Authentic Movement: a Larger Listening Intelligence

One of the occurrences I have come to trust implicitly over the years, is the event of the arrival of the Unexpected; the event that is so surprising, yet usually so True in the moment (even when unpleasant).  This may be why Authentic Movement (AM) is such a compelling practice.

Entering the Authentic Movement "space" in oneself is like walking through a door or gate of a temple/church, a garden, a dream.  The ordinary is not exactly left behind, it just becomes secondary, not the loudest voice in the room of oneself.  What we enter is a fuller intelligence that is elicited through a stronger connection to our breath, a quieter more sensitized energy field, a listening that isn't with the ears alone, a watching that isn't with the eyes at all. "Seeing", "Listening", "Being" "effort"  take on an entirely different dimension. We become more embodied in a larger intelligence.

In this space, we in a way, emulate a Pentecost of sorts.  The energy of a reconciling force descends (ascends?) upon our chaotic, fragmented self (inner disciples) and unifies the estranged others whom live (oddly enough as one) in us. As in the Bible's Pentecost story (The Story of Pentecost), all tongues (languages) are understood, welcomed and accepted. The subtle daily alienations, misunderstanding, separations--- they some how are transformed (by this third force, reconciliation). Or not.  The former is what might be expected as in the Leviticus XXV story.  The unexpected would be a unification of another sort.  Where the chaos might ensue (as usual) but walks almost in partnership with what is still, quiet, observational.  That experience of equally weighted, very different energies co-existing is unexpected, perhaps even miraculous.

In Authentic Movement, through an intentional open wonder and inquiry, the body becomes more relaxed and the sub-conscious enters from left field, which surprises she who entered the space in the first place.  Through a modicum of relaxation, something internally opens allowing an energy with all its material concreteness to enter (sort of like what happens in the REM state when we are sleeping) and play out in images and relationship to body parts, and others.  However you lean, however you define the experience, material arrives, often unexpectedly.  Not what we were anticipating. Even when we (in our ordinary self) think we aren't in expectation, the surprise often proves otherwise.

I think what keeps calling me back to this amazing, generous form is the wish to experience this fuller listening intelligence and the opportunity to experience what is my ordinary self at the same time.  My daily experiences of myself and the world around me are so fractured; this spacious intelligence in conjunction with the routine householder, unavailable.  Entering this church or garden gate and the reinforcement of spending more time there, gives me the taste of living a bigger life, a more intelligent life.  One that is not devoid of one quality or another, but inclusive.  It's not just a type of  listening done with one sense-- a more spacious and energetic capacity unveils itself.  The idea of an effort that doesn't exist in "trying" makes itself known.  Life becomes apparently bigger than that.  Anticipation and expectation become uninteresting and pointless.  The unexpected vibrates with another type of knowing; it's fresh, clean, mysterious and enlivening.
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