Avsnitt
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In this class, we revisit initiating movements from our feet and belly centres while anchoring the belly centre to the earth’s centre. We experience our movements as a shapeshifting of the whole of our inner volume and our belly centres as the centre of our kinespheres – the spherical space around us that we could actually touch
On the floor, we play with our inner volume through the image of alternately filling our chest and belly with air while lightly holding the breath. This is Feldenkrais what called seesaw breathing. We explore this on our backs, on our bellies, and lying on each side with the head lifted.
Returning to lying on our backs, we stretch the arms into the gesture of an embrace, let the knees drift up, and play with rolling from side to side – everything organising around the belly centre as we come to stand.
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00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing how we feel – both the emotional tone and how we sense ourselves to be here – in this place and in this body
Remembering we are walking on the earth and through the air
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of one whole continuous volume within our skins
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00:04:10 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Finding our belly centres and extending our attention from their centre along the line of gravity connecting the centre of the earth with an imaginary star above
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Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the belly centre, from the feet, from the eyes, then everything together
Remembering that our body is not an object but a nesting of processes
Arms above the head spiralling around the axis – taking this into walking as a double helix
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Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through us and out through the top of the head – becoming a human fountain
Exploring raising one hand/arm at a time, then both together – shaping the flow of support out through the fingertips – sensing the smallest reconfiguration that produces a weight shift under the feet
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Initiating rounding and arching from the feet – pushing backwards along the skin of the earth through the heels to arch, forwards through the toes to round – the belly centre always anchored to the centre of the earth
Initiating side-bending from the feet – circling the belly centre – letting the arms rise to counterbalance as the head moves further from the axis
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Stepping with one foot in front – initiating from the soles of the feet – the belly centre as the centre of our kinesphere
Folding and unfolding to bring the belly centre closer and further from the earth’s surface – not pushing down and levering ourselves up but rather changing the configuration of our entire inner volume – what I call shapeshifting
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00:38:10 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea
Sensing the skin stretching and relaxing with each breath throughout its surface – auxeticity – if one part of this fabric expands, the whole thing expands
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Breathing into a balloon in the chest – expanding forwards and back, sideways, upwards beneath the dome of the shoulder girdle
Breathing into a balloon in the belly – expanding forwards and back, sideways, down into the pelvic floor – taking care to expand both backwards and forwards
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Seesaw breathing on our backs – taking a slightly deeper breath in, holding it lightly, and alternately filling the chest and the belly – one hand on the breastbone, one on the belly – as one rises the other sinks – sensing how our connection with the earth changes as the air moves up and down
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Seesaw breathing on our bellies – sensing how the pattern of pressure changes through the knees, the elbows, the tops of the feet
Playing with the diagonals – the left side of the chest with the right side of the belly, then the other diagonal
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Seesaw breathing on one side – sensing how gravity flows through us differently in this orientation
Making the head lighter on the arm – lifting it a little – sensing which parts of us reach down into the earth for more support
Seesaw breathing with the head lifted
Rolling onto the back to compare the two sides – then repeating on the other side
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Stretching the arms into the gesture of an embrace – sensing the support flowing through us and out through the fingertips
Letting the knees drift above the chest – unfolding the legs towards the sky – sending support out through the knees, the toes, the heels
Letting the head and tail join in reaching skywards – everything organising around the belly centre
Rolling from side to side – initiating from the skyward side or from the interaction with the earth – everything organising around the belly centre as we come to stand.
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01:21:15 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity
Shifting the belly centre from the soles of the feet – circling
Letting the arms float up – sensing how the seesaw breathing may have changed our sense of wholeness
These classes as moments of tuning – tuning into the flow of weight and support – the support coming from the centre of the earth and going up and out like the branches of a tree
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit malcolmmanning.substack.com -
In this class we revisit in standing circling the belly centre from the feet, mediating between heaven and earth through the image.
On the floor, we invite in an image of our structure as one continuous fabric – a mesh of elastic tissue that pulls us together and fields of activity that resist compression and create space.
We explore how changing our internal architecture to increase and decrease the pressure between one region of ourselves and the earth causes changes in our whole pattern of connection with the earth.
We add reaching into the air with the arms and legs, head and tail, to roll from side to side with everything organising around the belly centre as we find our way up through hands and knees to standing.
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00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing how we feel – both the emotional tone and how we sense ourselves to be here – in this place and in this body
Practising reading our walking as a changing of shape of our whole inner volume
00:02:00 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Extending our attention from our belly centres along the line of gravity downward and inwards to the centre of the earth and upwards and outwards to an imaginary star above – creating common ground
Remembering the air around us and how the air pressure gives us a gentle hug from all directions
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Exploring raising one hand/arm at a time, then both – locating our belly centre as the centre of our kinesphere
Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through us and out through the top of the head and fingertips – becoming a human fountain – mediating between heaven and earth
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Recapping turning around our axis, rounding and arching, and side-bending from our feet – combining them to create circles
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In taking our head away from the axis, we stay oriented by attending to the connection of our belly centre to the centre of the earth and the star above
With one foot in front, shifting our belly centre towards one foot then the other through initiating with the soles of our feet
Folding and unfolding so the belly centre rises away from and falls towards the centre of the earth – shapeshifting rather than pushing down to lever parts of ourselves up
Moving the belly centre side to side from our feet – sensing how the relationship of the belly centre to the centre of the earth stays constant creating the illusion that we turn the earth beneath us
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00:25:30 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us
Inviting in an image of our structure as one continuous fabric – a fractal mesh – some regions of which are elastic and pull us together while others are stiffer, resist compression and create space – mesh nested in mesh nested in mesh all the way down to the molecular level – everything connected
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Changing our internal architecture so that pressure increases and decreases behind one shoulder, then the other, then both – sensing how the movement flows through us to effect the pelvis, the heels, the head
Making the shoulders lighter – sensing where the pressure goes as something lifts away from the floor
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Changing the pressure behind the back of our heads – sensing what happens in the chest, the pelvis, the belly centre
Playing with micro movements so small nobody could see them – and also with bigger movements where the head actually lifts
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Changing the pressure behind one heel, then the other, then both – sensing how the movement ripples through us
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Changing the pressure behind one side of the pelvis, then the other, then both – actively involving places that seem to move passively
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Playing with multiple points – combining, for example, the back of the head with one heel, an elbow with the opposite side of the pelvis – channelling our inner worms
Bringing the belly centre a little closer to the earth and a little further away – sensing how this is reflected in changes of pressure – movement – everywhere where we touch the earth
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Arms out to the side – rolling them towards and away from the feet – then stretching the fingertips away from each other and curling them forward into the gesture of an embrace – sensing the support flowing through us and out through the fingertips
Sliding the hands on the floor – above the head, down towards the pelvis – sensing how the functional centre of our hand/arms is our belly centre
Adding the legs – hands and feet stroking the earth – rolling from side to side
Letting the arms and legs float up, reaching out through fingers, toes, heels, head, tail – rolling from side to side and all the way over – everything organising around the belly centre in the pattern of navel radiation
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Finding our way up to sitting without pushing down
On hands and knees – pushing and pulling along the skin of the earth – moving the belly centre in all directions – side-bending from the earth
Shapeshifting our way up to standing – noticing if the movements become lighter the more of ourselves becomes involved
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01:15:00 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity
Letting the hands float up – sensing if something changed in the connection of the hands to the feet and deeper – to the centre of the earth
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Harmonising with the earth and the air – listening into the movement that is there – surfing it
Looking for stillness – in the act of looking, creating movement – putting information out as we receive it
Fifteen minutes of free exploration with music
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Returning to standing and walking – sensing any changes in how we feel present in the place, in our bodies and in the emotional tone of our experience
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit malcolmmanning.substack.com -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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In this class we deepen our exploration of initiating movement from the interaction of our skin with the skin of the earth.
