(There are too many notes from January classes to compress into one post and there are too few notes from February class for a single post. Therefore, Part 1 is the first half of January and this Part 2 is the latter part of January and February.)
Question: Is my demeanor-state an indicator of "connection"? Is a particular demeanor-state a prerequisite for connection? By "demeanor" I mean the feeling of being robot-like vs. the feeling of being more alive, being less mechanical in my approach to living.
Answer: It's something else. It's not about being happy or sad or any other emotion-based demeanor-state. It's more about being present and experiencing the entire range of feelings both kinesthetic and emotional.
* Balance does not mean a balance between tense and limp. Balance is not taking two things and trying to level each. Balance is where we are connected and become one thing. In the softness you can discover connection.
* Our brains try to make reality fit our paradigm rather than simply provide us the experience of reality without a paradigm. This phenomena has a deleterious effect on attempts to simply feel and experience the body as it is.
* When we say "spirit", this does not mean "ghost" or infer anything mystical. Think more along the lines of the spirit inspired by a cheerleader. Being spirited! This idea of spirit as related to cheering is not exactly right either but it's closer to the right path than interpreting spirit as ghost. Using the analogy of the cheerleader "spirit" is one path to the door. It is particularly helpful for grumpy people... which is most of us.
* Question: How do I stay in the present moment without having an "oh shit!" moment?
Answer: Judgment is one of the main ways we keep ourselves out of the moment. If you look deeply, you'll find that the "oh shit!" moment is based on some form of judgment.
* Connection is a path to being present. Being present is a path to connection.
* Connection and being present is like the on/off light switch. Once the light is turned on, then you can make the light brighter. In the same way, after you discover connection, then you can develop and refine it.
* In my talking during class, my instructor notices that I'm more connected to my feelings. I'm not putting my emotion/feeling in a box as if they were some kind of datum to categorize.
* Are you willing to admit that everything you've learned and done is wrong? The point is that if you defend your past, then you will remain stuck there and you will be closed to current and future opportunities.
* Question: What about towel twisting? I had done some of this in the past and I never got much out of it.
Answer: You were doing it mechanically. You weren't experiencing the feeling of it. Here. Try it now.
Me: I did and with a couple verbal coaching cues I felt an overwhelming surge of what...(?)... something... that... I felt compelled to stop and exclaim, "Ohhh, wow. OK. Got it!"
* You noticed what you're good at noticing. And you don't notice what you're not good at noticing, that is, what you are afraid of noticing.
* Your character armor will point you to how to become free. In my case, part of my character armor is that I need to be right and I use data/information to this end. And so I need to learn how to use this in a playful way.
* Physical touching is a "weak" form of connection. A "stronger" form is seeing, really seeing each other, being here, now, together. For me, too much connection is overwhelming.
* When making adjustments, start with the large, gross adjustments and work your way down to minutiae. Don't start with tiny details - there are too many details.
* There are two paths to developing the feeling of connection:
- Relax and wait for the feeling of real stretch to show up.
- Develop the faux stretch and then try to make the leap from the faux stretch to the real stretch.
* Finding the subtle is like listening to one person in a room with several people talking and music playing softly in the background. As I'm talking to you, can you pay attention to what I'm saying and hear the music? (No, I can't.) But if you listen past the other voices and focus on the music, then it becomes clear, right? (Yes.) But you must continue to engage me and notice the instrumentation, the cello, the oboe. (I'm not noticing those individual instruments.) This is what training in the body is like. You notice what you pay attention to and miss what you're not noticing. Focus and notice what is at the edge of your ability to notice.
* There is a logic to developing connection. The logic is A=B and B=C therefore, A=C where A is feeling in the shoulder and B is feeling in the pelvis/lower abdomen, therefore, the feeling of each is the overall feeling you are looking for.
* Question: I've been told that some people are uncomfortable with me recently (being more open and present). So my initial reaction is to pull back and "be seen but not heard". This might assuage their discomfort but it is probably not helpful for me. How do I navigate this change?
Answer: You're like a child learning to walk. You need to recalibrate. Simply notice the other person more. Connect with where they are and don't expect them to meet you where you are. After you meet them on their ground, then you can move them in your direction if they are so inclined.
This is part of the bigger problem that you've long had with feeling connection. You used to get caught in a cycle of being more open and then closing down.... until now...
Further reading:
Introductory article explaining this "Journal Notes" series: Zhan Zhuang Training Journal
Previous article in this series: Huge Breakthrough! Part One: Journal Notes #141
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