Total immersion somatics
I wrote this yesterday, but no internet in the house so whatever.
I had quite the first day of classes. This could quite possibly be the best schedule ever… it could also suck on days I don’t really feel up to it. As previously stated, the bike ride to class is killer. Even walking my bike up Oak I still feel like dying by the time I get to campus. I felt dangerously out of shape this morning when I got to campus. I was really dizzy and kind of felt like I was going to black out.
There is no doubt that my Tuesdays and Thursdays and physically exerting. I was getting worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. That my right brain and my body were no match for the challenge of taking all three of these classes. I think in reality all I need is a better deodorant. They just kind of build off each other and I gain momentum. By the time Movement class rolls around at 3:00 I am so used to moving and my movement is so authentic and uninhibited.
For this week, Scot is teaching Awareness through the Body II and Art of Play. Leslie is in Switzerland. I really love Scot and the way he teaches courses, so I think this is pretty cool.
Awareness Through the Body II only had 8 people in it. All from ATB1, so I know them all. Equal male and females (which is rare for Fairhaven). A lot of what I did today in all my classes today was review considering that I’ve taken an ISP with Scot, and I’ve had Rick Merrill as a guest instructor, and Scot did some of the same stuff with both of the classes, but it wasn’t a huge problem. In ATBII, since we were all familiar with each other, we could kind of just plunge in. We did a lot of dance and movement. A lot of shaking, actually. It really reminded me of Devin. Shaking gets rid of excess energy in the sympathetic nervous system, therefore allowing your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system to oscillate in a more balanced state, keeping you from being frozen in either an aroused or lethargic state. I got really tired, which was the first point at which I got freaked out that physically, I had taken on too much. I mean, if I was already tired, how would I handle a freaking whole day of this? I’m certainly tired now, after all of it, but it seemed to be ok. With the breaks between classes and the breaks between activities to digest them I seemed to recuperate. Anyway, having so much physical activity and body awareness is going to be so healthy for me! I mean this is like total immersion somatics.
The Art of Play was just fun. Imagine that, a class called “Art of Play” being fun. I was intimidated when I first walked in. Most of the people in the class I didn’t know, and the ones I did know I knew from different contexts. Sally was in the class, which initially freaked me out. Billie is also in the class, which seemed odd because she isn’t even a Fairhaven student. Jake Pouley was in it, which seemed very odd. I had just a few minutes before had a conversation with him wherein he informed me that he was probably going to drop out after this quarter because school was just not engaging anymore and he was making plenty of money at what he is doing now (I have no idea what that is). He didn’t really seem to into the play class. I can’t really imagine him “playing” anyway, too conventional for him. Adam and Lauren are in the class, too, which is great. They just came in late so they weren’t there to curb my initial intimidation. Scot said a whole bunch of inspiring stuff about the psychological need for play, and backed it up with lots of scientific evidence. We watched a few video clips (including this one anyone who is actually reading this should watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LHoyB81LnE) and then we played! We played the game with the sticks that I’ve played oh so many times in Scot and Leslie’s classes, Parachute, and a bunch of others. Once we started playing all the intimidation was gone. We could meet each other on such a human level. It got rid of hierarchy and social structures. We were all just people meeting our need for play, and enjoying it! We were all just interaction in such a playful manner. The class seemed to bond immediately, it was so cool! I’ve never seen that happen in any class. Someone even suggested making a facebook group so we could get together and play outside of class.
Movement was a little different. Jamie was in the class, which she must have mentioned to me, but I’d forgotten. The only one who is in all my classes is Adam, and he said he may change something. I guess no one else wants to partake in the awesomeness that is total immersion somatics. Rick Merill, a dance professor teaches this class. As I said before, he guest instructed in Leslie’s class fall quarter and I thought he was absolutely amazing. The activities he did with the class were great, and I love watching him move. That class in the fall was basically my first exposure to contact improv, and a whole lot of other forms of authentic movement. (Man… I almost feel like I just want to be a dancer with all the fun I have moving). The stuff we did was basically the same as the stuff we did that day he guest instructed (with a few new things) but it was so great to revisit them. I know this kind of thing isn’t the kind of thing you need to judge subjectively, but I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at it since them. I really feel incredibly beautiful while moving, and I feel confident and uninhibited, which is awesome!
It just felt like my joy kept increasing throughout the day, building on the joy of the previous class or previous activity. I felt so good!
I was so tired that I needed to take a nap when I got home. When I woke up I just spent some time in my room alone playing music and when I finally decided to emerge back into the world, loads of people were over at my house. Pi, Topher, Bri, Nicole, not to mention all the people who live here. Nicole and I sat and talked for a long time.
