Moving Our Sacred Ground: the intersection of disciplines

 My long-held dream to collaborate with another teacher and another approach came true in August 2022!

My friend and mentor Val Campbell – and I – shared a week of teaching and moving at the Naramata Centre.  The weeks’ theme at Naramata was Reverence for Nature and our program ‘Moving our Sacred Ground’ was a source for research into the intersection of The Feldenkrais Method – and the Discipline of Authentic Movement.

We created a group 'container', from our shared intention, designed to invite a group of ‘movers’ of many and varied abilities, ages and experience - into the unknown and into their personal and sacred ground.

 Our research questions going into the week were:

-       Love and reverence for nature brings us closer to our longing for connection - How can we create the conditions for experiencing the sacred as our essential nature?

-       How can we become more sensitive to the natural world, and respond authentically and responsibly?

-       What becomes possible when we understand from a felt-sense, the necessity and power of support- from the ground up and out?

-       How can we learn to give and receive support with the intention of growing our personal and collective sovereignty?

-       What are the necessary tools and practices for building a shared ground, that brings us into an inclusive and wider community?

 Each day we spent with our group of 14 participants was a deep and satisfying dive into both practices. We witnessed everyone’s way of moving, seeing, listening and speaking evolve.

But where and how did they intersect?!

 My rapport with Val was essential to trusting this process, the practices and the participants.  It became easier each day to pull threads from her teaching into mine, which gave me the feeling that the Teaching Gods were smiling!. The days took on a quality of immediacy and improvisation and flow.   The ease with which people shared their experiences of both approaches each day was confirming our theories going into the week. There were moments of great tenderness, openness and unexpected discoveries of movement possibilities.

There were games, there was laughter, and a shared experience of the group as an unexpected source of safety, connection and learning.