own skin. It makes sense to me. Don't bats use sound to 'see' in the dark...their sound bounces of the walls, giving them information as to where they are in space.

Just a quick thought here, on the connection between Authentic and Jung. I guess one  of the main reasons why it is so easy to jump to Jung when doing Authentic Movement, is that we do the movement in a dreamstate. Movement is usually done with eyes closed, and after a few minutes, if not immediately, most practitioners have moved into an altered state. The focus that is active in Authentic Movement, like the focus required in meditation, changes the physiology of the body, bringing one into this trance state.  So naturally, after moving, then writing or drawing, thoughts often go to symbols, to interpretation  of this movement time/this trance, as if looking at a dream.