In standing, we revisit shifting the belly centre side to side, forwards and back, and turning – each time playing between initiating from the belly centre and initiating from the soles of the feet.
On the floor, we bring these same explorations into new variations of being on hands and kness.
Throughout all of this, the centre of the belly centre stays connected to the centre of the earth – the reference point around which we organise ourselves.
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00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing how we feel – both the emotional tone and how we sense ourselves to be here – in this place and in this body
Remembering we are walking on the earth and through the air
Bringing our attention to our belly centres – sensing their connection to the centre of the earth
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of one whole continuous volume within our skins
00:03:15 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to ourselves standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – shifting our axis from side to side and then zeroing in on the middle
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Shifting the belly centre side to side – initiating from the belly centre, then from the soles of the feet pushing along the skin of the earth, then both together
Extending our attention from the centre of the belly centre along the line connecting the centre of the earth with an imaginary star above
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Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the belly centre, from the feet, from the eyes, from everything together – turning the same amount but lighter and lighter – dissolving the body into the space
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Moving the belly centre forwards and backwards from our feet – reaching through the toes to round, through the heels to arch – sensing the line connecting the belly centre to the centre of the earth remaining constant as we fold and unfold
Allowing the belly centre to float a little closer the earth then coming back up – experiencing this familiar movement as shapeshifting – returning from having our legs bent without pushing down
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Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, gathering in the belly centre, and coming out through the top of the head and fingertips – becoming a human fountain
Exploring floating our hand/arms up in front of us – shaping the flow of support up and out through our fingertips as well as the top of our heads
Sensing the smallest change of configuration of the hand/arm that produces a weight shift under the feet
Experimenting with taking the head away from the axis while the belly centre maintaining its connection to the centre of the earth and the star above – mediating between heaven and earth
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Stepping forward – initiating from the soles of the feet – floating over the earth rather than levering ourselves away it
00:52:00 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave sensing how the ripples reach the edges of ourselves
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Rounding and arching in kneeling – initiating from the lower legs interacting with the skin of the earth
Shifting the belly centre side to side from the lower legs – circling
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Forehead on the floor: moving the belly centre side to side and forwards and back – initiating from the connection of the forearms and forelegs with the earth – first differentiating, working with sequencing, and then integrating so everything going together
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On elbows and knees finding a seesaw movement – pulling through the forearms to come forwards, pushing through the forelegs to come back – two interlocking triangles around the belly centre: the legs connecting to the top of the head, the arms connecting to the tail
Playing side to side and circling on elbows and knees
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On hands and knees, pulling and pushing along the surface of the earth through the hands – rounding and arching with the toes tucking under and unfolding
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Forehead on the floor: exploring the shoulder blades – towards the spine, away, towards the head, towards the pelvis, circling – sensing how this movement of a seemingly small region creates a weight shift throughout our whole volume
Noticing how moving the shoulder blade changes the connection of our forearms, our head, our knees with the earth – inviting more and more of ourselves into the movement
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Sensing how everything we play with changes the relationship of the belly centre with the earth
01:06:30 – Returning to standing and walking
Rising to standing without pushing down – the area of connection getting smaller, the pressure increasing, but shapeshifting rather than levering
Reinhabiting the image of the human fountain – the belly centre, always connected to the centre of the earth below and a star above, becoming the reference point around which all our movement is organised
Directing support out through fingertips, knees, eyes, elbows – playing with where we choose as exit points
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Arriving in relative stillness again – harmonising with the activity inside our skins, beneath our feet, in the air around us – the act of listening is a movement itself
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit malcolmmanning.substack.com -
In this class, we continue to deepen our explorations of initiating movement from the interaction of our skin with the skin of the earth – in standing, in kneeling, and on hands and knees – adding fish-like sideways undulations – swimming to heaven
In standing, we revisit shifting the belly centre side to side, and forwards and backwards from the feet – side-bending and rounding and arching – combining them to circle the belly centre – and finally adding turning into the mix
On the floor, on hands and knees, we explore moving the belly centre in all directions by gently pushing and pulling on the skin of the earth through the hands and the lower legs.
From here we discover a fish-like undulation led from the top of the head, sending a wave down in the direction of the tail – first horizontally and in vertical – swimming to heaven.
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00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing how we feel – both the emotional tone and how we sense ourselves to be here – in this place and in this body
Remembering we are walking on the earth and through the air
Bringing our attention to our belly centres – sensing their connection to the centre of the earth
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of one whole continuous volume within our skins
…
00:04:10 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure – inviting a sense of mystery about what is inside our skins
Extending our attention along the line connecting our belly centres inwards to the centre of the earth and outwards to an imaginary star above
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Shifting the belly centre side to side – initiating from the belly centre, then from the soles of the feet pushing along the skin of the earth, then everything together
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Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the belly centre, from the feet, from the eyes, from everything together – turning the same amount but lighter and lighter – dissolving the body into the space
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Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through us and out through the top of the head – becoming a human fountain
Exploring raising one hand/arm at a time, then both together – shaping the flow of support up though ourselves and out through our fingertips
Reaching both arms above the head and spiralling around our axis – taking this into walking as if we were a double helix
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Initiating rounding and arching from the feet – pushing backwards along the skin of the earth through the heels to arch, and forwards through through the toes to round
Similarly initiating side-bending from the feet, then circling the belly centre – letting the arms rise to counterbalance as the head moves further away from the axis – the belly centre always anchored to the centre of the earth in our attention
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Bringing one foot in front – shifting our belly centres forwards and backwards by initiating from the interaction of the skin of our feet with the skin of the earth – floating over the earth rather than levering ourselves from it
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00:42:00 – Floor work
Lying on our backs – sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave – sensing how the ripples of the breath reach the edges of ourselves – feet and hands, head and tail
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Inviting in a sense of mystery about our structure – the body as one continuous fabric, one mesh that enfolds fields of activity rather than discrete parts
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In kneeling – rounding, arching and side-bending – initiating from the lower legs interacting with the skin of the earth – then circling the belly centre
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On hands and knees – pushing and pulling along the skin of the earth through the hands and lower legs to move the belly centre in all directions – sensing how we can anchor the belly centre through our attention to the centre of the earth
Sending support out through the top of the head and through the tail – imagining a line that leaves through the top of the head, follows the curve of the earth, and enters through the tail – imagining our belly centres orbiting the earth
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Side-bending on hands and knees – initiated first from the spine and then from the earth
Introducing a fish-like undulation led from the top of the head – sending a wave down in the direction of the tail
Playing with the undulation moving forwards towards the hands, back towards the feet, up to kneeling – shapeshifting our way up and down without pushing into the earth
When coming to back to kneeling it’s like swimming to heaven
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Lying on our backs – little by little bringing our arms to embrace the space in front of ourselves – sensing the support flowing through us and out through the fingertips
Letting the knees come in front of our chest – unfolding the legs towards the sky – sending support out through the knees, the heels, the toes – letting the head and tail join in reaching skywards
Playing with various combinations to roll from side to side – everything organising around the belly centre
Taking 10 minutes to find our way up to standing – trying to avoid pushing down to come up but rather shapeshifting our way up – using the undulation can help
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01:17:00 – Returning to standing and walking
Sensing the internal volume in standing now
Folding and unfolding – noticing the difference between pushing down to come up and simply changing our entire shape
Placing our attention into the earth, into the air, inside our own skin – keeping our attention mobile
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit malcolmmanning.substack.com -
In this class, we continue our exploration of anchoring our belly centre to the centre of the earth and initiating movement from the centre of the earth as a way to enter the experience of what I call shapeshifting – distributing the initiation of movement throughout our inner volume
On the floor, we begin on elbows and knees, exploring a seesaw movement – pulling and pushing along the skin of the earth with the forearms and lower legs to tip ourselves forwards and back.
