A brave step...this is my first "off the cuff" post (i.e. I haven't worked and re-worked what I want to say first in Word and then pasted it here). So adventurous for a Friday morning! I should be working on my PhD writing but can't face it. Feeling uninspired and so thought cranking out a posting for the site would be easier. Covered three technique classes for a colleague who was away yesterday and really enjoyed it! My latest discovery that I am quite personally excited about is this:
If you lie down on your back and place your hands on your lower abdomen and then think (not do, but just think) about lifting your head up off the floor then your abdominals engage! I discovered this whilst lying in bed the other night before drifting off to sleep. I know it sounds petty initially but doesn't this further exemplify the non-dualist perspective of body and mind?
Anyway, I made all my students do it in the classes I taught yesterday but I used it then to illustrate the difference between a strained abdominal engagement with movement vs. one that is supported through the core of the body when you pull the navel to back and to the spine and lift up on the anus. The anus is a bit unsavoury to write about but firstly, this is an uncensored post for Friday morning and secondly, I am aiming to prove a point. That being, that there is a strong connection between the yoga work that I do (specifically pertaining to the bandhas or locks in the body -- the navel and anus being two of these locks) and my dance practice. The idea of core stability is highlighted in both disciplines but rarely (to my knowledge) linked. So why not teach dancers the bandhas? If you can bear it as a teacher to say, "Now, lift up on your anal sphincter muscle and pull your navel up and back towards your spine" then I think we may be on the pathway to cultivating dancers with strong centres. As opposed to the old, "Engage your centre!" whilst the dancer thinks to themselves, "How the hell do I do that!" "Where is my centre?"
Just a thought...