The instructions are created with accessibility in mind. That being said, every body is different and every life is different. If anything feels painful, don’t do it. If you want to make any adjustments to the movement, for any reason, you are free to do so at all times. This work, like all movement, will get easier as it becomes more familiar, so be gentle with yourself at first. Pushing on boundaries is not always productive (and is often counter-productive). Respect your boundaries, your body, and yourself, and you’ll be fine.
You just need a way to play audio from the internet. This could be a smartphone connected to a small speaker system or it could be a laptop connected to the internet. Just click the play button on the post. You can also download the audio to play later.
We don’t recommend using headphones because it will restrict movement of your head.
For Private Experiencing, usually 8′ by 12′, space so you can lie down, move your arms and legs, and roll side to side, is enough. For Creative Embodying, you will need enough to move around, in all directions; perhaps at least 12′ by 16′.
Private Experiencing chapters tend to be 15-20 minutes. It’s good to have some time afterward for processing – you may want to write, talk, draw, play music, or move on your own. Since this is rarely predictable – you may feel the urge or you may not – it’s good to have the time set aside in case you want it.
Creative Embodying chapters tend to be around 10 minutes, with the idea that you may want to continue moving with the prompt for another 5 or ten minutes on your own.
You may want to write, talk, draw, play music, or move on your own. You may also not want to do anything. We all have particular ways we like to process our experiences, so use your intuition.
If you have something you want to share, please leave do so in the Disqus comment section under the chapter. You can share text, images, audio, or video. This will help others reflect on their own experience so that we can all learn and grow together.
This is an ongoing project. We will continue to produce more chapters for you to do, so please keep checking back. You can join our mailing list by filling out the subscription form at the bottom of this page.
Music is an art form that is perceived through the ears; the medium is sound. Dance performance is perceived through the eyes; the medium is others’ bodies. In this case, the sensory apparatus used is the kinesthetic sense – your sense of your physical body. The instructions are not the art – your movement is the art and your body is the medium. The instructions serve as a channel from us to you so that the art is recreated by your own body and nervous system each time you want to take it in.
You can always contact us if you have specific questions regarding how to do it. In general, we try to be very specific, so if there is something we are not mentioning, that’s likely on purpose. Everyone is different, so movement is not a one-size-fits-all thing. That means when we give specific instructions about one aspect of a movement, it’s important that we leave other aspects of the movement open so people can do it their own way.
You can see a demo of someone doing Private Experiencing here: youtu.be/0WjNMJE9n_s