We play with side-bending on elbows and knees, then come up onto hands and knees to explore rounding and arching, tucking the toes under, and moving towards a squat and up to standing.
Through all of this, the belly centre stays connected to the centre of the earth – the line connecting them becoming our anchor as we change orientation.
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00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing how we feel – the emotional tone of being here and how we sense ourselves present here, in this place and in this body
Sensing the air we move through and the support of the earth with every step
Bringing attention to the belly centre – sensing its connection to the centre of the earth
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of one whole volume
00:03:20 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure – inviting a sense of mystery about what is inside our skins
Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through us and out through the top of the head – becoming a human fountain
Extending our attention along the line connecting the centre of the earth to an imaginary star above
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Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – shifting our axis from side to side – arriving at the middle through sensation
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Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the eyes, from the feet, from both together – same amount of turning, same speed, but lighter and lighter – dissolving our body into the space
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Moving the belly centre forwards and back through the interaction of the feet with the skin of the earth – rounding and arching – sensing how the belly centre stays anchored to the centre of the earth
Moving the belly centre side to side from the feet
Circling – channelling support through us and shaping how it exits through the top of the head and the fingertips
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Folding and unfolding without pushing down into the earth – shapeshifting our way up rather than levering ourselves away from the earth
Stepping with one foot in front – shifting the belly centre forwards and back through the soles of the feet – sensing the delicacy of connecting through the skin
00:39:40 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us – allowing our asymmetries to be there
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea – sensing the skin stretching and relaxing throughout its surface
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Kneeling and playing with moving our belly centres from side to side – then initiating by rolling the lower legs on the floor
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On elbows and knee exploring a seesaw movement of the head towards the floor or the pelvis towards the soles of the feet
Pulling through the forearms brings the forehead towards the floor, pushing back through the forearms tips the pelvis down – sensing how the lower legs push and pull in the opposite direction
The belly centre rising and falling with this movement – two interlocking triangles around the belly centre: the feet connecting to the top of the head, the hands connecting to the tail
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On elbows and knees exploring side-bending – one side gets longer, the other gets shorter – generating the movement also from the interaction of our skin with the skin of the earth
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On hands and knees pulling and pushing along the surface of the earth through the hands – rounding and arching with the belly centre
Ttucking the toes under as we round, unfolding them as we arch – then the opposite coordination
Playing with one elbow on the floor, one arm straight – sensing how the rounding and arching moves through us asymmetrically
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Tucking the toes under and walking the hands back towards a squat – shapeshifting our way up to standing without pushing down into the earth
01:12:00 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity – reinhabiting the image of the human fountain
Letting the arms float up – exploring our kinesphere – everywhere around us we can reach from our belly centre with our touch – watching our hands, then bringing our attention out into the room through pointing beyond the kinesphere
Stepping – connecting the soles of the feet to the skin of the earth – the belly centre always anchored to the centre of the earth
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit malcolmmanning.substack.com -
In this class, we open our explorations of anchoring our belly centres to the earth’s centre and initiating movement from our connection with the earth into a new orientation – being on hands and knees.
In standing, we revisit bending and twisting our whole selves, initiating from the belly centre, from our feet and then our entire inner volume altogether.
On all fours, we explore rounding and arching – sequencing the movement from head to tail and from tail to head. We play with dropping the chest down between the shoulder blades and lifting it away, then combining this with rounding and arching. Crossing one leg behind the other, we explore sitting back into the space between our feet, rounding and arching as we go.
We attend to our belly centre and its connection to the centre of the earth throughout.
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00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing how we feel – the emotional tone and how we sense ourselves to be here – in this place and in this body
Sensing the air we move through and the support of the earth with every step
Bringing our attention to the belly centres – sensing their connection to the centre of the earth – leading with our belly centre through the room rather than with our heads
Practising reading our walking as a changing of shape of our whole inner volume
00:05:25 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure – inviting a sense of mystery about what is inside our skins
Extending our attention along the line connecting the centre of our belly centre to the centre of the earth and to an imaginary star above – creating common ground
…
Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – shifting our axis from side to side – arriving at a different middle
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Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the eyes, from the feet, from both together – going the same distance but focusing on the lightness of the movement – “dissolving our body into the space”
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Circling the belly centre – sensing how the pressure circles under the feet – staying small enough that the head can remain on the axis, before going further so the head begins to counterbalance
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Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, gathering in the belly centre like a reservoir, and coming out through the top of the head and fingertips – becoming a human fountain
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Initiating rounding and arching from the feet – pushing along the skin of the earth through the toes to round, pushing through the heels to arch
Initiating side-bending from the feet – pushing sideways along the skin of the earth
Folding and unfolding without pushing down into the earth
Stepping one foot in front – shifting the belly centre forwards and back through the interaction of the feet with the floor – sensing the delicacy of initiating from the skin – and with this delicacy we open to receive the flow of support of the earth
00:37:15 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us even if we can’t fall over – allowing our asymmetries to be there
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea
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On all fours: rounding and arching – sensing how integrated the movement is – looking for a sense of one volume shapeshifting
Sequencing the rounding and arching from head to tail – sensing where the movement passes through softly and where it seems to move more in chunks
Sequencing from tail to head – combining the two directions
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Dropping the chest down between the shoulder blades – sensing how the shoulder blades slide together and apart – without rounding and arching
Trying one shoulder at a time – sensing how the chest turns a little
Combining chest dropping with rounding and arching – exploring different coordinations
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Crossing one leg behind the other – sitting back towards the space between the feet – exploring both rounding and arching as we go
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Returning to simple rounding and arching – organising around the belly centre and its connection to the centre of the earth
Moving the belly centre left and right, then forwards and back, through the interaction of the skin of our hands, knees and feet with the skin of the earth
Circling – sensing the support flowing up through our connection with the earth, gathering in the belly centre, and passing out through the top of the head and the tail
01:12:06 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity
Initiating rounding, arching and side-bending from the feet – circling – the belly centre as a reservoir where support gathers and from which it can flow in any direction
Sensing the delicacy of connecting with the earth through the skin of our feet – mediating between heaven and earth – treading lightly on the earth
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit malcolmmanning.substack.com -
In this class, we revisit how we play with tone throughout ourselves in order to develop a sense how we reshape our inner volume in order to move.
