Mirroring
I would like to share this writing, as it reflects so much of what Essential Motion creates and supports…
“We must be liberated from ourselves, which is done by somehow becoming the other…. a state of visceral, emotional, intimate communion; a tender recognition of oneness…a communion in each other, as each other, through each other, beyond each other in this endless interconnectedness of life itself, of love”
Posted by Kath Shaw, Essential Motion 2017-18 Virtual Leadership Participant
This brings to mind the Tibetan term shenpa- “the insecurity we experience as a background of slight unease or restlessness. The feeling can be triggered by something very minor…a criticism, a spot on our sweater…that has nothing to do with the present, and nevertheless, there it is. ”
I am beginning to see that only through the “body mirror” can we catch this insecurity and ease it or acknowledge it before we indulge instead in the urge to escape it and escape the present moment by responding in some habitual way.
Posted by Jane Flint, Essential Motion 2017-18 Virtual Leadership Participant
Using the Body to Make Decisions
I was debating this week about whether to house temporarily a woman friend with many health issues. As I talked this over with another friend, she suggested I do a body awareness check to see how I felt about the appropriate time limit to set. She would say to me: How about a week? Three weeks? A month? Two months? Etcetera. Each time she was inviting me to pause and check in to my body’s response. So that was my 10-minute body awareness exercise for that day.
Interestingly, I found myself thinking about the woman’s personal deadlines rather than really noticing my OWN needs. Great experiment. I’m grateful my second friend prompted me to consider my decision in this way.
Posted by Pat Samples, Essential Motion 2017-18 Virtual Leadership Participant
Technology and the Body
I’ve been on a trend to understand how technology does or does not fit into my life, mostly spurred by my need to limit screen time and by discovering an addictive response to my smart phone. I’ve read Hamlet’s Blackberry by William Powers, an interesting read looking at cultural shifts since Aristotle. It has me thinking about Essential Motion in the corporate setting.
Here’s an interesting follow up link:
Check your phone 86 times a day? Tech insider’s say that’s by design.
Posted by Stacey Schultz, Essential Motion 2017-18 Virtual Leadership Participant
What have you embodied through EM that you regularly return to?
Our 2017-18 Virtual Leadership Group apply Essential Motion in a variety of ways to their work and lives. Here are some of the EM embodied awareness techniques that they shared with us as being useful and memorable:
- Grounding from the feet, grounding to the earth.
- Feeling the difference between coming from the heart versus the head. “Its important to me to know when I am coming from this place inside when I am with people.”
- This work isn’t fancy. It’s not a big process. It can be authentic to each person in their own way.
- Allowing something to be there and grow. Allowing has been one of the most productive words for me.
- Relaxation happens on the exhale.
- Maintaining a sense of curiosity.
- Realizing there is usually only one part of us that is hurting at a time. “Honoring that part for its history and protecting it but knowing there is more to me than that one part is so important.”
- Having an openness about the connection between my body and my breath, my heart and my mind. Exploring all those connections and being open and curious about them.
- Calling out that invisible thread between ourselves and others. Extending my qualities outward as when Karen says “when you are ready extend your awareness outward.” Right now that is what is bringing me into connection with others.
- The power of pause to bring us back to what is happening in our bodies right now.
- Relaxing the jaw.