Chin Up
postural effects upon thinking
"Chin up,"
She says
As though by some miracle
I will feel better.
Since when does physicality
infringe on my mentality?
By the rising of my chin
Do so my spirits
Do so my entire being, my structure.
My spine emanates with gratitude,
each vertebrae uncoiling
as did I from my self-doubt, just this morning
Spaces between each, widening
Skeletal self, - smile -, elongating
Spinal discs, as cushions re-plumped
Invigorating, softening
Me; in spine and in spirit
And,
With the rising of my chin
May things look up.
- Nicola
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Environment Governs Movement
Are the external constraints of environment and space upon our dancing of stronger influence than that which we internalise, our emotions and mental state, that inevitably reflect themselves in dance?
My car-dancing is an example of experimentation to see how the environment we place ourselves in can dictate our movements in dance.
A person in a wheelchair is not at first seen to have the expected physique of a dancer, nor would it be fair to place a dancer in handcuffs, a costume too tight, or a sling or bandage of any kind. I have now come full circle, form the starting point at which I was considering the external constraints upon the movements of a puppet; the strings by which he is held dictate his freedom of movement. I considered experimenting with dancing with my feet anchored by elastic to the wall, to play with tension and how that restricted my momentum in dance.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Dizziness as One State of Mind
Dizziness, furthermore, is referred to as Postural Hypotension, and this alerted me to the relationship between the body (posture) and the brain. It occurs with a fall of blood pressure; a concentration of blood to the head after handstands can then impair and constrain our way of thinking.
Dizziness can actually lead to a preoccupation with health, panic or anxiety, according to medical research, all negative mentalities; our mind is fragile and apparently volatile in accordance with our changing movements, and the way we position ourselves in space.
Of course other ways of thinking, new perspectives, and other states of mind are sought after during dance, and for the most part, it is people's moving that brings the happiness they learn to associate with dancing of all kinds. Some will dance for peace of mind, and some will dance to turn anger into serenity, energy into focus. It is a two-way street, also with the emotions we feel reflecting themselves in our movements, and constraining them to be performed in a specific way, both in the everyday and on stage.
Dizziness can actually lead to a preoccupation with health, panic or anxiety, according to medical research, all negative mentalities; our mind is fragile and apparently volatile in accordance with our changing movements, and the way we position ourselves in space.
Of course other ways of thinking, new perspectives, and other states of mind are sought after during dance, and for the most part, it is people's moving that brings the happiness they learn to associate with dancing of all kinds. Some will dance for peace of mind, and some will dance to turn anger into serenity, energy into focus. It is a two-way street, also with the emotions we feel reflecting themselves in our movements, and constraining them to be performed in a specific way, both in the everyday and on stage.
Art by Bridget Riley
Bridget Riley's art explores the mental state of dizziness. Her paintings, particularly Movement in Squares 1961,
and Achaean 1982
but also Arrest 2 1965
all have a hallucinating effect upon the viewer. In the same way that specific dance movements can create a dizzy state, so can Riley's style of painting, in her discipline, induce the same mental frenzy.
I am encouraged by this to take note that external stimuli can restrict our way of thinking by putting us in a particular mental condition, such as that of dizziness, although it seems that internal turmoil, also, such as pain or emotion, likewise has effect upon our movements and response to external stimuli.
Movement Governs Mind
What about the other way around? How much influence does the way we move have upon our mental state or emotions?
The state of being upside down, or even merely spinning really quickly without spotting, could be considered to be a contributing factor to the mental state of dizziness, which would then change the movements observed in a dizzy person yet again, to stumbling, tripping or falling. However, it is the first movements mentioned that determine the dizzy mentality. Mentality is constrained by the movement, in the sense that all capability of remaining focussed goes out the window when dizzy. We have a blood rush to the head. Our ability to think clearly would be impaired, and so it could be said that our bodies in space have just as much influence over our thoughts, as our mental state does over our actions.
