Finding Ourselves Before Finding Ourselves in Nature

After class today I found myself thinking more about what it means to be ecological and movement.  I do think that to truly realize our interconnected-ness with the natural world around us we need to incorporate more movement into our study. Being still or stationary in nature has its value, but I think movement has more.  How often is anything in nature motionless? If it is not moving of its own accord then some other force is acting on it.  I also remeber watching something on television that mentioned that the human body is not made to sit for long periods of time hence the creation of office desks attached to tredmills.  So I think we need to incorporate more movement into our class time.  We generally seem to associate dialogue with stillness.

The second thing I want to think about is how can we hope to be interconnected with nature if we don't understand our own bodies?  One thing that was brought up between Anne and myself was the interconnections within our own bodies.  I sprained my ankle, but the reason I needed crutches was because I was having trouble with my achilles tendon.  The Achilles was really tight so I couldn't articulate through my ankle correctly and, come to find out, my Achilles was tight because my calf muscle was incredibly tight.  I don't think many people are able to develop a real awareness of themselves within their bodies and of their bodies within a space.  Due to this, I would suggest that we take a dance class as a class.

I think this would be beneficial because I am a dancer (ballet and modern) and something that is imperative to dancing are the two senses of awareness I mentioned above.  You have to be aware of the interconnections within your body in order to dance.  This is true in multiple styles of dance.  In modern, I have to be aware that the energy contained in my arm movements comes from the way I'm using my back.  In ballet, in order to maintain my balance I have to use my core, but also remember to rotate my glutes (may have spelled that wrong).  I also find that in dance styles that are less "technical", there is still a stress on being connected with ones body and this connection leading you closer to the rest of the world.  Examples of these would be African and Bellydance.  Additionally, from dancing I find that I have developed an increased awareness of the people and things around me. 

By finding a deeper sense of connection to ourselves, I think we will find a better connection to the world around us.