On the floor, we explore rolling the head, the heels, the pelvis, the chest – initiating from each in turn, then sharing the work out between them so that we have the feeling that nothing leads.
We add tiny circles – with the tip of the nose, with the front of the pubic bone, with the heels – noticing how each circling movement ripples throughout the whole of volume.
Returning to standing, we listen into the earth beneath us and into the air around us, and play with harmonising with what we sense there – the body as a continually changing process rather than an object – feelers and antennae rather than parts.
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00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing how it feels to be here – both the emotional tone and the sensory experience of being here – in this place and in this body
Sensing the air we move through and the support of the earth
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of our internal volume
00:03:30 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to ourselves as we stand – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Inviting in a sense of mystery about how we might be structured inside our skins
Extending our attention from our centre axis along the line of gravity to the centre of the earth and to an imaginary star above
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Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – shifting the axis from side to side – zeroing in on the middle
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Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the eyes, from the foot we turn away from, from the foot we turn towards, from everything together – turning to same distance, but lighter and lighter – dissolving the body into the space
Swinging our arms – eyes and head ahead – and walking on the spot – taking a few steps with this funny walk – then transitioning into normal walking
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Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through us and out through the top of the head – becoming a human fountain
Exploring floating up one hand/arm at a time, then both together – shaping the flow of support out through the fingertips too
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Moving the belly centre side to side and forwards and back, initiated from the interaction of the feet with the floor – as if turning a great granite ball beneath us – the belly centre always maintaining its connection to the centre of the earth
Taking the head away from the axis – arms reaching out to balance us – playing with where we initiate from: feet, hands, head, belly centre, chest
What would it be like if there was no leader in the body? If everything went together? Shapeshifting!
00:40:25 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we are balancing on the earth behind us – even if we can’t fall over
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Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea
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Rolling the head – sensing how far through ourselves the movement reaches
Rolling one heel towards and away from our heads, then the other, then both together – sensing the push and pull through the legs and how it changes our shape and how we balance on the earth behind us
Combining feet and head – sharing the work out through ourselves so that nothing seems to be leading
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Rolling the pelvis towards the head and feet, then a little side to side – sensing how the head responds
Rolling the chest – sensing what happens behind the head, the pelvis, the elbows
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Circling the tip of the nose – then transferring the initiation to the back of the head resting on the floor – sensing how the circle ripples through the whole of ourselves
Circling the front of the pubic bone – sensing how the back of the pelvis circles
Circling one heel, then the other, then both – noticing our preferences and experimenting with alternative changes in inner volume
Bringing more and more of ourselves into the movement – distributing the work so that no one place is leading
01:01:20 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity
Sensing if there is a weight shift under the feet that goes with the breath – beneath the balancing activity
Initiating movement from the soles of the feet – taking the head away from the axis – the belly centre as the anchor that stays connected to the centre of the earth
…
Listening into the earth beneath us – the spinning, the churning magma, the magnetic fields – harmonising with what we sense
Listening into the air around us – full of dust, microbes, sound, light – letting the arms rise to feel the air
Imagining feelers and antennae through the fingertips and the top of the head – broadcasting and receiving – moving in order to listen, listening in order to move
…
Letting the eyes open if they are closed – seeing how much of the experience can stay as the vision comes back in
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In this class, we begin by exploring in standing how we can initiate rounding and arching, side-bending and rotation from our connection to the earth through the soles of our feet. Sensing how as our head moves away from our centre axis we can anchor ourselves to the earth through the relation of our belly centre to the earth’s centre
On the floor, we play with changing our internal architecture so that pressure increases and decreases between different regions of ourselves and the earth – sensing how every change of tone is a shapeshifting of all of ourselves
Returning to standing, we listen into the earth beneath us and into the air around us, and letting ourselves move to harmonise with what we sense there.
…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing how it feels to be here – both the emotional tone and the sensory experience of being here – in this place and in this body
Sensing the air we move through and the support of the earth
Noticing how it feels to bring ourselves over the leg which swings ahead of us – do you fall onto it, does it push you away from the earth or do you float over it?
00:03:22 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to ourselves as we stand – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Considering our bodies not as objects but as fields of activity
Extending our attention from our centre axis along the line of gravity to the centre of the earth and to an imaginary star above
…
Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – shifting the axis from side to side – zeroing in on the middle
Turning around our centre axis – transitioning into normal walking
…
Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through us and out through the top of the head – becoming a human fountain
Bringing attention to the belly centre – sensing how it stays connected to the centre of the earth as we take our head away from the axis
Exploring one hand/arm at a time, then both – shaping the flow of support out through the fingertips – sensing the smallest reconfiguration that produces a weight shift under the feet
…
Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the eyes, from the feet gripping the skin of the earth, from both together
Initiating rounding and arching from the feet – pushing back through both heels brings us forwards and into arching – pushing through our toes takes us backwards into rounding – sensing how the belly centre stays connected to the centre of the earth as we round and arch
Initiating side-bending from the feet – pushing sideways along the skin of the earth
Tipping the head off the axis until a step arrives
00:39:00 – Floor work
Sensing how we balance on the earth behind us as we lie down – sensing our inner volume – allowing our asymmetries to be there
Rolling our heads – sensing how far through ourselves this movement reaches
…
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea – sensing the skin stretching and relaxing throughout its surface with our breath
…
Pressing and lightening regions of ourselves – changing our internal architecture so that pressure increases and decreases – behind the head, the heels, the pelvis, the chest, the elbows, the shoulder blades – sensing how we shapeshift to do this
Imagining ourselves lying on a glass table and watching from below how the pattern of connection shifts as we play with the tone throughout the whole of ourselves
01:01:30 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity – reinhabiting the image of the human fountain
Sensing if there is a weight shift under the feet that goes with the breath – a wieght shift underneath the balancing activity
…
Listening into the earth beneath us – all that churning magma – sensing what of this movement passes through us
Listening into the air around us – full of dust, microbes, sound, light, chemical information – sensing what of this movement passes through us
Harmonising with what we sense – not fighting, not going against – but allowing the movement passing through us to inform how we shape ourselves
…
Imagining antennae emerging through the top of the head and through the hands, and roots emerging from the feet into the earth – feeling for information in the world around us also creates information there – broadcasting and receiving
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In this class we continue exploring how movement can be initiated through our interaction with the skin of the earth. In standing we revisit turning, rounding and arching, and side-bending – all initiated from the feet. As our volume changes shape we attend to the relationship of our belly centres to the centre of the earth.
On the floor, lying on our side, we explore rounding the spine by choosing different vertebrae and moving them away from the arm that stands in front of us, then discover how the same rounding can be created from the interaction of our skin with the skin of the earth.
Returning to standing, we play with folding and unfolding without pushing down into the earth, and with stepping from the belly centre – taking this flow of support with us as we walk – treading lightly on the earth
…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Sensing the air we move through and the support of the earth with every step
Bringing our attention to the belly centre – building our ability to recognise its constant connection to the centre of the earth
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of one whole volume
Noticing how we feel – both the emotional tone of being here and what we sense of where we are – in this studio and in this body
00:04:45 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure – inviting a sense of mystery about what is inside our skins
Extending our attention along the line connecting the centre of our belly centre to the centre of the earth and to an imaginary star above – creating common ground together
…
Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – shifting our axis from side to side – arriving at a different middle maybe?
