Head and Neck Release
The neck separates the head from the heart; that's no easy feat. So many of us wear masks for most of the day; forcing smiles even when we feel blue, surpressing feeling, holding back authentic self-expression. We hold so much tension in our jaw, face and neck that a lot of us continue this during the night, grinding our teeth.
1. Take a moment and open your mouth and release your jaw; move it from side to side, let the mouth hang open, relax the face.
2. Let your eyes soften, and let the head roll slowly, effortlessly.
3. Think of your neck like a turtle's. The head needs to just rest on the neck, easily, with no jutting forward or back. As you make circles with the head let the jaw be completely slack.
Notice how great it feels to move in this way. If it doesn't feel great, tweak the stretch, shift it, make it yours, but always be gentle and kind as you move your head.
4. Now exaggerate the jaw; loosen it, make silly faces, yawn, stick your tongue out.
5. Find a partner and out-silly one another. Your face, neck, and jaw will thank you for it.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Stretch and Get Happy!
My Favorite Stretch: Contraction and Expansion
Try this now! I love this!
Contraction and Expansion
1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Ground the feet, root them in the earth. Bend your knees a touch. Lengthen your spine and imagine a horse tail at your sacrum, pulling down the base of the spine. Imagine a string from the top of your head down through your perineum connecting heaven and earth.
2. Open your arms to your sides, chest open, face soft, jaw loose. Take in a big, wide, full inhalation, palms open, jaw releasing.
3. Slowly, with tension in the arms, round your arms and chest forward as if you were hugging a great big beach-ball. Exhale all the air out of your lungs. Engage your core and let your body contract.
4. Inhale deeply through the lower lungs and extend the arms, wide open again. Stretch the
fingers open and give some tension into the arms. Open the mouth and slowly exhale as you contract the arms in again, hugging the imaginary beach ball.
Repeat 5-10 times with exaggerated breath. Stretch the face open. Smile.
The arms are our social center. The arms reach, grab, hold, punch, push away, manipulate objects, write, feed, etc... With the arms we express our impulses to give and take. The arms can "act" as extenders from the heart, communicating feelings.
As we play with this exercise, we not only purify the breath, relax the face, strengthen the core and extend our flexibility, we also increase our ability make contact, reach out, receive and experience longing.
This exercise can be used to refresh and revitalize, wake up the entire Self, melt away depression, inspire creativity and warm up cold extremities.
Try this now! I love this!
Contraction and Expansion
1. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Ground the feet, root them in the earth. Bend your knees a touch. Lengthen your spine and imagine a horse tail at your sacrum, pulling down the base of the spine. Imagine a string from the top of your head down through your perineum connecting heaven and earth.
2. Open your arms to your sides, chest open, face soft, jaw loose. Take in a big, wide, full inhalation, palms open, jaw releasing.
3. Slowly, with tension in the arms, round your arms and chest forward as if you were hugging a great big beach-ball. Exhale all the air out of your lungs. Engage your core and let your body contract.
4. Inhale deeply through the lower lungs and extend the arms, wide open again. Stretch the
fingers open and give some tension into the arms. Open the mouth and slowly exhale as you contract the arms in again, hugging the imaginary beach ball.
Repeat 5-10 times with exaggerated breath. Stretch the face open. Smile.
The arms are our social center. The arms reach, grab, hold, punch, push away, manipulate objects, write, feed, etc... With the arms we express our impulses to give and take. The arms can "act" as extenders from the heart, communicating feelings.
As we play with this exercise, we not only purify the breath, relax the face, strengthen the core and extend our flexibility, we also increase our ability make contact, reach out, receive and experience longing.
This exercise can be used to refresh and revitalize, wake up the entire Self, melt away depression, inspire creativity and warm up cold extremities.
How Dance Saved My Life
Dancing Your Bliss; Freeing the Body Ecstatic, or How Dance Saved My Life
I move and dance to save my life.
This is where we begin and end. In our bodies. The body does not lie; it invariably identifies what is present in us as well as what is lacking.
Dancing Your Bliss was birthed out of my own broken pain. Had I not experienced every moment in my life, just as I have, I do not know if I would have the tools to share with you what I know, what I believe to be magical, wise and true.
Our bodies are brilliant, stunning machines. They speak, sometimes we listen. They cry out to us, we shut our ears, shut down, and ignore the messages we desperately need to consider. So the messages get tucked away under our work, our addictions, our inventive styles of shut-down. We smoke our wants, eat them, fuck them, rage about them. I took mine into psychotherapy for 15 years, always wanting something more from the sessions. I saw that the power of dance was transformative, but also isolative, competitive even. Therefore, I was not sure how to gain that power and clarity in the world of dance. Traditional psychotherapy seemed the answer to my struggles.
