Juggling with Rhythm and Motion

Michael Moschen‘s TED.com video (at end of this post) on juggling with ‘Rhythm and Motion‘ is just AMAZING! Rhythm and Motion are core themes in Craniosacral Therapy. Having just returned from assisting on a CST practitioner training, I really appreciated his comments about learning a new skill and seeing how gentle he was with himself when he dropped a ball, even as a master juggler. In this way, Michael is a great example of skill and patience in learning, especially relevant for the early stages of a learning journey.

Gravity

“A lot of people think juggling is a process of defying gravity, well I think it is a process of joining with forces, so what I like to do is to join with the space, juggling with gravity” CST practitioners work with the underlying natural forces in the body, often perceived as relationships to the ground and to space. For example, how weight is distributed and how the tensile structure of the body is held in space. Working ‘with’ the natural forces strengthens the body’s health and vitality.

Perception

“When you learn juggling, you’re learning to feel with your eyes and see with your hands.  If you spend enough time doing something, time slows down, your skill increases and your perceptions change” CST supports the integration of the senses, shifting perception from fragmentation to wholeness by becoming familiar with the nuances and subtleties of feelings and sensations. With practice, time slows down and these subtleties become more pronounced, improving awareness and the sense of vitality.

Stillness

“Balance, a constant movement to find an approach to stillness. Try to approach stillness with different parts of your body, to try to have a conversation with it. It’s dependent of rhythm and balance. As your skill increases you learn to find those tinier spaces and tinier movements” CST is a wonderful way to develop a relationship to stillness and is a key part of the approach. Feeling and appreciating the aliveness and vitality of moving into stillness has a profound effect on the body and mind.

Shapes

“I like learning about the beauty of the shapes and the stories in the shapes, as well as the fact that they are what protected the contents” Appreciating the beauty of the subtle shapes and gestures the body makes, is an important part of integrating our life story. The body can be shaped by experience so exploring the shapes and movements with safety helps acknowledge “the fact that the shapes are what protected our contents”.

The movie is 37 minutes long, if you just want to see some amazing juggling, I’d recommend my favourite part at 19:30 minutes, WOW!