The state of being upside down, or even merely spinning really quickly without spotting, could be considered to be a contributing factor to the mental state of dizziness, which would then change the movements observed in a dizzy person yet again, to stumbling, tripping or falling. However, it is the first movements mentioned that determine the dizzy mentality. Mentality is constrained by the movement, in the sense that all capability of remaining focussed goes out the window when dizzy. We have a blood rush to the head. Our ability to think clearly would be impaired, and so it could be said that our bodies in space have just as much influence over our thoughts, as our mental state does over our actions.
If You're Happy and You Know It, Stand Up
This article by Belle Beth Cooper is exactly the sort of evidence I aimed to find, to support the idea of dancing changing our thinking, as opposed to the other way around.
http://blog.bufferapp.com/improve-posture-good-posture-science-happiness
This sort of thinking led me to Kenneth S Pope's scholarly chapter, "How Gender, Solitude and Posture Influence the Stream of Consciousness", the ninth chapter of "The Stream of Consciousness".
Pope, K. (1978). How Gender, Solitude, and Posture Influence the Stream of Consciousness. The Stream of Consciousness (pp. 259-299). Los Angeles: Springer US.
In fact, multiple studies have proven us to have more confidence in the decisions we make, and in the opinions we hold, when we are upright and with more correct posture. I wonder how much of this is attributed to the spacing of the vertebrae in the spine?
In studio, we focussed on Body Mind Centring and tried to feel if there were imbalances or incongruities in our skeletal structure, on the floor, and compared how we felt afterward with each other. In a chair, the cushions between the vertebrae of our spine are compressed by gravity, and the practices of dancing, or of body mind centring, do more for our spine protection than we may think. It would make sense that the wider spacing of the spine, either from staying upright, or from the above practices, is what may be connected to the mental capacity to be stoic in our decision making; it also affects out self-belief and positivity of self-assessment.
I imagine there is validity to the thinking that others can be more or less impressed with us with varying postures in how we present ourselves to them.
A prospective employee holding themselves correctly is proven above to more likely to rate themselves positively, and create an aura of more confidence, than a hunched interviewee. The more likely to successfully get a job is the one with a more optimistic and competitive mentality, but this can come about purely from the body's expansion in space.
A constrained body, a compressed spine, is more susceptible to injury and pain (spine), and is congruent with a more negative mentality; there is much evidence for the body's ability to dictate the workings and emotions of the mind.
http://blog.bufferapp.com/improve-posture-good-posture-science-happiness
This sort of thinking led me to Kenneth S Pope's scholarly chapter, "How Gender, Solitude and Posture Influence the Stream of Consciousness", the ninth chapter of "The Stream of Consciousness".
Pope, K. (1978). How Gender, Solitude, and Posture Influence the Stream of Consciousness. The Stream of Consciousness (pp. 259-299). Los Angeles: Springer US.
In fact, multiple studies have proven us to have more confidence in the decisions we make, and in the opinions we hold, when we are upright and with more correct posture. I wonder how much of this is attributed to the spacing of the vertebrae in the spine?
In studio, we focussed on Body Mind Centring and tried to feel if there were imbalances or incongruities in our skeletal structure, on the floor, and compared how we felt afterward with each other. In a chair, the cushions between the vertebrae of our spine are compressed by gravity, and the practices of dancing, or of body mind centring, do more for our spine protection than we may think. It would make sense that the wider spacing of the spine, either from staying upright, or from the above practices, is what may be connected to the mental capacity to be stoic in our decision making; it also affects out self-belief and positivity of self-assessment.
I imagine there is validity to the thinking that others can be more or less impressed with us with varying postures in how we present ourselves to them.
A prospective employee holding themselves correctly is proven above to more likely to rate themselves positively, and create an aura of more confidence, than a hunched interviewee. The more likely to successfully get a job is the one with a more optimistic and competitive mentality, but this can come about purely from the body's expansion in space.
A constrained body, a compressed spine, is more susceptible to injury and pain (spine), and is congruent with a more negative mentality; there is much evidence for the body's ability to dictate the workings and emotions of the mind.