I believe that emotions manifest in specific tensions and disconnects located in particular body parts. Our bodies serve as metaphors for our life experiences. When we move our stories, or “mythologies”, as the Halprin method I have trained with calls it, we can begin to experience shifts and growth.
I have been so moved by the work of Mary Stark Whitehouse. Developer of “authentic movement”, she worked primarily one on one with high-functioning adults. Drawing from Jungian psychoanalysis, she emphasized the revelation of the unconscious through movement. Like Jung, she believed that deep, inner directed movement can lead to an experience of the “transcendent.” For Whitehouse (1999), “the body is the personality on the physical level and movement is the personality made visible” (p.52, “the tao of the body.” In P. Pallaro (ed) Authentic Movement Essays by Mary Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler, and Joan Chodorow. London: Jessica Kingsley).
I learned to live fully in my body through my own curiosity, and hunger. I knew that my body sought pleasure – through exercise, dance, sensuality, connection, touch. I also knew that I hated my body, as I believe many women are taught to, and ignored it’s many sensations, wants, pains.
Through a synchronistic series of events, I was asked to counsel women with severe eating disorders, addictions, and severe histories of abuse in a psychiatric facility in Philadelphia. I saw hundreds of women, and every one of them was disconnected from her body. Every one of them had denied herself the wisdom and kindness that the body offers. I see all of us on a continuum of disconnect, my brave patients on one end, myself vacillating, and you, where are you? Well, it shifts every day I would imagine.
My shift was most profound while my father was dying, when I was 24. At this time, I was unable to dance, even socialize, for over a year, as I suffered severe panic attacks, depression and agoraphobia. Nearly housebound, my therapy sessions were spent navigating how to manage the bus ride home without profound terror, and panic.
In order to survive, I began experimenting with conscious movement; mixing guided imagery with dance and movement, alone, in my living room.
Discovering a world of improvisational movement and creative expression, I had truly come home. All the ingredients were present for my healing, and my life opened immensely. Slowly, my own pain moved into the powerful expression that now is Dancing Your Bliss, where I always ask participants to please leave their critic at the door, and to remember that the body always speaks our truth.
Today, I experience magic each time I work with a client and give her the space, the breathing room, the permission to move her body in exactly the manner that she wishes. I see magic as her body points her in the direction that she needs to go in, gifts her with a metaphor for her unnamed, unknown feeling.
The body never lies.
I recognize that power in all of the body, each part, and ask that you notice which parts of you choose to move when you dance, how they move. With what force, what speed, what repetition. I hope that you will embody your spirit, and mood (s) and notice, (the key here) how you can move in and out of your emotions, and not become a slave to them.
I hope that folks will no longer say; “I can’t dance, or “I feel embarrassed dancing”, and instead, dance that awkwardness, that unsteady, unsure place inside, until it gels with your own heartbeat, and becomes exactly what it needs to be. I hope that you find music that inspires you, and space to move. I hope that we all will continue to reach out to meet our edge.
One of my many great teachers, Daria Halprin, daughter of legendary Anna Halprin, describes this as the intention of movement based expressive arts therapy (2003):
“To assist people in developing awareness, creativity and embodied expression; to facilitate an in-depth exploration of personal myth, pathos, and potential, and to catalyze breakthroughs into new ways of being” (p. 102, The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy: working with movement, metaphor and meaning. London: Jessica Kingsley).
I embody new ways of being each time I move consciously. I offer you the opportunity to feel this too. Starting exactly where you are.
Rachel Fleischman is a Licensed Body Centered Expressive Arts Therapist, with a private practice in San Francisco. She wishes to thank Manfred Fischbeck, and Brigitta Hermann of Group Motion Philadelphia, http://www.groupmotion.org, and Daria and Anna Halprin, of the Tamalpa Institute, Kentfield California, www.tamalpa.org.
www.dancingyourbliss.com Connecting Motion with Emotion
I move and dance to save my life.
This is where we begin and end. In our bodies. The body does not lie; it invariably identifies what is present in us as well as what is lacking.
Dancing Your Bliss was birthed out of my own broken pain. Had I not experienced every moment in my life, just as I have, I do not know if I would have the tools to share with you what I know, what I believe to be magical, wise and true.
