Touched by Tenderness; Tears

Being Embraced

A Description of Contact Improvisation Dance Practice: Achieving inner stillness through attention to, and acute observation of our impulses; our bodily experience. Meeting at the point of touch and exploring, through mutual responsiveness, what movement wants to unfold from an authentic, neutral space Curiously exploring that meeting, that point, that present moment, while maintaining full, unconditional presence. Saying, “YES!” in response to the other, without diminishing our self; without compromising our own authenticity. Surrendering to process, letting go of judgment, of intention, of willfulness. Experiencing a spaciousness that allows full acceptance self and other. As we are. Mutually supporting what is happening. And when there are ‘disconnects’, stopping and waiting. Waiting for that full presence to come into each of us again; for that felt sense of, “Ah yes, you are here, I am here, we meet here.” And in agreement, continuing. Joined, yet separate and individual. Connecti...

HEALING THE WOUND OF NON-SUPPORT

We must receive support before we can ever give it Many of us were born and raised in homes where we did not receive the support we really needed in order to feel safe, seen, grounded, and valued. For whatever reasons, our parents and families and perhaps even our communities were unable to give us enough responsive attention for us to anchor a feeling of being empowered and supported into our Beings. Because we did not receive this support for our very Being, our essence, we came to distrust ourselves and those around us. We became unable to receive support, even when it was sincerely offered. We came to feel that we were a burden and that we didn’t deserve to have support or feel supported. We tried to make it through our lives by being totally self-sufficient. Since we couldn’t receive support, we reasoned, maybe we didn’t need it. We managed for quite some time in this way. But we found that we were unable to feel totally at ease with ourselves and ...

contact improv as therapy

Recently a long-time CI dancing friend wrote: for me c.i. is therapy. it invites all of me to show up and be, be and explore. it invites me to know myself and listen to others. i welcome that intention, i love the way it is my teacher, my therapist, my friend. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I, too regard c.i. dance practice as therapeutic. Dance has been my pathway to get closer to myself and closer to others. Through dancing using elements of c.i. with large numbers of people over the past 12 years or so, the majority of whom have had little or no experience with C.I., I have learned how to bring my authentic self into my interactions with others. It is through learning to listen and respond to myself while listening and responding to another in this very physical ‘dance’ form, that I have begun to understand what a sweet and satisfying thing it is to know myself and to know myself in relationship. Exploring CI has helped me to discover my authentic self, and to bring that self ...

Radical Aliveness

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