Soma
The mind and body as a whole.
The concept of the way we move having effect upon the way we think is a similar one to that of somatics. I think there would be evidence that would support the idea of changed thought patterns being attributed to changed posture or bodily practices, or dance.
Is the mind instead influenced by bodily structure?
Is the stronger of the two the mental effects upon dance or the body's actions upon thought?
The concept of the way we move having effect upon the way we think is a similar one to that of somatics. I think there would be evidence that would support the idea of changed thought patterns being attributed to changed posture or bodily practices, or dance.
Is the mind instead influenced by bodily structure?
Is the stronger of the two the mental effects upon dance or the body's actions upon thought?
Of Shyness
"The categories of behaviour most frequently described included the following: doesn't talk, stays by self, doesn't play, walks/runs away from others, hides, looks away/avoids eye contact, physical signs of anxiety, stays near familiar people, cries, blushes, and gets mixed up when talking/stutters."
Younger, A. (2008). How children describe their shy/withdrawn peers. Infant & Child Development, 17(5), 447-456.
Younger, A. (2008). How children describe their shy/withdrawn peers. Infant & Child Development, 17(5), 447-456.
Examples of Mentality-Inspired Movement
- Jamie Benson
- Dr Leora Kuttner
Both these artists stylise into choreography the manifestation of pain and of itch, the ability to feel which, is a mental capability, and so both sensations are different states in which the mind can be. They are internally felt, but these two artists, as dancer and dance director, manage to externalise those mentalities by simulating the movement of somebody suffering from either feeling. To an extent, our mental state becomes reflected in our movements, and has some influence over the way we move - our physical capability of movement is constrained and restricted by the presence of pain, and an itch has the power to manipulate us into abnormal movement.
Together these works help me to conclude that the mind has some power over the movement of the body - but I am yet to explore if the bodily structure, positioning and posture can affect thinking processes.
Wine Makes Drunk the Mind and Body
The effects of wine create a whole new mental state that in turn creates new effects in movement, and artists before have analysed the movings of a drunken person and stylised it into choreography. Lloyd Newson's dance video about two drunken men brawling in a bar employed such choreography, to make the dance look both everyday and artful.
The effects of the mental state upon the dancing of the body are numerous and in the same way that artists before have experimented with the drunken state, I may like to try with other burdens of our mind.
The mentality of a free person is different to that of a freed one, or an enslaved one, and their movement also.
The mentality and movements of a shy person differ to those of an outgoing person.
The mentality and therefore movements are different in a drunk person compared to a sober person.
The mentality of someone with a mental disorder would be different from someone without, and would their movement patterns differ also, if the mind governs the body?
The mentality of someone suffering from depression is certainly different from someone whose mind is not burdened; how does the movement of someone suffering from depression differ from somebody not?
Within these varied mental states, some are attributed to physical imbalances or influences and some are purely emotional.
They say that pain is in the mind, and while it affects the body, it is felt by the mind, and therefore defined by the mind; its absence would be attributed to a fault in the brain, and yet the presence of pain would be significantly marked and apparent in the movement patterns of the affected person; shaking or limping, and constrained by pain felt when the mover pushed the boundaries of their capabilities.
Then again, physical sensations, that are only physical due to their manifestation in the mind, affect the mind and consequently affect the body's movement. Itches are such an example (http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/courses/mind/notes/mentalstates.html; URL: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu
Last Modified:
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College)
... how would the presence of an itch dictate the movement in the body? How much control does the mind have over the way we move?
The effects of the mental state upon the dancing of the body are numerous and in the same way that artists before have experimented with the drunken state, I may like to try with other burdens of our mind.
The mentality of a free person is different to that of a freed one, or an enslaved one, and their movement also.
The mentality and movements of a shy person differ to those of an outgoing person.
The mentality and therefore movements are different in a drunk person compared to a sober person.
The mentality of someone with a mental disorder would be different from someone without, and would their movement patterns differ also, if the mind governs the body?
