I used to teach from the perspective of ease of movement. Finding easeful movement in the body, though, is difficult, if not impossible when we are enmeshed in unperceived patterns. The body, like the brain, moves in patterns. These patterns are created in a variety of ways, most, if not all, are conditioned. A gymnast has conditioned her body to perform in a specific way. A 100 metre sprinter has a different pattern than that of a marathon runner. The swimmer is trained to swim, but depending on the discipline, breast stroke, freestyle, backstroke or butterfly, different muscular activity will be required. These are examples of chosen conditioning. On the other hand, our upbringing, our work, our environment, our clothing, shoes, our thoughts, "physical education", what we have been taught, all create repeatable patterns. And these repeatable patterns become embedded, silent, habitual.
Fascia helps contain and maintain these habits. If it did not, we would feel like our muscles were overworking all of the time. Fascia also contains a link between the brain and body along with the rest of the nervous system. In many ways, Gyrotonic is retraining the fascia and the brain as much as the muscles. It retrains the way we look at the body. The way we move. Instead of me moving my body, my body moves itself according to what I want to do.
I become the conductor of my own orchestra. When we look at the orchestral conductor as an analogy, we see that his job is to conduct only. To do this, he needs a lot of understanding. Yet he is not the maker of the instruments, he is not the music teacher nor the musician, he is rarely the composer of the music, he does not make his own baton. In the same way, we are the conductor of our movement. But we are not the creator of the body, nor are we the organiser of which muscle needs to perform a task. We simply need to understand the movement we need to make and then allow the body to make it. This way, the body becomes adaptable.
Yet it is not as simple as this either due to those pesky patterns. So at the beginning we find new movements. Movements we don't usually perform. In Gyrotonic we perform a lot of spirals. We also move the spine. We pay great attention to the hamstrings. To the movement of the shoulder blades. To lengthening rather than creating contractions. There are specific homework practices we can do. The more we do them, the greater the potential for change. So first we find new movements and then we find different ways to make that movement. We encounter how we make the movement. Our awareness is heightened. Through instruction we find a different way. We discover that the body moves according to many principles. It is orgnaised and ordered.
These days, many people want to emulate athletes. But what it takes to be an athlete is hours and hours of training, repetition, focus. For us non-athletes, we can begin small and build to discover the absolute easefulness of movement. We do not need to be muscle bound, for this binding brings us back to unnecessary patterns. With the movements the body begins to discover itself. We become the conductor of the most exceptional orchestra known to man.
But it takes practice. It takes awareness. Paying attention. More awareness. New approaches. Different ways to school. It is not easy. It requires taking various leaps of faith. It requires trust that we do not need to self stabilise in order to move. There is no goal, only movement. In this way, the brain begins to let go of some of its patterns. We may experience glimpses of freedom. Glimpses of our inner magician.
Pay attention to how you sit. How you stand. How you walk. Pay attention to your spine. Pay attention to holding. Pay attention to what you believe you 'should' be doing. Don't try to change a thing. Just pay attention.
Gyrotonic offers a beautiful way of incorporating new movement into our daily lives. But it is not merely Gyrotonic that does this. It is a shift in awareness. Baby steps. Over time, possibly quite rapidly, you will discover a mind-body shift.
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