Wednesday, April 18, 2012

4. Letting Gd In

REFLECTIONS

Journeying Together
This morning's session felt really powerful. People were tangibly more comfortable interacting with each other as the arc of these sessions culminated in group movement. As we're bringing the Movement Minyan to a close at Hebrew College, we are increasingly aware of how long many of the participants have been coming. It has been powerful to experience how much more open we are all able to be in this space because there has been this committed core group of participants who are present at almost every session. In large part because of the safety and comfort in the core group, new participants are able find their way in much more easily, to open much more quickly, and to be lead by their curiosity and sense of playfulness. As Daniel Klein, a newcomer this year, mentioned at the second session, at first he was in his head about his movements but he was quickly able to drop down into his body and find movements that were pleasurable and fun.

As facilitators of the Minyan, we both feel an incredible sense of heart-opening that radiates out throughout the day to all who were present for the session. There are Minyan participants with whom we interact very little outside of Minyan, whom we know little about and have shared few other experiences with. Even though it is only one hour twice a month, the time we share at Movement Minyan connects all of us and evoke a deep sense of empathy for one another.

Evolutionary Movement Flow
Doing evolutionary movement - embodying our primal/animal nature, and being close to the ground as "creepy crawlies" seemed to really lend itself to getting people in their bodies. People felt more comfortable making contact with their own and others' physicality. In our discussion at the end of the session, Julie mentioned this and hypothesized that perhaps many of us felt more comfortable making physical contact with others when we are laying on the floor because we had more surfaces of our body touching something and therefore contact felt more natural. We found it powerful during the "tefillah" portion when we moved across the room, that we all had a common goal (to get from one side to the other) and that lent itself toward more collaboration/helping in movement. For example, Adina and Allan moved, side-by-side across the floor on their bellies, each lending movements and companionship to the other. Whether through touch or through a shared energy, the movement across the room today felt like a shared experience.

Music
It was also interesting to use music. Adam found that he had to put a lot of intention into sequencing the music such that it lent itself to the flow of the movement: he made sure any music with even a slightly rhythmic quality was played at the beginning, during individual warm ups.  He also tried to make an "evolutionary" soundtrack that moved from chaotic/primal sound to softly organized sound, and in general he tried to choose short songs, especially for the tefillah section, so that no one song would have too strong an impact on people's movement.  It seems like the soundtrack, when thoughtfully designed, can be of greater benefit (at best, allowing people to feel comfortable dancing together in a room) than harm (at worst, dictating people's movement, and if strongly rhythmic, perpetuating people's habitual "dance moves" as a performance rather than an internal experience).

SESSION

Introduction (3 min total)
1) Welcome
- Safe space etc
- Acknowledge wide range of backgrounds in the room
2) This semester's theme
Letting Gd In
- Building the tools of improvisation
-Increasing our awareness of the energies constantly around and within us (emotions, sensations, intuitions, impulses, desires)
- Expanding our capacity for playfulness
- Cultivating curiosity

Music
This session we used a mix that Adam made. The tracks were chosen to evoke the evolutionary theme of the session and the mix was timed perfectly to end when we reached the end of the movement section of the session.

Movement (30 min total) 
1) Evolutionary flow (10 min)
- Belly slithering, crawling, kneeling, standing, squatting, hunched, upright

2) Interactive movement (10 min)
- Pick a stage you want to explore more (reminder of stages), embody stage you feel called to explore, and find someone who is at that level/similar stage
- Explore it as a group: “This could look like mirroring, responding to movements, physical interaction, making similar noises”, etc.

3) Group movement (10 min)
- Move together, become part of one organism moving through stages
- Move up to standing and move back down the chain and devolve
- Continue progression and loop the evolutionary process so that when you become upright, you devolve back to your belly and start all over again
- Play off of one another as a group
- "We're all together exploring what it means to be in this
stage: to the best of your ability move through the stages, using each other as guides, and props and cues”

Tefillah (10 min)
“Over the next few moments, move your evolutionary dance to far side of room, continue your journey together from one end to other end of room as a group”
- Incorporating movements and building on interactions from group movement

Closing (10 min)
- Discussion/Hand Closing

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

3. Letting Gd In

Yoga flow on mats (5-7 min)
-Closed eyes, soft eyes, stretching

Introduction (3 min total)
1) Welcome
- Safe space etc
- Acknowledge wide range of backgrounds in the room
2) This semester's theme
Letting Gd In
-Building the tools of improvisation
-Increasing our awareness of the energies constantly around and within us (emotions, sensations, intuitions, impulses, desires)
-Expanding our capacity for playfulness
-Cultivating curiosity

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

2. Letting Gd In

Introduction
1) Welcome
- Safe space etc
- Acknowledge wide range of backgrounds in the room
2) This semester's theme
Letting Gd In
- Building the tools of improvisation
-Increasing our awareness of the energies constantly around and within us (emotions, sensations, intuitions, impulses, desires)
- Expanding our capacity for playfulness
- Cultivating curiosity

Movement
1) Yoga flow on mats (10 min)
 -Start from ground and go up to standing

Monday, February 27, 2012

1. Letting Gd In

Brainstorm


In our initial thinking about our theme for this semester we wanted to revisit something we had already done. Following the advice of Ebn, we sought to see what it felt like to engage with a theme more than once to help ourselves grow as facilitators and to see how a theme changes over time, with new people, at a different moment in history. We have also been thinking more about how to bring our work with the Minyan out into other communities. How does the same theme respond to a new setting, or to people with diverse backgrounds? After reflecting on past themes (Shema to Ge'ulah: the move from oneness to redemption, Modes of Leadership, and "Baruch Atah YHVH": the move from orientation to disorientation) we decided to play with Modes of Leadership a second time.

Simultaneously, Adam and I were processing a powerful movement experience