…
Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the eyes, from the foot we turn away from, from the foot we turn towards, from everything together – same distance, lighter and lighter
Rotating the arms around themselves to initiate the turning – walking as a double helix, contralateral rather than homolateral
…
Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through us and out through the top of the head – becoming a human fountain
Exploring how we can float up one hand/arm at a time, then both together – shaping the flow of support out through the fingertips
…
Moving the belly centre forwards and back through our interaction with the feet – pushing back through the heels to extend us forwards into a gentle arch, pushing through the toes to round us back
Moving the belly centre side to side from the feet – as if rolling a great granite ball beneath us
…
Folding and unfolding – discovering how to unfold without pushing down into the earth – reshaping the upward flow of support rather than levering ourselves up from it
Stepping with the belly centre – the feet interacting with the floor to create the impulse for the whole of ourselves to shift – travelling across the earth without bruising it
00:51:45 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us – allowing our asymmetries to be there
…
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea – sensing how the ripples reach all the way to the edges of ourselves
…
Lying on our side: the skyward arm standing in front of the chest – choosing a vertebra and moving it away from the standing arm – sensing how this starts to round us
Trying different vertebrae – each initiation point creating a different quality of rounding
Playing with the opposite – moving the spine a little towards the standing arm – the beginning of arching
…
Discovering how the same rounding can be created not from the relationship of arm to vertebra, but from the interaction of our skin with the skin of the earth – the arm on the floor, the side of the shoulder, the side of the pelvis, the outside of the thigh
Sensing the support flowing up from the earth and passing out through the skyward side of us
01:12:35 – Returning to standing and walking
Sensing the connection of our belly centre to the centre of the earth – rolling a little from side to side then rising up from the floor without pushing down – experiencing this as a shapeshifting of our entire inner volume – the pressure on the floor moves and changes but without levering ourselves up
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity – reinhabiting the image of the human fountain
Shifting the belly centre through the soles of the feet – sensing the friction between the skin of the foot and the skin of the earth
Folding and unfolding without pushing down to unfold up
Stepping forward with one foot, then the other – moving the belly centre, taking the flow of support with us – going with the earth rather than apart from it
…
Playing with the shape of our attentional fields – from inside the skin, into the earth, into the air, and back
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In this class, we revisit initiating a spiral around our axis in standing from our eyes, from our feet, and both together. From here we explore further how the interaction of the skin of our feet with the skin of the earth can initiate rounding, arching and side-bending with the belly centre’s relation to the centre of the earth becoming our anchor.
On the floor, we revisit rolling the balls of our head, chest and pelvis with the support of the whole of ourselves, but now adding the region of our belly centre as a ball from which we can initiate and integrate.
Bringing our arms into the gesture of an embrace, we channel support from the earth out through the fingertips, knees and toes, rolling from side to side and up to standing.
…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of our whole volume
Noticing what it feels like as we travel over the leg that swings in front – falling, floating, or being pushed away?
Noticing how it feels to be here – the emotional tone of our experience and how we sense ourselves present here, in this place and in this physical body
00:00:50 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, entering us where there’s pressure under our feet, and coming out through the top of the head like a human fountain
…
Extending our attention along a line connecting the centre of the earth and to an imaginary star above and passing through our centre axis
Exploring the asymmetry in preparing to take a step – noticing the accompanying weight shift – and using it to fine tune our resting in neutral
…
Turning around our centre axis – initiating from our eyes, our feet, and from both together
Bringing attention to our belly centre – sensing how it turns as we spiral around the axis
Exploring engaging our hand/arms – shaping the flow of support out through the fingertips
Taking our head away from the axis with our belly centre’s connection to heaven above and earth below becoming our anchor as the rest of us moves around it
…
Initiating rounding and arching from the interaction of the soles of our feet with the skin of the earth – bringing our attention to the connection of our belly centre to the centre of the earth as we round and arch
Initiating side-bending from the feet though pushing sideways along the skin of the earth
Then adding rotation so the three planes of movement all sourced from the interaction of the feet with the floor and combined
00:32:30 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us – allowing our asymmetries to be there
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea – sensing the skin stretching and relaxing throughout its surface
…
Rolling the balls of the head, chest and pelvis together involving more and more of ourselves until the movement becomes lighter and lighter
Rolling the hands – fingers curled around the thumb, arms out at would be shoulder height if we were standing – sensing how the rolling spreads through the arms and creates movement in a the places where we balance on the floor
Rolling the hands in the same direction as the head, chest and pelvis – then in the opposite direction – sensing changes in our volume – shapeshifting – and our relationship to the earth
…
The belly centre floating forwards towards the sky and sinking backwards towards the floor – with our breath and independently of it
Organising the rolling of the hands around the belly centre – as the belly centre sinks back and rises forwards, the arms roll and the front of the pelvis and front of the chest move together and apart in a minimal rounding and arching
..
Stretching the arms minimally away from each other, curling the fingers forward to initiate a gesture of embrace – sensing how the support from the earth flows through us and out through the fingertips
Bringing knees above the chest – rotating the arms and legs around their axis – rolling from side to side
Playing with the image of everything organising around our belly centre
01:06:45 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity – reinhabiting the image of the human fountain
Taking the head away from our axis – initiating rounding, arching and side-bending from the feet – the belly centre always maintaining its connection to the centre of the earth
A few minutes of free exploration with music – playing with the sense of moving with the planet, shaping support and weight as they flow through us
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In this class we continue our explorations of how to channel the support of the earth through ourselves – mediating between heaven and earth – this time through our sides when we come to lie on the floor.
Lying on our sides, we play with letting the skyward head, leg and arm float outwards away from the earth, using the image of support flowing up from the centre of the earth, entering our system through wherever there’s pressure against the skin of the earth, and directing it out through the tops of our heads, through our heels, our knees knee, our fingertips or wherever we choose.
…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Sensing the air we move through and the support of the earth with every step
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of one whole volume
Noticing how we feel – the emotional tone of being here – how we sense being in this place with ourselves
00:02:45 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
…
Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, filling our volume, coming out through the top of the head like a fountain
Shifting the weight from side to side – sensing how the pathways of support reshape themselves as we change shape
Lining our centre axis up with the line of gravity – shifting from side to side to arrive at a different middle
…
Extending our attention to the centre of the earth and to an imaginary star above
Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the eyes, from the feet gripping the skin of the earth, and from both together – taking our axis towards the leg we turn towards,, then to the foot we turn away from, and then leaving it in the middle
Swinging and stepping on the spot – taking a few steps like this – then transitioning into normal walking
…
Playing with the hand/arms – shaping the flow of support out through the fingertips – sensing the smallest reconfiguration that produces a weight shift under the feet
…
00:27:30 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us – allowing our asymmetries to be there
…
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea – the waves washing up on our toenails – sensing the skin stretching and relaxing throughout its surface
…
Lying on our side: making the head lighter on the support – then rolling the pelvis towards the head – combining these and sensing how the pattern of pressure changes throughout our whole volume
…
Playing with the image of support entering through wherever there’s pressure and directing it out through the top of the head as we lift it
…
Engaging the foot – lifting the heel towards the sky while the toes stay in contact – directing support out through the heel
Lifting the knee towards the sky – directing support out through the knee
Alternating heel and knee – then holding the leg in the air, touching the knees together, touching the heels together
…
Pushing and pulling the earthward arm along the skin of the earth – sensing how it rolls us – finding a middle place
Pushing and pulling the earthward leg along the surface – initiating the rolling of the pelvis from our connection with the earth
…
The skyward arm out to the side – moving it forwards and back – turning the head to follow –sensing these movements echo throughout our whole volume
Initiating from the earthward arm while the skyward arm stays pointed towards the sky – turning the chest inside the shoulder girdle
…
Combining head lifted, legs twisting, arms reaching and rolling from side to side
Shape-shifting – channelling support out through our limbs
01:11:45 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity
Reinhabiting the image of the human fountain
Engaging the hand/arms – sensing how our physical body becomes a channel for support flowing from the earth out into the air
Playing in standing with the sense of shaping ourselves in a field of gravity
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In this class we explore turning and spiralling around our centre axis. In standing, we discover how to initiate the spiral from above – from the eyes – and from below – from the interaction of the skin of feet with the skin of the earth – and how combining them makes the turning almost effortless.
