wave formation exercise

hi all,


sorry it took me some time to transcribe my ritual notes. . . i may make an audio recording if that's something people are interested in or helpful. 


xchip


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movement/drawing exercise - wave formation


have nearby: pencil and paper, water, 36 sq. ft of ground/floor


- face a westward wall

- find a comfortable standing position

- feel gravity pool in your traps

- the weight of your pelvic floor

- sense the space behind you

- sense the space in front of you

- sense the space above your head_ up into space

- turn your head from side to side

- bend your knees a bit 

- listen to your breath

- find the balls of your feet 

- press your toes into the floor

- release your toes

- let your tail bone fall

- feel your spine extend

- focus your sense of gravity in the balls of your feet

- bend your knees a fews times

- lets your arms hang

- find your balance 

- draw your heels off the ground slightly

- let your heels down 

- draw them up

- let them down 

- draw them up 

- let them down 

- draw them up 

- let them down

- find balance 

- gradually accelerate and minimize the movement into a shake

- initiate from the heel not the knee 

- keep your shoulders back and arms released 

- let any sounds emit _ I like low tones

- listen to and feel air vibration/expulsion

- find a rhythm and comfortable speed

- let gravity affirm balance as fluid

- rest as needed

- open space between your shoulders

- breath

- gradually slow down

- come to rest standing

- let the resonance linger

- feel your breath return to an even pace

- breath into what ever part of your body asks for further release

- wait for your eyes to focus on their own

- slowly lay down

- close your eyes

- imagine being at the ocean

- nothing but see in front of you

- your feet on the shore

- look at the horizon

- bring your focus to the surface of the water

- observe the patterns of the waves

- are they high and crashing or low and lapping?

- follow their gestures and patterns

- draw your eyes to the shoreline 

- draw your eyes up into yourself

- find the water in your body

- 60% of you is also at the whim of the moon

- what is the wave structure of your body?

- what kind of tidal pattern are you in right now?

- what is the speed, force, and curve of your arc?

- slowly get up into that wave formation

- find a fluid motion

- get to know that score

- play with speed in relation to gravity and flow

- ebb if you need to

- ride the wave for 3 minutes

- get to know the shape 

- find holding patterns 

- notice drifting into adjacent cycles 

- without judgment, but as a choice

- after 3 minutes slow down

- let yourself pool onto the ground

- lay on your back

- imagine you are floating on the ocean now

- water floating on water

- take in the sun 

- take a rest

- when you are ready bring yourself up enough to 

- take up pencil and paper and start to draw the shape of your wave_ I like to avert my eyes and let the gesture of my wrist guide the drawing, 

- continue the shape of your wave until it becomes a pattern

- let your hand find a rhythm in that gesture

- the line can loop

- if you watch your hand try not to impose intellectual structure onto your drawing

- end the pattern when you feel ready 

- or reach the edge of the page.


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Comments

  1. Ethan PhilbrickOctober 13, 2022 at 3:00 PM

    ooooo love this, both as an instruction score and as a drawing. reallllly love the drawing. i'd love to see a whole bunch of these drawings next to each other -- the accumulation of this practice.

    and these questions are so wonderful:

    what is the wave structure of your body?
    what kind of tidal pattern are you in right now?
    what is the speed, force, and curve of your arc?

    i was curious about the one emergence of an "i" in the score:
    I like low tones

    it made me curious about there being a companion text (or series of texts) to this score that are in the first person, articulations of the "i," a writing in response to the questions i called out above...

    ReplyDelete
  2. RoOctober 16, 2022 at 7:55 PM

    The instructions starting with specified cardinal direction has a wonderful resonance that deepens as the instructions go on. I am also curious about this "I" and how it relates to you. It establishes a relationship that suggests this practice does not occur in isolation.

    ReplyDelete

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