A Moving Journal

Ongoing Expressions of Authentic Movement

Contents Into the Fire by Marlene O'Connor Authentic Movement and Embodied Consciousness by Bonnie Morrissey Breathing in the Field by Marcia Plevin Psolodrama by Joel Gluck Magically Human by Fiona Brandon Classifieds   To receive the entire issue, go to Subscriptions . Here are some excerpts:

Excerpted from Into the Fire by Marlene O'Connor Before I began practicing Authentic Movement my drawings and paintings originated from two different impulses: one was looking at the world and drawing from what I saw; the other was to have an idea in my mind that I would then try to make appear on the paper. But this would not always work. Things would flatten out and be stiff-looking. After studying Authentic Movement, there was a change in my artwork. In the process of moving I would go through feelings, memories, body sensations; and sometimes, toward the end of all that, a very specific image would appear. All day long or all week long it would keep re-appearing in my mind, insistently, until I finally sat down and drew. It would be dimensional and alive looking; and even though it seemed to be coming from inside my head, it was also coming from out of my body. In the early years, these were all “healing” images, directly connected to childhood abuse and other recovery issues. I no longer try to draw from just my mind. If I am working on a piece and I feel I need some help with it, I enter an Authentic Movement session and float that desire for help, and sometimes, as my body moves, the piece will open up and reveal itself in a new way. Wind Tree Woman by Marlene O'Connor		Excerpted from Authentic Movement and Embodied Consciousness by Bonnie Morrissey Our Western culture has lost touch with its roots; its own animals, plants, landscape; its own body. As members of Western culture, we can take responsibility to modify our detached, self-reflective modes of consciousness before we destroy the animals, the plants, the landscape; the earth “body” that supports us, and on which we depend. We can begin by becoming aware of our own bodies and the consciousness within them. Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, in which embodied consciousness is seen to participate directly with the natural landscape, encourages us to turn our senses back to the phenomena themselves. Authentic Movement, in which an embodied mind and a conscious body interact, offers a vehicle through which we may retain our self-reflective awareness, while bringing it back full circle to its earthy immanence, its numinous roots. . . We can bring these practices into the world in many ways.   Excerpted from Psolodrama by Joel Gluck Psolodrama has been at the heart of my own personal journey the last few years. It has been both an organic, inner process as well as a powerful outlet for creative and emotional self-expression during some of the most difficult passages in my life. As someone who has never found traditional forms of psychotherapy completely satisfying, discovering psolodrama was for me like hitting upon a fulfilling form of self-therapy. As I have begun to share psolodrama with others, one-to-one as a drama therapist, as well as in group workshops, I have found that it helps clients and participants open to their inner wisdom and to a new sense of themselves. Like Authentic Movement, psolodrama gets people out of their heads and into their bodies, where new insights can arise. The addition of role and speech can help unlock pent-up emotions, as well as root new insights in memorable language and imagery. As a form of active imagination, psolodrama allows participants to open to unconscious material, discover its drama, and play it out.
Excerpted from Magically Human by Fiona Brandon The initiation process of becoming a therapist is a fierce birthing. My experience of this rite of passage has required, and continues to insist, that my unconscious and my conscious work in tandem to fire, transform, and temper my psyche. To navigate this experience, I am working with images engendered through the Authentic Movement of my body. The spontaneous rising of images from my unconscious through the contortions, flutterings, stampings, swoopings, and stillness of my body have enabled me to digest and to create some meaning out of the intense affect associated with this awesome trial. The gifts of these movement images are numerous, as they are constantly evoking and connecting me to my creative spirit during a time of great newness, mystery, and uncertainty. They are teacher-guides that direct and emphasize the healing inherent in non-directive movement and the use of fantasy and imagination. By opening space to these movement images, my rite of passage to becoming a therapist feels less overwhelming and disruptive because through the movement images I am able to engage with the healing weave of energies between my unconscious and my conscious. My process of working with images begins with non-directive movement. I listen to my body and wait for a movement to come. I do not direct my body in a certain direction or pose. Instead, it is my body that leads. I trust that she will show me what she needs to communicate and express. Mary Starks Whitehouse, a pioneer of Authentic Movement, explained, “[T]he body does not lie. We are like our movements, for the movement is ourselves living: vital and experiencing or tense and restricted, spontaneous and flowing or controlled and inhibited.” (Pallaro, p. 35) I feel that my body is like a trusted dowsing rod that locates and embodies images in my unconscious so that I can give them conscious attention.. . . The more I work imaginally with myself, the more I will be able to work imaginally with my clients. Mary Whitehouse made this astute observation: “The process of getting into your own depths is the process that makes you able to accompany someone else into their depths. And they are not going there unless you’ve been there.” I have learned from my own experience with images that you cannot force an image to come. And when an image does rise from the unconscious, it is necessary to give it room to breathe. With my clients, I will be sure to remind them that they do not need to know what the image means, that the meaning will be revealed over time. . . I will emphasize the importance of letting the image tell its story instead of being destroyed by the ego’s need for instant meaning gratification.		Mad Crone by Fiona Brandon

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