For the first session back after the Winter break, I was late and missed the entire warm up. Throughout the workshop I tried to warm up different parts of my body whilst awaiting instruction or if I had completed an exercise. However, by not doing it properly (and possibly because of the six week break) I found a lot of the movement very limited, unnatural and painful now and then.
The point at which I joined the session was when everyone was gathered around to look at a detailed diagram which showed the spine of a human is constructed and all of the different features. This helped me to understand more clearly why our bodies are able and more comfortable moving in certain ways, and why some movements are beyond our abilities. We explored the movement within our own spines in pairs, one person would choose to lead the other either by placing their hand on the head or tail bone and encouraging the other to move using that part of their body. I found it difficult to allow part of my spine to lead my movements initially, partly because of the missed warm up, and partly because I am so used to using other parts of my body leading my movements (Chest). After watching my partner move according to my hand positions, I found it slightly easier to perform this task.
After this we worked individually to explore our own spines, we used the spine in order to move in different directions through the space. We made our movements bigger as we moved more and more, and also tried to vary moments where we led with either the head or the tail. I discovered during this that I am more comfortable leading with my head, and so need to work on my tail leading some more of the movements. We then moved from one end of the room to the other, using our spines upon entering the space as the main basis of the movement. As a few people entered the space, we naturally began to react to one another's presence within the space, we created dialogue between us using only our bodies. This was a really interesting exercise, the amount of movements my spine can perform surprised me, I always imagined it to be something that didn't really move and was used for support only. This was supported by the diagram showing all of the individual vertebrae within my spine.
During the week following this session I have noticed some pain in my back, I am unsure whether it's because I missed the warm up, or because of how much of the workshop was spent focusing on the spine, or because it had been so long since I had taken part in one of the workshops. Whatever the case, I hope my body is able to cope a bit better with whatever comes up next week.
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