Our bodies are brilliant, stunning machines. They speak, sometimes we listen. They cry out to us, we shut our ears, shut down, and ignore the messages we desperately need to consider. So the messages get tucked away under our work, our addictions, our inventive styles of shut-down. We smoke our wants, eat them, fuck them, rage about them. I took mine into psychotherapy for 15 years, always wanting something more from the sessions. I saw that the power of dance was transformative, but also isolative, competitive even. Therefore, I was not sure how to gain that power and clarity in the world of dance. Traditional psychotherapy seemed the answer to my struggles.
I believe that emotions manifest in specific tensions and disconnects located in particular body parts. Our bodies serve as metaphors for our life experiences. When we move our stories, or “mythologies”, as the Halprin method I have trained with calls it, we can begin to experience shifts and growth.
I have been so moved by the work of Mary Stark Whitehouse. Developer of “authentic movement”, she worked primarily one on one with high-functioning adults. Drawing from Jungian psychoanalysis, she emphasized the revelation of the unconscious through movement. Like Jung, she believed that deep, inner directed movement can lead to an experience of the “transcendent.” For Whitehouse (1999), “the body is the personality on the physical level and movement is the personality made visible” (p.52, “the tao of the body.” In P. Pallaro (ed) Authentic Movement Essays by Mary Starks Whitehouse, Janet Adler, and Joan Chodorow. London: Jessica Kingsley).
I learned to live fully in my body through my own curiosity, and hunger. I knew that my body sought pleasure – through exercise, dance, sensuality, connection, touch. I also knew that I hated my body, as I believe many women are taught to, and ignored it’s many sensations, wants, pains.
Through a synchronistic series of events, I was asked to counsel women with severe eating disorders, addictions, and severe histories of abuse in a psychiatric facility in Philadelphia. I saw hundreds of women, and every one of them was disconnected from her body. Every one of them had denied herself the wisdom and kindness that the body offers. I see all of us on a continuum of disconnect, my brave patients on one end, myself vacillating, and you, where are you? Well, it shifts every day I would imagine.
My shift was most profound while my father was dying, when I was 24. At this time, I was unable to dance, even socialize, for over a year, as I suffered severe panic attacks, depression and agoraphobia. Nearly housebound, my therapy sessions were spent navigating how to manage the bus ride home without profound terror, and panic.
In order to survive, I began experimenting with conscious movement; mixing guided imagery with dance and movement, alone, in my living room.
Discovering a world of improvisational movement and creative expression, I had truly come home. All the ingredients were present for my healing, and my life opened immensely. Slowly, my own pain moved into the powerful expression that now is Dancing Your Bliss, where I always ask participants to please leave their critic at the door, and to remember that the body always speaks our truth.
Today, I experience magic each time I work with a client and give her the space, the breathing room, the permission to move her body in exactly the manner that she wishes. I see magic as her body points her in the direction that she needs to go in, gifts her with a metaphor for her unnamed, unknown feeling.
The body never lies.
I recognize that power in all of the body, each part, and ask that you notice which parts of you choose to move when you dance, how they move. With what force, what speed, what repetition. I hope that you will embody your spirit, and mood (s) and notice, (the key here) how you can move in and out of your emotions, and not become a slave to them.
I hope that folks will no longer say; “I can’t dance, or “I feel embarrassed dancing”, and instead, dance that awkwardness, that unsteady, unsure place inside, until it gels with your own heartbeat, and becomes exactly what it needs to be. I hope that you find music that inspires you, and space to move. I hope that we all will continue to reach out to meet our edge.
One of my many great teachers, Daria Halprin, daughter of legendary Anna Halprin, describes this as the intention of movement based expressive arts therapy (2003):
“To assist people in developing awareness, creativity and embodied expression; to facilitate an in-depth exploration of personal myth, pathos, and potential, and to catalyze breakthroughs into new ways of being” (p. 102, The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy: working with movement, metaphor and meaning. London: Jessica Kingsley).
I embody new ways of being each time I move consciously. I offer you the opportunity to feel this too. Starting exactly where you are.
Rachel Fleischman is a Licensed Body Centered Expressive Arts Therapist, with a private practice in San Francisco. She wishes to thank Manfred Fischbeck, and Brigitta Hermann of Group Motion Philadelphia, http://www.groupmotion.org, and Daria and Anna Halprin, of the Tamalpa Institute, Kentfield California, www.tamalpa.org.
www.dancingyourbliss.com Connecting Motion with Emotion
Kick Depression out of Bed; Snuggle up with Joy Instead
I wanted to share with you all an article I wrote recently for Psychologytoday.com
Enjoy, and see you in the dance,
Rachel
"My mind is like a bad neighborhood. I try never to go there alone."
