Great work this Quarter!

Hey everyone,

Great work this quarter. Thank you for all your feedback and final postings. I am done with the counting and the blog is now done. Any entries on the blog at this point will not be counted toward your grade. Enjoy your break!

Louis

Last Touch

For this final entry, lets talk about touch. We began on our backs. Bodies touching the floor. Bodies touching one another. We explored allowing our energy to pass through the points of contact and to feel a current as it swirled around our circle. We flowed with touch from the floor to standing and then allowed touch as we mingled in the center of the space.

With eyes closed, we followed fingertip connections around the space. We listened to touch to see where it would lead us. Finally, we played with the idea of touch with our focus. We looked and touched one another with our eyes. We felt the energy of our focus as touch. How did it feel?

Thank you all for being part of this very valuable learning experience for me. I hope you also had a positive learning experience as well. Feel free to email me with any questions or concerns. Have a great well deserved break!

Cheers!

Vision

The visual system is the dominant sense in humans. We tend to rely on the visual sense, even when other senses may be better for gathering information.

We began our exploration of vision by noting that there are two visual systems at work. The visual field is approximately 180 degrees of work space. The central visual field is made up of the center 90 degrees with the peripheral visual field taking up 45 degrees on either side.

The central visual field absorbs information. As we walked around the room, we gathered information about the objects, textures and colors. When we greeted one another, we looked into their eyes, at their faces and absorbed information about them through our central visual field. Moving quickly in and around one another we relied on our peripheral visual system. This part of our vision is adept at noticing movement and to orient ourselves in space.

In our mirror exercise, we explored both systems. At first we did the exercise while focusing on our partner with our central visual field and then we tried with our peripheral field. What did you notice that was different between these two?


Working with a partner, we also worked on turning down our vision so that it did not dominate quite as much. What was your experience of this exercise? Given the analogy of the equilizer on a stereo system, did you have any success in changing your levels of attention? Did this change your experience of your senses throughout your day?

Outside Exercise

On this rather cold overcast Thursday, we went outside to attend to our senses in a natural environment. Working in pairs, each person had the opportunity to move through space attending to sounds, touch, taste, smell and movement. With our eyes closed, we moved without the sensation of sight. What changes with eyes closed?
Each partner had fifteen minutes to move and fifteen minutes as a witness. Write a little about both experiences. What do you learn or notice as a mover? What did you experience as a witness?

Neurospeak

On this Tuesday, we explored the body/mind connection with writing from Robert Masters book Neurospeak. (Masters, Robert. 1994. Neurospeak. Wheaton, Ill: Quest Books.)

What I hoped to illustrate in this class was the power with which the mind can influence and change the body. With our knowledge of the body, we can create healing if we chose to direct our positive attention to our bodies. The commands from the Alexander Technique similarly allow for a better use of the body. We are also at the mercy of our thoughts if they are negative in nature.

Each of you had a different response to this class. Some felt lighter, some heavier. Most felt some imbalance or change, perhaps some did not. Each response is equally as valid as it is your experiences. In your comments for this class, please speak to the relationship between words or thoughts and the way they can manifest in the body. Most particularly, what were your experiences in this class.