what my body knows

THE CONTEXT

I’ve been working with this score and different variations of it lately in my improvisation classes, and offer this here as something that can take a long time or a brief time. 

this score can be done anywhere by any body. find a space, be it in your home or in a park, where you can take up physical space and feel at ease.

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THE SCORE

find a pen and paper. write a list of things you know. start every line/thought with: 

“I know” ……

allow this writing to source from you in a “stream of consciousness” manner. ie: do not filter, edit, stop for long to think. just write what comes up and let it out. stop when you are ready to stop.

(alternative: for folks who prefer, you could also record a voice memo of yourself, speaking your thoughts, your “I know….”’s out loud)

when you’ve decided you are done writing, set the list aside. no need to look over it right away. you already know what is on there. 

find a place to stand, lay, or sit in stillness. listen to and witness your breathing. what is the width of your breath today? witness your lung capacity.

notice one or some of your senses. be it sight, touch, taste, smell, sound. can you move from that sense? invite movement into your body, lead your movement by that sense. how can the smell of the air, or the colors that you see, or the textures you can feel on your skin, initiate your movement? 

keep moving. bring your attention now to your head, your skull, brain. let the head move and guide the body’s movement. further, let the movement of the head speak. let it speak through movement, tell its story. what is the skull’s story? what is your skull’s story? let it speak through movement. can you let all of your body move in witness of this story? let all of your movement listen to the head?

eventually, allow the head to find a close in its story. find another part of your body that wants to speak. maybe the pelvis. or the shoulders. or the spine. let that part of you now lead your movement. what is the story, today, held in that part of you? what does that part of your body know, and how can you listen to it? what is the desire or urge to move in that part of you, and how can you follow?

you can repeat this process for as long as you like. you can be vast in choosing parts of your body to listen to the story, like a whole region such as the legs. you can be hyper specific and choose your pinky finger to lead and tell its story. your body, your stories. all that is suggested is that you let your body speak and let your body listen.

when the stories are ready to pause, for now, start to move towards stillness. begin quieting the body. stand, sit, or lay in stillness. witness again your breathing. witness your lung capacity. your life affirming process of breath, something your body deeply knows. feel trust in your breath. feel trust in your body. trust what you know.