The mentality of someone suffering from depression is certainly different from someone whose mind is not burdened; how does the movement of someone suffering from depression differ from somebody not?
Within these varied mental states, some are attributed to physical imbalances or influences and some are purely emotional.
They say that pain is in the mind, and while it affects the body, it is felt by the mind, and therefore defined by the mind; its absence would be attributed to a fault in the brain, and yet the presence of pain would be significantly marked and apparent in the movement patterns of the affected person; shaking or limping, and constrained by pain felt when the mover pushed the boundaries of their capabilities.
Then again, physical sensations, that are only physical due to their manifestation in the mind, affect the mind and consequently affect the body's movement. Itches are such an example (http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/courses/mind/notes/mentalstates.html; URL: http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu
Last Modified:
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College)
... how would the presence of an itch dictate the movement in the body? How much control does the mind have over the way we move?
Mentality Governs Movement
Here is my dog, at first tied up, and later not realising his release. He often doesn't notice this! He get's so used to being constrained by his leash that when he is let off, he only knows that his collar is still attached to the leash - and his mentality is still that of a constrained dog. His movement in space and responses are still that of a dog tied up. Note his resignedness to his status and his ignorance of me calling him, believing that he doesn't have the capability to get up and move around.
I am only wanting to demonstrate that our mind, thoughts and thinking have a considerable amount of influence over our movement pathways. We dance how we feel, and if we are constrained by a mental source of restriction, it still limits our capacity to move in space, and compresses our movements to small dynamics.
I am only wanting to demonstrate that our mind, thoughts and thinking have a considerable amount of influence over our movement pathways. We dance how we feel, and if we are constrained by a mental source of restriction, it still limits our capacity to move in space, and compresses our movements to small dynamics.
Is Dancing the Cry of the Soul?
Rumi's poem makes me want to consider my final submission being in the form of a poem. He is able to express both through his words and through the structure of his poem; concise and repeating, it is this art form alone that can exist so beautifully in quite a raw form.
Rumi's first line shows that he feels dancing is the soul's cry for the body to join in worship - I love this image, and it would mean that the movement of a dancer reflects the state of their soul, and that the internal is externalised by means of dance. That the state of the mind, heart and soul constrain the dancing, but perhaps also the other way around, serves as encouragement to me to experiment with how the body's movement is governed by its thinking.
Certainly a person in everyday life who is feeling shy does not venture into space as much as the extrovert next to them, with their hand gestures and their roving gaze; a shy person physically and subconsciously makes themselves as small as possible, and their movement patterns are contained: their eyes are lowered and their shoulders a little hunched, as if to minimise the space they are occupying.
In studio we have done work with dance dynamics, and a key one is the expansion of the body in space contrasted with the folding in of the body on itself, as though the initiation practice is occurring from somewhere inside the body, until every movement comes to centralise around that point. My own duet's starting position contrasted my folding outward into my partner's space, with her tucking inwardly, head ducked. Our total use of space was not changed in amount, but as I occupied more of her space, she relinquished more and constrained her body.
"Wine makes drunk the mind and body,"; Rumi's line unites ideas from both the mind and the body, the internal and the external, which made me sit up and take notice. The drunkenness of a person; is it their state of mind that affects the way they move? Their impaired sight, balance and sense that can be attributed to the intoxicated brain? Drunk people move in a way foreign to those sober, and it could almost be seen as a state of movement that occurs from a particular mentality.
Somatic practitioners, after all, aim to move with as free a mind as possible, to access the parts of thinking that are not pre-meditating, reflecting or assessing, or choreographing.
My dog's movements are constrained and small, when on his leash and attached to a chair leg, (by force, by sanction) but remain so once he has been freed - but before he has realised his leash is not anchored! The remaining attachment of the leash to his collar is enough to make him think he is still tied up, and so he moves (or doesn't move much!) according to his thinking that he is still secured. His inability to move is purely mental, and such a mental block is an obvious hindrance to his physical movement. This mentality could also be seen as such that impairs a state of moving!
