I’m teaching a 6 week movement class at the moment and in preparation for each class am reading massive amounts on movement and all sorts. I was reading about how challenging it can be for a student to start moving in a different way than they are used to; especially when in my case, some of my students are in their 50s and 60s, as in, they have been moving in that way day in day out for years and years. To challenge people to change their movement vocabulary is asking them to become extremely vulnerable. Its not what they know, they’re going to be off balance and vulnerable, exposed in some areas and feel very much ‘on display’. It may bring up memories; the reason for example why a woman may hunch over is due to the fact she was teased when her chest was developing, a student confided in me the other day that thats why she hunches over. Her teenage protection bled into adulthood posture. To open her chest up, to relax her shoulders back causes the awakening of a long ago memory to resurface and she is literally opening herself up. She’ll feel very different, its a brave thing to do.

Someone said to me years go nothing changes nothing changes and these students are here to change and so they are making changes with the most personal thing they have, their own bodies. Its incredibly humbling to see such courage and also allows me to reflect on my own life. As my focus this year has been on belief, which is feeling different, I feel vulnerable in that space, as without the facts of life to hold tightly onto, rather than a letting go and believing, I feel a little reckless. But in fact its making this shift which is necessary for me to step into my dream life I feel. Already in the past two weeks of seriously focusing on believing things have massively shifted in my life for the better. So here’s to bravery, to stepping away from habits which are not serving you but rather hiding, restricting or perhaps protecting you. Here’s to courage, to commitment to stepping out, even when the first few steps are so scary you’re almost forced back into a retreat. Stay calm and stay the course.

 

Tags: belief, brave, breaking habits, change, comfort zone, courage, Mhairi Morrison, The bead movement