On the floor, we work with the legs crossed and the knees sinking to one side, exploring how to use the back surface to bring ourselves home rather than thinking of the knees. We combine this with a triangle of the arms tipping to the opposite side, building towards a fuller twist through the whole of ourselves. Seesaw breathing in the twist to deepen the connection with the earth behind us.
Returning to standing, we play with rotating the arms around their axis as a way of initiating a spiral around our centre axis – walking like a double helix with everything organising around the belly centre.
…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Noticing the emotional tone of being here and how we sense where we are – how does it feels to be here
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of our whole volume – beginning with the feet and gradually including the whole of ourselves
00:04:07 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing and remembering that our bodies are not objects but fields of activity bounded by our skin
Sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Reading our shape as we are balancing on our feet – and transitioning into walking
…
Lining our centre axis up with the line of gravity and extending our attention along this line that connects through us the centre of the earth with an imaginary star above
Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – shifting the axis from side to side with a tiny side-bend – then zeroing in on the middle place
…
Turning around the centre axis – sensing how we spiral through the balls of the head, chest, pelvis, all the way to the feet
…
Initiating the turn from the eyes, from the feet and then from both together
…
Playing with the image of the human fountain with support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, out through the top of the head and fingertips as both arms reach upwards
Rotating both arms around their axes above the head as a way of initiating the spiral around the centre axis and taking this into walking like a double helix
00:35:55 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us – mapping out our asymmetries
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea
With the right leg crossed over the left, sinking the knees to the right – listening to the changing connection of the back to the floor – using the back surface to bring ourselves back rather than thinking of returning the knees
With the arms in a triangle tipping to the left – exploring different coordinations of the head – initiating from the back, from the feet, from wherever we touch the floor
Sinking the knees to the left again and noticing differences
Seesaw breathing while in the twist – taking a slightly deeper breath than normal and playing with the image of shifting the air between betwen a balloon in the chest and a balloon in the belly – sensing how shifting the air changes our connection with the earth behind us
Repeating on the other side
Sensing how involving more of ourselves makes the movement lighter
01:08:15 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity – reinhabiting the image of the human fountain
Playing with rotating the arms – initiating the spiral from above, from below, from both together
Walking like a double helix – sensing how the arms participate in the twisting of walking
Reading the walking as a changing of shape – is this a little easier now?
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In this class we explore turning around our centre axis as a way in to reading our inner volume shapeshifting as we walk.
In standing, we initiate turning through spiralling from our eyes, from our feet and from both together. We also play with rotating the arms around their axis as a way to initiate turning
We explore half-steps – swinging one leg forward and back while the other stays grounded – noticing how the foot on the ground interacts with the surface of the earth.
On the floor, lying on our side, we explore initiating simple rolling movements from the skyward side and from the earthward side of ourselves.
We then return to standing to experience what changed in ourselves.
…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Sensing the air we move through and the dependable support of the earth beneath us with every step
Noticing our feeling for being here – the emotional tone of our experience and what we sense of where we are – both our inner space and the space around us
Reading our walking as a changing of shape of one whole volume
00:03:30 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Extending our attention along the line connecting the centre of the earth with an imaginary star above
Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – shifting the axis from side to side with a tiny side-bend – arriving at a different middle
…
Turning around our centre axis – initiating from the eyes, from the feet, from both together
Ss the movement becomes more comfortable, more powerful, rather than going further or faster we move the same distance and speed with a focus on lightness and ease – “dissolving our bodies into the space”
…
Playing with the image of support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through us and out through the top of the head and fingertips – becoming a human fountain
Rotating the arms around their axis – initiating the spiral from the hands and walking like a double helix, organising around the belly centre
Half-steps – swinging one leg forward and back – sensing how the standing foot pushes and pulls along the skin of the earth
00:34:20 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us – allowing our asymmetries to be there
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea – sensing the skin stretching and relaxing throughout its surface
…
Lying on our side: changing our internal tone to make the head lighter on the support, rolling the pelvis towards the head, combining them – sensing how our connection with the earth changes as we shapeshift
…
Sliding the skyward arm forward and back – sensing how the movement spreads through us – playing with different coordinations of the head
Sliding the skyward leg forward and back – sensing the rolling of the pelvis on the earth and how the movement spreads through us
Combining arm and leg together, first the same direction – homolateral – then into a walking pattern with the arm and leg moving opposite to each other – contralateral
Discovering how to initiate the same movements from the earthward side – the outside of the arm, the side of the head, the outside of the leg – as if wanting to slide the skin of the earth away and pull it back towards us
Combining skyward and earthward initiation together for more comfort and power
01:08:20 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity – shifting from side to side to find a different middle
Re-inhabiting the image of the human fountain – engaging the hands – playing with the spiral from the arms, from the feet, from both together
Half-steps and swinging – reading everything that happens as a movement of the whole self
Sensing how the centre axis can be experienced like home
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Lots of new people in class today and many regulars were missing so I taught what turned out to be a recap, hopefully a refinement, of the fundamentals behind what I call shapeshifting.
In the opening standing section we tune our centre axis to the line of gravity, play with the image of support flowing up and out through us like water so we become human fountains. We listen for how movements of the regions of our hands through the air around us echo in the changing relationship of our feet to the earth.
On the floor, we return to the fundamental movement of rolling the balls of the head, chest and pelvis together towards our feet and away from our feet; discovering how to involve more and more of ourselves until the movement becomes a movement of the whole us.
…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Our situation is that we are walking through the air and over the earth
Reading ourselves as one organic whole volume changing shape rather than an assemblage of parts
Noticing our feeling for being here – meaning both the emotional tone of our experience and how we sense being in this place with this body
00:05:25 – Standing Explorations
Simply standing – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure while we are engaged in the activity of balancing on our feet
…
Extending our attention along a line connecting the centre of the earth with an imaginary star above which – lining our centre axis up with this line of gravity
Exploring our tonal preparation to take a single step – noticing how our structural and functional asymmetry sets us up to prefer to step with one leg rather than the other
Shifting our axis from side to side – then zeroing in to the middle – a different middle?
