Engaged Spirituality

Refinements can be the staff of life, a new way of breathing new energy into a movement. For me, it was re-visiting Pulling Taffy at Carmen Brocklehurst’s spring retreat in Albuquerque. Three directions changed my flow: Beginning with the arms fully extended over each other (so the taffy is a “full pull”) and sinking, Carmen beckoned us: As your weight shifts, let the shift bring the arms apart; the arms separate at waist level; the anchor hand slides down by the side of the leg, for stability and to fully complete the move. (The hips slightly swiveled to right at the end.) This simple refinement smoothed out my movement and kept my body lower when later executing Perpetual Motion. We end up better balanced after each sequence of pulling – to lay down the heel for the next move. And the shift comes onto a softened knee.

Refinements properly recorded and repeated are the heart of substantive improvement. At our Portland Rose Garden practices, surrounded by the beauty of the Shakespeare Garden, we experience softness all around us, and we experiment with one new refinement per practice. More than a few students have commented on the value of beginning each practice this way.

Practices are held on the first and third Saturdays in the Rose Garden; Steve Marsh leads a practice on the second Saturday morning in the Lan Su Chinese Gardens; and on the fourth Saturday, he facilitates a practice in the garden or basement of the Overlook House, a spiritual community center in North Portland. Steve, Marcella Box and I jointly urge students to come to these practices to add “learning stretch” and flow to their movements. A natural environment of trees, hedges and rocks allow the practitioner to focus on her (or his) moves without interruption.

Every other year we host a special event, lead by Antonia, Sandy or Pam, and facilitated by Roberta and John Taggart, two exceptionally gifted senior teachers. Folks often attend from western and eastern Washington (including Linda Robinson, Pat Moseley and Laurie Thomas). All three teachers are engaged in spreading the joy and developing new teachers, thus widening our circle.