Peer Facillitation, what I learnt from others

Once I had delivered my session I took part in 3 other peer sessions. Here are my thoughts, and what I learnt from my peers explorations.

Hannah:
Hannah's curiosity came from the creature the Starfish. She handed us an image of a starfish that she found interesting. Here is the image:

 

This image shows the clear connection between the centre of the starfish and the 5 limbs that expand into space. To me this image Is clear for me to work with and I liked how Hannah gave it us before we did any exploration as it gave me context and I had a clear image in my mind that I could relate to and go back to. The main exploration came through a hands on exercise moving into solo work. The hands on explored only one side of the body in the NRP. This linked with Feldenkrais as often we would focus on just one side. Although when I started moving with the influence of the hands on it felt strange, I enjoyed this feeling. Usually id like to even up with the other side but this time I enjoyed the feeling of unevenness in my body. I then began to think that this was a puzzle of how to move with just the influence of one side. I would normally involve both sides when exploring with the NRP and It was fun to try and control my body exploring through just one side.

 

I also made a note of witnessing. I enjoyed witnessing my partner trying to figure out this puzzle and what it meant to them and how to try and find solutions. I could also see a physical difference on one side of the body once I had gave the hands on, the side I worked on was much longer and felt that the limbs were embracing the space around, whereas on the other side, it looked shorter and somehow not connected to my partners centre.

 

I enjoyed Hannah's exploration and it made me question how else the NRP can be applied to Feldenkrias. I intend to explore this in my Feldenkrais classes.

 

 

 

 

Beth:

 

Beth's exploration involved the Contralateral pattern and the use of opposition. The exploration consisted of us moving around the space, firstly walking in different directions, then eventually building up to moving with opposition in more complex ways with the body. The SWING AND MOTION of the oppositional walking is something we do in everyday life but its only when we are consciously think about it do we realise how much goes on in the body. I also thought that the more I thought about it the more I actually couldn't walk normally. I overthought the process, which I enjoyed.

 

I also thought the way Beth layered in the information was a great way for my body and mind to establish this oppositional. Nothing was missed out, so the process of getting to moving in opposition in more complex was smooth which enabled me to experiment more.

 

 

The information and instruction given opened up many possibilities for my understanding and movement. When walking I thought why we walk in opposition and how the arms swing. I questioned what would happen if we didn't use the arms? could we walk more easily? difficultly?

 

One thing that I did notice and it maybe took me longer to understand was the diagonals used in opposition. This began to blur a little the more complex it got, This maybe because we took each step at a time.

 

Chelsea:

Chelsea began by handing out this information about her are of interest.

 

 

 

Chelsea is also interested in the starfish and the NRP. However she is also interested in movement and feedback. She highlighted that our first experiences of feedback are In-Utero. I hadn't thought about this before and this maybe because that as humans we can't remember that far back of our creation. This is something that I find really interesting. The image Chelsea also showed us of the starfish on the stomach also gave me a chance to imagine this and how our centres are like a starfish's centre. To me this is a clear image which I thought Chelsea put across well.

 

Overall the whole facilitation group was a really enjoyable experience. I liked that we all had different interests and I learnt a lot. However because it was so intense and a lot of information was given both to the mind and the body I did feel very aware of my surroundings and somehow sensitive towards the surroundings. Having said this I embraced that feeling into the rest of my day.