…
Becoming a human fountain – imaging support like water flowing up from the centre of the earth, through our structure, and out through the top of the head and fingertips
Reading every movement as a shape-shifting of the whole self – sensing the smallest adjustment in a hand that produces a weight shift under our feet
00:31:00 – Floor work
Sensing our inner volume and how we balance on the earth behind us
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave through an internal sea
Sensing the skin stretching and relaxing with the flow of breath throughout its surface
Experimenting with foot placement – listening to how small changes in the feet reorganise us throughout our whole selves
Rolling the ball of the pelvis towards and away from the feet – initiating from the feet, then from the belly centre
Rolling the ball of the head – sensing any corresponding weight shifts of the pelvis and lower back on the earth
Rolling head, chest and pelvis together – initiating from the feet, from the arms, from the chest itself
Noticing how the movement feels lighter when everything goes together
WItht he arms out to the sides, stretching the arms away from each other and curling the fingers forward into the gesture of an embrace – sensing the support flowing in from the earth behind us and out through the fingertips as we do this
Shapeshifting with arms, legs and head – surfing gravity – every movement a change of shape of the whole
01:08:35 – Returning to standing and walking
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity – reinbahiting the image of the human fountain – noticing any changes in our expereince
Playing with the hand/arms like antennae – reaching out to give receiving and giving information into the air around us
Playing with the shape of our attentional fields – from inside the skin, out beyond the kinesphere, pointing into the room and beyond
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In this class, through our breath we meet the belly centre, a central region of ourselves around which movement can be organised.
In sitting, on hands and knees, and in standing, we explore what it feels like to organise our movement around our belly centres.
While centering our movement around our belly centre, we play with the image of the belly centre maintaining a connection to the centre of the earth and the sky above, our limbs organising around our belly centre.
…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
00:06:50 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Extending our attention beyond our skin, from our centre axis along the line of gravity that passes through us connecting heaven and earth – then tuning ourselves to the line
Floating our arms skywards while sensing the response throughout our inner volume and in the connection of our feet to the earth
Playing with the image that as we change our shape to raise the region of our arm/hands, we re-shape the flow of support flowing up through us from the centre of the earth and out through the top of our heads and our fingers
Taking the head out of the gravity line it can direct the support outwards around us – attending to the ball of the belly centre through which maintain the connection to the line of gravity – the earth below and the star above
00:29:15 – Floor work
Experiencing points where we exchange weight and support with the earth behind us as balance points
Playing with the image of the breath like a wave passing through our internal sea
Breathing into different dimensions of the belly centre
01:06:10 – On hands and knees, standing and walking
Noticing any changes in standing
Beginning to move around our belly centres
On hands and knees, maintaining the line of connection between heaven and earth through the belly centre. Initiating from the head and torso in the air and initiating from the connection with the earth.
Playing with the image that the earth moves beneath us with our relationship belly centre to earth centre remains constant.
Noticing any changes in walking
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In this class, we continue exploring how we can remain oriented to the earth as we exit simple standing.
As the hands and head reach out into the air, we maintain in our attention a connection of our belly centres to the earth’s centre through the line of gravity.
On the floor, we play with subtle changes in tone throughout ourselves, adjusting our internal architecture to change our shape, and sensing the corresponding pressure changes behind us as we exchange support and weight with the earth.…
00:00:00 – Arriving in walking
Walking on the earth through the air
Reading ourselves as a changing of shape of our inner volume
Notcing sensations inside this shapeshifting volume
00:05:16 – Standing Explorations and Walking
Listening to our standing – noticing sensations inside our skins – sensing weight and support flowing through our structure
Extending our attention along a line passing through us connecting the centre of the earth with an imaginary star above
…
Exploring the asymmetry of preparing to take a step – find a balanced centre through sensation in the present moment rather than a habitual centre
Remembering we are not objects but processes nested inside processes nested in larger processes - we’re continually growing out of the earth
…
Floating our arms skywards while sensing the response throughout our inner volume and in the connection of our feet to the earth
Playing with the image that as we change our shape to raise the region of our arm/hands, we re-shape the flow of support flowing up through us from the centre of the earth and out through the top of our heads and our fingers
Taking the head out of the gravity line it can direct the support outwards around us – attending to the ball of the belly centre through which maintain the connection to the line of gravity – the earth below and the star above
00:32:44 – Floor work
Balancing on the earth behind us – sensing the movements of breathing throughout ourselves like a wave passing through an internal sea
Playing with tone – changing our internal architecture so that pressure increases and decreases behind different regions: right shoulder, left shoulder, both shoulders, back of the head, each side of the pelvis
Noticing that as pressure increases somewhere it must decrease somewhere else – if something gets heavier, something gets lighter
Combining shoulders, head and pelvis – discovering diagonal patterns – the beginnings of bigger movements explored at the smallest scale
…
Stretching the arms away from each other and curling the fingers forward into the gesture of an embrace – sensing how the support from the earth flows through us and out through the fingertips
Bringing knees above the chest – playing with how lifting changes our exchange of weight and support with the earth
Shape-shifting to roll a little – organising around the belly centre
01:11:09 – Rolling up to standing and walking
Rising through sitting and crawling without levering ourselves away from the earth – rolling the ball of the belly centre up into standing
Re-tuning our centre axis to the line of gravity– sensing the fountain-like support flowing up and out through us – noticing changes in the inner volume
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In this class we explore raising the arms as if to embrace something in front of us. This is a very early relation to space in our personal history that we can trace back to the embryological stage of enfolding the yolk sac.
Reminding ourselves that:
* we are processes – always growing
* we have one whole body so every movement is a shapeshifting of our volume
* we are always mediating between heaven and earth
…
00:00:00 – Arriving with ourselves through walking
Our situation : on earth – our physical body – in air
Bringing our attention back to our physical bodies though attending to the changing shape of the entire volume inside our skins and what we sense within
As we move across the earth and through the air by stepping, do we sink? or experience a push away from the ground? or float weightlessly
00:02:43 – Three standing explorations each followed by resting in walking
Observing the flow of weight and support flowing through the structure within the volume contained by our skin
Extending our attention beyond our skin, from our centre axis along the line of gravity that passes through us connecting heaven and earth – then tuning ourselves to the line
Floating our arms skywards while sensing the response thoughout our inner volume in the connection of our feet to the earth
Playing with the image that as we change our shape to raise the region of our arm/hands, we re-shape the flow of support flowing up through us from the centre of the earth and out through the top of our heads and our fingers
00:27:13 – Floor work
Activating all of ourselves so that the balls of the pelvis, chest and head roll towards and away from our feet together
Raising both arms forward towards the sky in the gesture of an embrace. Maintaining this hoop-like of the arms, moving the hoop while listening to our changing connection with the earth behind us
Combining the movements of the arms with the movements of the head and torso to differentiate
Imagining how we shape the support of the earth flowing into our structure from behind through our arms and out through our fingers
01:03:45 – Returning to standing and walking
Tuning to the line of gravity
Floating the arms – giving and receiving, from the earth through us into the air
Moving in connection with the earth and air
Noticing what changed in your feeling for being here – playing the shape of our attentional fields
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In this class, we begin by sensing our asymmetries since, on a fine level, we are all both structurally and functionally asymmetrical.
We play with reaching our arm/hand away from the opposite hip and leg, creating a diagonal that crosses through our belly centre.