A free man will walk (dance) with his head held high and open body posture, but a freed slave, I imagine, will behave differently and move differently. The difference would have to be in one's belief of their own freedom, and I think there is something to be said about the effect of our internal status upon our bodily movement.
Rumi's first line shows that he feels dancing is the soul's cry for the body to join in worship - I love this image, and it would mean that the movement of a dancer reflects the state of their soul, and that the internal is externalised by means of dance. That the state of the mind, heart and soul constrain the dancing, but perhaps also the other way around, serves as encouragement to me to experiment with how the body's movement is governed by its thinking.
Certainly a person in everyday life who is feeling shy does not venture into space as much as the extrovert next to them, with their hand gestures and their roving gaze; a shy person physically and subconsciously makes themselves as small as possible, and their movement patterns are contained: their eyes are lowered and their shoulders a little hunched, as if to minimise the space they are occupying.
In studio we have done work with dance dynamics, and a key one is the expansion of the body in space contrasted with the folding in of the body on itself, as though the initiation practice is occurring from somewhere inside the body, until every movement comes to centralise around that point. My own duet's starting position contrasted my folding outward into my partner's space, with her tucking inwardly, head ducked. Our total use of space was not changed in amount, but as I occupied more of her space, she relinquished more and constrained her body.
"Wine makes drunk the mind and body,"; Rumi's line unites ideas from both the mind and the body, the internal and the external, which made me sit up and take notice. The drunkenness of a person; is it their state of mind that affects the way they move? Their impaired sight, balance and sense that can be attributed to the intoxicated brain? Drunk people move in a way foreign to those sober, and it could almost be seen as a state of movement that occurs from a particular mentality.
Somatic practitioners, after all, aim to move with as free a mind as possible, to access the parts of thinking that are not pre-meditating, reflecting or assessing, or choreographing.
My dog's movements are constrained and small, when on his leash and attached to a chair leg, (by force, by sanction) but remain so once he has been freed - but before he has realised his leash is not anchored! The remaining attachment of the leash to his collar is enough to make him think he is still tied up, and so he moves (or doesn't move much!) according to his thinking that he is still secured. His inability to move is purely mental, and such a mental block is an obvious hindrance to his physical movement. This mentality could also be seen as such that impairs a state of moving!
A free man will walk (dance) with his head held high and open body posture, but a freed slave, I imagine, will behave differently and move differently. The difference would have to be in one's belief of their own freedom, and I think there is something to be said about the effect of our internal status upon our bodily movement.
A Poem by Rumi
The Dancing Cry of the Soul
Love is the dancing cry of the soul, calling the body to worship
Like a shining whirlpool, or a spinning mayfly
So is love among the skies.
I leap across the mountaintops, madly singing the song of all songs
I float through the ether, intoxicated, thrilled
I think only of your love, your calling to me
And I dance the thousand dances of love, all returning to you.
It is not the play of children, nor the detached unity of wise sages
Unreal! Unnecessary!
Where is the beauty?
When I, like a glowing comet, may flash around your sun
Laughing, singing, with the joy of loving you!
Wine makes drunk the mind and body
But it is love which thrills the soul
When I approach you, I feel the mad pounding of love
The singing wonder
The joy which opens blossoms on the trees of the world.
Come to me, and I shall dance with you
In the temples, on the beaches, through the crowded streets
Be you man or woman, plant or animal, slave or free
I shall show you the brilliant crystal fires, shining within
I shall show you the beauty deep within your soul
I shall show the path beyond Heaven.
Only dance, and your illusions will blow in the wind
Dance, and make joyous the love around you
Dance, and your veils which hide the Light
Shall swirl in a heap at your feet.
- Rumi
Love is the dancing cry of the soul, calling the body to worship
Like a shining whirlpool, or a spinning mayfly
So is love among the skies.