I had quite the first day of classes. This could quite possibly be the best schedule ever… it could also suck on days I don’t really feel up to it. As previously stated, the bike ride to class is killer. Even walking my bike up Oak I still feel like dying by the time I get to campus. I felt dangerously out of shape this morning when I got to campus. I was really dizzy and kind of felt like I was going to black out.
There is no doubt that my Tuesdays and Thursdays and physically exerting. I was getting worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. That my right brain and my body were no match for the challenge of taking all three of these classes. I think in reality all I need is a better deodorant. They just kind of build off each other and I gain momentum. By the time Movement class rolls around at 3:00 I am so used to moving and my movement is so authentic and uninhibited.
For this week, Scot is teaching Awareness through the Body II and Art of Play. Leslie is in Switzerland. I really love Scot and the way he teaches courses, so I think this is pretty cool.
Awareness Through the Body II only had 8 people in it. All from ATB1, so I know them all. Equal male and females (which is rare for Fairhaven). A lot of what I did today in all my classes today was review considering that I’ve taken an ISP with Scot, and I’ve had Rick Merrill as a guest instructor, and Scot did some of the same stuff with both of the classes, but it wasn’t a huge problem. In ATBII, since we were all familiar with each other, we could kind of just plunge in. We did a lot of dance and movement. A lot of shaking, actually. It really reminded me of Devin. Shaking gets rid of excess energy in the sympathetic nervous system, therefore allowing your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system to oscillate in a more balanced state, keeping you from being frozen in either an aroused or lethargic state. I got really tired, which was the first point at which I got freaked out that physically, I had taken on too much. I mean, if I was already tired, how would I handle a freaking whole day of this? I’m certainly tired now, after all of it, but it seemed to be ok. With the breaks between classes and the breaks between activities to digest them I seemed to recuperate. Anyway, having so much physical activity and body awareness is going to be so healthy for me! I mean this is like total immersion somatics.
The Art of Play was just fun. Imagine that, a class called “Art of Play” being fun. I was intimidated when I first walked in. Most of the people in the class I didn’t know, and the ones I did know I knew from different contexts. Sally was in the class, which initially freaked me out. Billie is also in the class, which seemed odd because she isn’t even a Fairhaven student. Jake Pouley was in it, which seemed very odd. I had just a few minutes before had a conversation with him wherein he informed me that he was probably going to drop out after this quarter because school was just not engaging anymore and he was making plenty of money at what he is doing now (I have no idea what that is). He didn’t really seem to into the play class. I can’t really imagine him “playing” anyway, too conventional for him. Adam and Lauren are in the class, too, which is great. They just came in late so they weren’t there to curb my initial intimidation. Scot said a whole bunch of inspiring stuff about the psychological need for play, and backed it up with lots of scientific evidence. We watched a few video clips (including this one anyone who is actually reading this should watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LHoyB81LnE) and then we played! We played the game with the sticks that I’ve played oh so many times in Scot and Leslie’s classes, Parachute, and a bunch of others. Once we started playing all the intimidation was gone. We could meet each other on such a human level. It got rid of hierarchy and social structures. We were all just people meeting our need for play, and enjoying it! We were all just interaction in such a playful manner. The class seemed to bond immediately, it was so cool! I’ve never seen that happen in any class. Someone even suggested making a facebook group so we could get together and play outside of class.
Movement was a little different. Jamie was in the class, which she must have mentioned to me, but I’d forgotten. The only one who is in all my classes is Adam, and he said he may change something. I guess no one else wants to partake in the awesomeness that is total immersion somatics. Rick Merill, a dance professor teaches this class. As I said before, he guest instructed in Leslie’s class fall quarter and I thought he was absolutely amazing. The activities he did with the class were great, and I love watching him move. That class in the fall was basically my first exposure to contact improv, and a whole lot of other forms of authentic movement. (Man… I almost feel like I just want to be a dancer with all the fun I have moving). The stuff we did was basically the same as the stuff we did that day he guest instructed (with a few new things) but it was so great to revisit them. I know this kind of thing isn’t the kind of thing you need to judge subjectively, but I feel like I’ve gotten a lot better at it since them. I really feel incredibly beautiful while moving, and I feel confident and uninhibited, which is awesome!
It just felt like my joy kept increasing throughout the day, building on the joy of the previous class or previous activity. I felt so good!
I was so tired that I needed to take a nap when I got home. When I woke up I just spent some time in my room alone playing music and when I finally decided to emerge back into the world, loads of people were over at my house. Pi, Topher, Bri, Nicole, not to mention all the people who live here. Nicole and I sat and talked for a long time.