Reaching on one diagonal and then the other, and comparing the sensations accompanying each, to reveal something of our asymmetries.
The questions we explore are:
* how can we organise ourselves so that the movement of reaching on a diagonal begins everywhere in ourselves, all at once?
* can we sense the differences that show up throughout ourselves when we reach with the right and left arms?
* how simply noticing differences can reorganise us towards experiencing ourselves as more balanced?
…
00:00:00 – Arriving with ourselves through walking
00:08:10 – Three standing explorations each followed by resting in walking
Sensing the flow of weight and support through our structure
Centering our vertical axis through paying attention to sensation in the present moment as we explore variations
Floating our arms skywards while sensing the response in the connection of our feet to the earth
00:29:54 – Floor work
Rolling our pelvis diagonally and exploring how every region of ourselves can participate in the movement
Bringing our arm above ourselves on the floor as an extension of the diagonal and adding reaching with the arm
Rolling and sliding our head to see the hand of the reaching arm
01:11:08 – Returning to standing and walking
Noticing what changed paying particular attention to any changes in how we perceive our asymmetries.
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In this class, we pay particular attention to the region of the shoulders and upper chest, the volume and sensations within this region of ourselves.
This is a region is often where we humans get a bit stuck – in many languages there are expressions like “carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders”.
The questions we explore are:
* can we create a sensation of more space in the area?
* do we experience a clearer connection between movements of our hand/arm and our feet?
* does that in turn support us to experience ourselves as more as a whole system and less a collection of parts?
…
00:00:00 – Arriving with ourselves through walking
00:09:12 – Three standing explorations each followed by resting in walking
Discovering how our structural and functional asymmetry shows up in our standing
Centering our vertical axis through paying attention to sensation in the present moment as we explore variations
Floating our arms skywards while sensing the response in the connection of our feet to the earth
00:38:04 – Floor work
Rolling our pelvis diagonally and exploring how every region of ourselves can participate in the movement
Sliding a hand/arm into the space created behind our lower back as we roll our pelvis diagonally
Leaving a hand/arm behind our backs as we roll the pelvis in either diagonal
01:14:18 – Returning to standing and walking
Noticing what changed paying particular attention to any changes in the volume of our shoulders and chest
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit malcolmmanning.substack.com -
In this final Tuning Class of the current series, we explore how we feel when we choose to move in relationship to the support that the earth offers us rather than against gravity. We recap different aspects that were explored in detail, seeing if and how they can help us experience ourselves as lighter and more spacious and in turn tread more lightly over the earth.
Arriving in Walking
* Walking to arrive, noticing how we feel – “Feeling” meaning our emotional tone and our ability to sense where we are
* Bringing attention to our feet as we walk – experiencing them as three-dimensional volumes that change shape as we go
* Adding the volumes of our ankles, lower leg, upper legs, knees, pelvis
* Noticing also the sensations we are aware of inside these volumes
* Reminding ourselves there are no such things as feet and legs – the invitation here is to experience our bodies as whole
* Adding the volumes of our belly, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, neck, head
* Reading our walking as a shape-shifting of our volume
* Noticing how not only do we move as we walk but the world moves around us, with us – when we walk we put the whole world in motion
Standing: Weight, Support, and centre Axis
* Standing with eyes closed, placing our attention inside our skin
* Standing is balancing – noticing the micro movements of balance and breath
* Weight is streaming down while support is streaming up through our structure
* If weight equals support with no excess tension we could maybe experience standing as floating
* Noticing the distance inside ourselves from the top of head to inside soles of feet
* Imagining our centre line – embryologically a centre line appears very early – while the structures change this relationship to a centre line persists
* Lining up our centre axis with the line of gravity
* Noticing how our centre axis meets the floor closer to one foot than the other
* Imagining taking step – noticing which foot we choose to step with
* Typically we stand prepared to step with one leg with the other leg supporting
* Sliding the centre axis towards the other leg – noticing how it feels different
* Shifting our axis side to side, less organised side organises just through attention
* Finding middle by making the shifts smaller and smaller – noticing the difference between this new middle negotiated in present moment vs our habitual middle
* Tracking the line down through earth’s layers to its centre – all our lines meet at earth’s centre – establishing common ground, literally
* Tracking the line back up through earth’s layers, through us, and out top of our head through the sky towards an imaginary star above
* Remembering how small we are relative to those distances
* Did placing our attention beyond ourselves change our experience of our inner volume?
Exploring Turning and Walking
* Looking to the horizon, turning around vertical axis
* More comfortable one direction than the other?
* Making the turning movement smaller, listening deeper
* Keeping head and eyes forward, swinging around axis with our arms, lifting opposite knee to meet opposite hand, marching on the spot
* Transitioning to normal walking, noticing our axis as we walk
Lying Down: Breath and circles with pelvis, head and chest
* Noticing where we are supported by the earth as we lie down
* Inviting in the image of lying down as balancing, but over many more points
* Following the wave of our breath through our internal volume
* Bending legs and standing our feet
* Rolling our pelvis headwards and footwards – noticing and bringing in the movement of the rolling of our head – adding the feet and legs
* Bringing in the rolling of the chest headwards and footwards – becoming a whole body movement – everything moving headwards and footwards
* Rolling our pelvis left and right – exploring variations – adding the head
* Making circles with the head and pelvis – variations to combine them
* Making fixed triangle with the hands and shoulders – moving so hands come more in front of the face and more in front of the belly
* Tipping the triangle left and right – then circles with the hands – noticing the response of the chest
* Integrating the movement of the pelvis, head and chest the exploring variations of combining circles – all whole body movements – shapeshifting
* Playing with initiating from the front of the body – the bit that moves through the air – and from the back which interfaces with the earth
Lying Down: Reaching Arms and Legs Skyward
* Making the triangle with arms as before but sensing the support from earth flowing through up through us and out through our fingertips
* Rolling head, chest, pelvis, making circles – sensing the changing support behind and imagining the support like water flowing up to us and through us
* Does thinking of becoming a “human fountain” make difference?
* Staying with this image, moving the hands apart and playing freely with our arms
* Support from the earth entering our our system through the balance points behind, shaping as it moves through us and outwards to the sky
* Floating a knee above our chest, then the other, then both – again with a sense of support flowing through us – letting the feet rise and reach skywards
* Not so much “I move myself” but more “I shape myself for forces to flow through me”
* Head can also float up to join – becoming a "human fountain”
* Not “I move against gravity” but “I move in field of gravity on earth of which I’m part and whose support flows up and outwards through me”
Returning to Standing and Closing
* Floating our way up to standing – can we get up without pushing down?
* Shape-shifting our way up, surfing the fountain of support
* Always moving in relationship to earth – never collapsing onto earth, never levering up, always shape-shifting
* Neutral standing, plugging into star above, earth’s centre below
* Sensing support coming up through us – how is it now?
* Arms rising – how light or heavy?
* Noticing where axis goes, which leg do we choose to imagine stepping with now?
* Shifting weight to arrive in our centre
* Listening, smelling into space
* Opening eyes, staying as much as possible with our inner sensation
* How do we feel now?
* What is our relationship to the possibility of floating over the earth?
* How do we experience moving over the leg the steps in front – sinking down, being pushed up, or floating?
* Touching earth more lightly as we walk?
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit malcolmmanning.substack.com - Visa fler
