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
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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