~Ann Lamont; author
Depression stinks. No doubt about it. Having treated dozens of individuals with depression over the years, while reading countless books on the treatment of this "noonday demon", I still believe that the number one factor that really enables me to get to the heart of this malady is my firsthand experience with it. That's right. Not only am I a psychotherapist, I am also a bonafide client as well.
Depression started tugging at my heels by the time I was 8 years old. By 16, the dean of my high-school would call me each morning to make sure I got out of bed and went to school, instead of sleeping all day. By 30, I had two boyfriends; Ben and Jerry. Today, I still have low moments, but they occur far less often, and last far less long. When my clients tell me that they are surprised that I really "get them", I often share that I too have had my personal struggles with depression.
"The mind is a terrible thing to watch." ~Ann Lamont
I agree. Imagine if we had a scribe in our heads, even for a day.
I know I would be ashamed to think of what mine might write.
What folks may not know is that there are very useful tricks we can use to alleviate a sour mood. The brain is plastic. It is the last part of our body to really know something. When we tell our brain that life is awful and we are doomed, our brain tends to agree. So, I compiled "Top 10 Tricks to Kick Depression out of Bed, and Snuggle up with Joy Instead." Write these down, stick em on your wall, and put them in motion.
First trick: Get out of your head and into your feet
The body craves movement. Exercise really works. Let's not think of it as exercise though. Nothing is gnarlier to the depressed person than imagining him/herself at the gym in ill fitting sweats, panting on the stair master while svelte athletes are bopping around in all directions.
As Woody Allen says, 90% of success is showing up. Once we've got our walking shoes on, once we get endorphins cooking, the doldrums have less power to penetrate .
Second trick: Turn on music! Now!
I recommend that my clients have an arsenal of inspiring and fun music at their fingertips. I have even been known to make CD's for my clients. When we're depressed, the smallest task feels overwhelming. If I can kick-start someone's joy, then I am thrilled.
Third trick: Turn on the light and sit in the sun.
Many of us work in windowless cubicles or offices, and wonder why we feel blue. This time of year, when the sun sets earlier, we must 's dark out in autumn and winter, get a light, get some sun, get some more sun. And if there is no sun in your world, then buy a full-spectrum light.
Fourth trick: Hang out with 4-leggeds. (Unless of course, you're allergic) Having an animal companion near can instantly release oxytocin, that magical hormone that we secrete when we fall in love, give birth, or are nursing. It releases a feeling of goodwill, or trust in the world. OK, so not all of all are blessed to be in love all the time, or be breast feeding, so I recommend my clients find other ways to bring on the joy chemical. Read on.
Fifth trick: Change your thoughts. Right now.
We have around 60,000.00 thoughts per day. 87% of them are negative and are the same thoughts we had yesterday. Experiencing joy is a deliberate choice. Joy takes practice. Joy is hardcore. I use realistic affirmations, which, at times are posted all over my room. Notice I said realistic.
We must remember that affirmations don't make something happen, they make something welcome. People tell me, "I put an affirmation up on my bedroom wall, saying: "I am ready to meet a gorgeous, successful, charming man who will adore and worship me." It's been 3 months. Where is he?" I tell them; "You have made yourself more open to meeting this human. Finding him is another story. Sorry."
Sixth Trick: Follow a joyous lifestyle.
Choose joyous entertainment; find a class, a workout, anything that gets you in your body, preferably sweating a bit.
Seventh Trick: Affirm joy with words.
Rudyard Kipling said "I am by calling a dealer in words. And words are by far the most powerful drug in the world". It may seem trite, but changing the way we speak can be extremely influential in changing our moods.
Eighth Trick: Grab hold of a goal.
Make it a do-able one. Happiness and joy come from goals. We mustn't put off our lives.
Ninth Trick: Cultivate a relationship with the divine.
We are whom our higher self wanted to experience.
There is some truth to the pithy phrase: There's no aetheists in foxholes. Have a smidgens of faith and the world can be a gentler space.
Tenth Trick: Choose joyous companions.
When we are depressed, we take our somber, sluggish selves wherever we go. It can be very . We need company. We need intimacy. It is very important to be around authentic people. We need someone who believes in us. No nay-sayers!
Rachel Fleischman, MSW, LCSW is a highly-skilled psychotherapist and dynamic workshop leader, based in
Embodying 20 years of expertise, Rachel's body of work synthesizes a vast repertoire of movement and healing arts.
Rachel's fascination with spirituality, soul, mood disorders, and movement, has led her to develop a movement system called Dance Your Bliss, a playful, powerful and highly original movement form which she leads across the globe.
http://www.dancingyourbliss.com
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