October Reflections on Movement Studies...Experimental Anatomy

This past month has been thirty one days of rich information, new experiences and interweaving lots of ideas throughout Studio Practice classes, dissertation group sessions and my day to day life. We began this term with Experimental Anatomy sessions. The first pattern we looked at was Cellular Breathing. Thinking about the structure of a cell in more detail and the idea that millions of cells are living within my body really connected me to my breathing. A sense of my body cells all working together helped me to soften my whole body, yield fully and kept my mind free while moving. When taking part in Katye Coe's Studio Practice class on 15th October 2012 we used our own breath to initiate movement. As I sighed and released the breath I thought of the cellular breathing pattern and applied what I had learnt from this lesson to the movement I was making. I felt secure and could trust my own instinct and rhythm of my body.

The Starfish Pattern looks at the navel being the central part to the body. We think of each body part being equal. I think of my moving body as a whole self instead of the separate body parts working alone. Natalie suggested that we practice the Starfish Pattern using a gym ball. I practised this when moving for myself. I could feel my naval radiation and found the expansion and extension when reaching out.