click here for Lalu's event calendar


INTRODUCTION

Axis movement defines safe anatomical parameters, safe sources of acceleration / deceleration, safe transfers of energy and momentum via external horizontal plane translation, rotation, rising/falling, twisting/stretching, and undulation/resonance. The practice of learning to move safely becomes a vehicle for transformation of relationship with the body.

I’ve reached a point in relation with my own body where I am unwilling consciously to participate in “off-axis” or “other than axis” movement. This does not mean that I am perfect or striving for perfection. Rather, I make mistakes all the time. I sometimes transfer energies inefficiently when part of my body is in an unhelpful holding pattern. I sometimes go outside the natural range of motion

of the main articulate joints when excited or when fearful that I won’t get it unless I push harder. I sometimes get overwhelmed learning a new motif and experience an overall blockage in my body and memory in places that are usually available.

Yet still I look at my movement and ask “Am I creating my own safety?”

Yes.

Are these movement principles part of an ongoing lifelong process? Yes. If I don’t do it for myself first, no one will be there for me in support. I love to move, I need to move with safety.

Can I support the immediate people around me whom I move with to find the same “Yes” for themselves? Yes, to that as well.

At this point, just about anything I write is superfluous and unnecessary to understand the core of where I am moving from and ethic as a teacher. But, if you would like read some more, you can be my guest.

ON BEING AN EXAMPLE

Without my own practice of being an example “all the rest falls through the cracks.” There is nothing without this discipline; rather axis principles would become an esoteric philosophical argument for theoretical change. If I’m not an example, I’d just be sharing an emulation, not the direct bodily experience from person to person. When I am ready as a teacher, then the students will come.

In contrast, I’ll reference a failure with the original Pilates movement that translated into the calisthenics during the 1930-40’s America. Films were made, books printed, of some (arguably) reasonable strengthening/stretching techniques, yet, physical education teachers in the USA were not a living example of the Pilates in action. The reform morphed into a sad downward spiral, the one my generation was given in school called “physical education.” As a competitive swimmer, I recall during high school seeing a springboard diver doing what I now know is a Pilates workout, and being in awe of what this young man could do with his body compared to all other divers whom I’d ever seen. What a sinking feeling I recall having when it hit me that this “secret information” was unknown to all of the athletic circles that I relied upon. I wanted a physically powerful, flexible, and responsive body like his but lived in a world where: there is the weight room, there is the track, there is the pool, and there is the gym. There were no examples of movement principles available to me, only other students whom I could mimic.

Being an example of the principles in motion and encouraging my students to be also, I do have great hopes of learning from the lessons of previous movement reforms: a “surface coat” mime will only approximate and not transform.

ON TEACHING / TRAINING SAFETY

As Frey Faust says regarding the current state of movement affairs: “(it is) a wonder that anyone dances at all.” Young men and women who move without regard for safety being led by someone who is relying on movement information that is partly or wholly unsafe. Is there any real progress without beginning with safety? I think not, and have witnessed the direct bodily experience of it when I have moved unsafely.

Every non-functional pattern that I’ve had in my body was learned consciously or unconsciously in order to increase safety or at least provide the illusion of its increase. The result is armoring, hardening, and stiffening of the MAU’s with excessive tension within the proximal motors. To continue the movement practice or athletic activity requires excessive tensions and usage of distal activation as the limbs try to throw around or push the now locked-up pelvis/torso/head. Chronic patterns like these lead to damage of the body’s “drive train” load bearing joints, and to muscular injury due to overuse.

Creating a workshop container to gently support movers who each repeatedly return to the question “Am I moving safely?” Dissolving unsafe movement patterns with low-dynamic repeated usage of Axis principles supports the melting and releasing of these non-functional patterns. Creating motifs that are worthy of the students trust requires knowledge and experience of the natural flow of energies/momentums that can occur with safe usage of muscular and skeletal anatomy.

How far dynamically can we take the body within this safe container? First to my own ‘turning point.’ Then onto places only our imagination knows; where necessary tensions with proper alignments channel energies spiraling axially outward. How ordinary and precious each step of walking truly is.

It is no accident that I am drawn towards teaching. The backdrop of service provides me a place to work where I continue to practice tolerance for myself and hold space for students with whatever comes up in class. I also get to fill up on the rewards of sharing success with students and knowing that I’ve supported someone else along their own way.

ON THE C- STAR

Lying on the floor is the metaphor of “nowhere to fall, always being caught by the arms of the earth.” In retrospect, it is natural that the work for me began here and continues to make progress here. For each personal advance at low height, standing, or in flight, the safety from lessons learned on the floor with the Sea Star prevail. Transitions between levels require coordinated landing pad usage for reception or propulsion to take place. Arms and legs need to be educated so that they are fully available (not given away) to support and provide safety for the pelvis/torso/head. Furthermore, the arms and legs need to be loved for just being themselves with geometries that safely make use the acetabulum and shoulder connections. Adding speed/dynamic to the Sea Star opens the gateway for support and safety throughout the dynamic range of full body motion. The Sea Star starts as the beginners’ lesson and continues as a touchstone for body alchemy.

ON WALKING

The transformative power of walking: The shape of my walking forms my dance and other dynamic movement. I may dance in performance or for fun for many years. The rest of time will be for walking. How can any frequent dance class or activity compare to the influence of 15,000+ steps we all take each day when active?

The best way to be of support of others going through personal transformation is to be active in my own. Walking shines light on holding patterns, which lead to the release and flow of stuck emotional energies. Being in the middle of my own process here while leading a movement class gives me the opportunity to support safe movements and release held patterns in others.

This letter would not be complete without a mention of how I have watched myself for many years actively “building a bridge between the arts and science.” Whatever the gods have in mind, who am I to question? Rather, I prefer to respond by finding inclusion of all parts of me in this process and rolling with this opportunity towards my own integration.

ON COLLABORATION

Time goes on and community energies build that draw me together with other movers to create something to share publicly. This could be a performance, joint research, or a written paper, film, or other media. I enjoy these opportunities when they come up and as an instructor or colleague, I am open to them as part of my overall practice. The next year of my life will focus all of my work on movement and the mathematics of the femur – acetabulum connection. I would like to watch the energy build from these understandings and use this momentum to share the information broadly.

Quoting Frey Faust again, “Why is it that older forms are closer models of respecting the natural movement, and work with anatomical evolution to produce efficient and non-destructive movement patterns?” Why do cultural movement norms “attempt to push the body into geometrical shapes that have nothing to do with the oblique joint interfaces and spiral pathways described by bones and muscles.” The change that happened over time in this direction happened one person at a time. Redirection works the same way.

with sincere thanks and blessings,
Lalu