I leap across the mountaintops, madly singing the song of all songs
I float through the ether, intoxicated, thrilled
I think only of your love, your calling to me
And I dance the thousand dances of love, all returning to you.
It is not the play of children, nor the detached unity of wise sages
Unreal! Unnecessary!
Where is the beauty?
When I, like a glowing comet, may flash around your sun
Laughing, singing, with the joy of loving you!
Wine makes drunk the mind and body
But it is love which thrills the soul
When I approach you, I feel the mad pounding of love
The singing wonder
The joy which opens blossoms on the trees of the world.
Come to me, and I shall dance with you
In the temples, on the beaches, through the crowded streets
Be you man or woman, plant or animal, slave or free
I shall show you the brilliant crystal fires, shining within
I shall show you the beauty deep within your soul
I shall show the path beyond Heaven.
Only dance, and your illusions will blow in the wind
Dance, and make joyous the love around you
Dance, and your veils which hide the Light
Shall swirl in a heap at your feet.
- Rumi
Assessed Artistic Project
My artistic project is to be assessed on the measure of understanding connections between my cross-disciplinary explorations and my understanding of my tertiary dance course. An exercise of dance improvisation from studio a few weeks ago stands out the most; as though each of us were rag dolls, we were to lie on the ground as deadweight so that our partners could feel the actual mass of our skull, limbs and body. Although our brief on how much energy the person lying down could apply, at the beginning of the exercise they were to do no work at all, and the partner, 100% of lifting. I felt like a rag-doll being manipulated and manoeuvred, and made to sit up, stand up, fall down, roll over. The most challenging thing was to relinquish the last bits of control we had over our own bodies.
In my mind, this was how a puppet lives, fully and totally influenced by the puppeteer, with no control over its own inanimate limbs or movement pathways. Its movement pathways are dictated by the strings holding it up, and this, as an external source of control struck me as an interesting starting point.
When we dance, how much of the control we exert over our bodies is from an external constraint, a space or environment that limits our freedom of movement? How much is determined by the state of our inner, or our mind, of our mentality and of our emotions? How does a physical constraint influence our movement and how much does the mind really influence the body's dancing?
It is almost as though the two opposites are the mind's dictation over the bodily movement in dance, and the body's structure affecting the status of the mind. There is evidence into which I wish to research, supporting the claim that changing one's body position can re-frame the thinking of the person.
Then again, the body's movement is perhaps governed by a conflict of internal and eternal sources of constraint.
Whether movement shapes thinking, or vice-versa, or whether movement is decided on the basis of external surroundings or of internal state, I would like to conduct constraint experiments to be able to reach some conclusions.
A real challenge is choosing a discipline; I identify as a musician, a dancer, a photographer, a sculptor, a writer and a poet. A blog enables me to undertake a selection of cross-disciplinary mini-projects that will shape the thinking of this assessment.
In my mind, this was how a puppet lives, fully and totally influenced by the puppeteer, with no control over its own inanimate limbs or movement pathways. Its movement pathways are dictated by the strings holding it up, and this, as an external source of control struck me as an interesting starting point.
When we dance, how much of the control we exert over our bodies is from an external constraint, a space or environment that limits our freedom of movement? How much is determined by the state of our inner, or our mind, of our mentality and of our emotions? How does a physical constraint influence our movement and how much does the mind really influence the body's dancing?
It is almost as though the two opposites are the mind's dictation over the bodily movement in dance, and the body's structure affecting the status of the mind. There is evidence into which I wish to research, supporting the claim that changing one's body position can re-frame the thinking of the person.
Then again, the body's movement is perhaps governed by a conflict of internal and eternal sources of constraint.
Whether movement shapes thinking, or vice-versa, or whether movement is decided on the basis of external surroundings or of internal state, I would like to conduct constraint experiments to be able to reach some conclusions.
A real challenge is choosing a discipline; I identify as a musician, a dancer, a photographer, a sculptor, a writer and a poet. A blog enables me to undertake a selection of cross-disciplinary mini-projects that will shape the thinking of this assessment.
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