Structure/Expression
As a young person, I was definitely a rule follower. I performed well in school, was helpful, and rarely questioned things. When I trained in dance, I aimed to excel, demonstrating my hard work and attentiveness as a student. I tried to do everything “right” according to my teacher's standards. Success, to me, meant fulfilling someone else's expectations.
When I began as a Pilates teacher, I emulated my mentors, mimicking their cues and body language and following a codified teaching sequence. This was an important and valuable foundation for me for many years. But as I worked with clients of different learning styles and movement challenges, my teaching began to evolve, encouraged by the meeting points of my interests and ailments and those of my clients.
When I was introduced to Authentic Movement, I connected to something deep within and impossible to describe with words. As I continued to interact with the form, I started to recognize how often I limited myself based on following someone else’s paradigm. As I let myself explore movement with less evaluation, less limitation, I discovered an untapped richness within, and a desire to experience the power of movement beyond its performance qualities and physical results. I began to experience movement for its way of connecting me to feeling alive, beyond the narrow of scope of what I knew so far.
“We tend to believe that the more we know, the more clearly we can see the possibilities available. This is not the case. The impossible only becomes accessible when experience has not taught us limits.” —Rick Rubin, The Creative Act
There comes a time when we depart from the structure and we find our own unique healing path.
As we near the end of spring and move towards summer, the season takes a natural progression from the structure and planning of the Wood element to the fiery passion and expression of the Fire element.
While the energy of Wood illustrates its power through plants—growth through a rooted, interconnected, organized system—the energy of Fire demonstrates a different way of growing: Fire spreads wherever there is fuel. The Fire element is the key time in the cycle when we discover our growth through connection and inspiration.
Looking back on my journey, I know that structure and rule-following created an essential foundation for my explorations. But as I have continued to practice and grow, I feel a natural progression to depart from that structure towards more heart-centered ways of exploring.
Where are you in your journey?
