My thoughts about the human body

Dearest reader.

I’m writing from my heart to yours, from my body to yours. I’ve been pondering about my thoughts on the body and why the body is such a big part of my work. I’ve been pondering about my assumptions, my notions, my vision for our bodies and how we are with and as them. Here is my list and even though it’s long, it’s not complete. What is your relationship to your body? What would be missing on this list or would not be there in your body-world-view?

~ we already are here in the body

~ we experience our lives through and with them

~ awareness in the body helps us notice things that are harmful (we do to ourselves and others do to us - recognition of boundaries) - awareness helps us notice what’s in integrity for us (and in relationship to the world)

~ our very personal bodily integrity is linked with our overall integrity

~ getting out of the way is key

~ letting ourselves be at peace: awareness is arising from within the cracks where we allow the infinite doing mode to pause

~ our bodies are beautiful! And we are close relatives with the other than human nature bodies.

~ there’s so much beauty in this kinship and the multifacetedness of all our bodies.

~ We can easily be controlled when we are disconnected from our bodies and not inhabiting them in a friendly way (e.g. media body image and all that comes from that)

~ There are reasons why we evade our bodies. And we can come back. It might take time and lots of love.

~ within and through our bodies we feel and sense and belong to the greater Earth community.

~ there’s beauty from the inside out

~ there is a radiance to our bodies

~ our life Story is written into them too

~ they have incredible self healing abilities

~ they have amazing miraculous abilities (just think about your voice, our senses, doing art, …) what is a miracle to you?

~ i think we abandon ourselves, evading our bodies (through screens, being indoors a lot, sitting, learning in disembodied ways at school and uni)

~ we need touch and self touch and touch with other kinds of nature bodies to keep healthy

~ we need to let them be at peace again and again - no pushing no pulling. Getting out of the mysterious amazing way the deep wisdom of the body is operating from.

~ when our body instrument is not well tuned, our kinesthetic sense is not working so well and we might think we do or not do something with our body, which is actually not the case, when we look into the mirror.

~ we can tune our body instrument

~ we need to challenge them - which is possible from freedom, empowerment (no pushing no pulling) not from a sense of lack

~ they often need new, actually mostly old and forgotten organisation. It can feel very new, when we experience the Balance in the body we might have had as young children. (AT)

~ we need to find our way to not shame or blame them, or the tension or the stuckness expressed in them

~ fully inhabiting myself comes with inhabiting my body

~ our body journey goes on till we die

~ for me it’s a joy to come home to my body and discover new things, often subtle things with a big impact. It’s not always initially pleasant though to come back to my body.

~ In and through my body i can access layers of my multifaceted self

~ In my body I am whole and I heal

~ In my body - also and maybe especailly when i’m sick - i can practice and feel dignity - and from that place i can see dignity in others.

~ my body is not able to do all the things i want to do

~ i’m deconditioning of many judgments around the body (mine and others)

~ judging our bodies and other bodies happens almost automatically, if we don’t bring awareness to it and drop those judgments.

~ i practice dropping judgment - and my body thanks me through expansion and breathing more fully.

~ i don’t mean all of this as a cult thing for the body. Just bringing the body into perspective.

~ I don’t think it’s about being aware all the time. Awareness is here all the time anyways. I can tune into it, when needed.

~ I’m for less efforting in the aim of embodiment. We already are here in our bodies. And: in our world of distractions it often needs a real decision to care for this aspect of us.

~ when my body is coordinated (in the range of my ability) everything appears more transparent: feeling, thinking, seeing, hearing, sensing, … I feel more connected with Other. I feel more free. And more belonging.

~ the practice of non-reacting, non-doing is big part of this kind of embodiment journey (I use the Alexander work as a tool for almost 25 years now, and other tools)

~ embodiment is our natural state - getting out of the way for that to happen, making space for it - is my path.

~ when i with older people like my parents who are in their 80ies, a few days in a row (with Alexander Technique) I am always amazed, sometimes shocked by how quickly flexibility and a certain kind of flow of life force comes back.

~ our bodies are a big mysterious, complex, and unique expression of nature.

~ our bodies are not separate from the land, from the other than human nature.

~ I wish for all bodies to be free.

(I’ll stop here, there’s more, for sure : ) What are your thoughts, assumptions and visions for the bodies of this planet?

And if you want to dive in, experientially, come to the Bodyjourney, Wednesdays, 45 minutes.

Big love from my heart to yours, from my embodied nature to yours.
Susanne

Reflections after a Mindful Music Making Workshop

Me and my instrument: a journey.

It’s nothing new: there is something really special when people gather - in person - and go on a journey together. A journey of connecting, allowing openings to happen, allowing each other to be seen in their grief and in their joy. Allowing themselves to be seen by the others - and by themselves.

There’s something so particular that always happens, when I (we) work with musicians. And I can feel it to the bones, because I’ve been in that classical music world long enough (for 20 years) and even though I „only“ studied music for becoming a teacher, I had all the stress and pain and psychological twists in my head and body that one can have. And with that: also the excuses for the pain and the pressure („that’s just how it has to be if I want to play well“). And then there is the fact that in that world it’s not so easy to come across alternative ways of being with the pressure and pain, leave alone daring to dream another way of music making and imagining a more human, benevolent (and non hirarchical non patronizing and non abusive) way of being accommpanied and taught on this multifaceted path of being a musician. (I was lucky to stumble across the Alexander Technique with 20, which saved me in many ways). But let me share what’s also possible:

So … what happens, when music makers come together - people who are feeling drawn to a workshop with us - even without exactly knowing what to expect?

Well in the recent workshop „Me and my instrument: a journey“ - what happened was: a lot of tears. A lot a lot of tears. Grief and relief. To share maybe for the first time in a safe space about the struggles and often this weird disconnect and contradiction between: My heart has actually a deep conection with the music making - and on the other hand there is this high performance pressure mode, which overshadows the essence of why I’m making music in the first place.

Very common … and felt in the body - when we give space to that. So many themes I could share now. But let’s leave it here. I just want to share how deeply I see (and feel) how needed - and possible this work ist. To soften, to reconnect, to go beyond competition, to see the human being who is playing, to listen as a human being to a human being and not as a highly skilled professional to another machine who might play a wrong note … yes. There’s work to do. And it’s so beautiful.

So beautiful what happens in these workshops and retreats. Such an honor to accompany humans - and to go beyond their „function“ as musician. Ah - such relief that happens in these circles. And from my perspective: such big work for the collective that people do there. Since the twisted and rigid musical world - at the end is also just a symptom of our twisted society.

So … what happens, when people, music makers connect and go beyond competition? When they sink back into their bodies, find a safe space within themselves, start dancing with and without their instruments again, when they are being truly seen mirrored and validated in their exhaustion? Well … what I’m witnissing is: realness, rawness, vulnerable direct deep connection, support, beauty and love.

May the taste of this needed medicine for our times have sweet and strong ripples into the world. Thank you for reading and feeling. With love, Susanne