Monthly Archive for July, 2009

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKnSFdNUIxA]

This post is part of a project to share reflections about all 28 of the Core Elements of InterPlay.  For background information about InterPlay or this project, read What the Heck is InterPlay?!.

What’s a One-Hand Dance?

A one-hand dance is exactly that — a dance in which only the hand moves (well, I guess the arm moves, too; it’s attached to the hand, after all).

Experience it for yourself by watching the video (above).  I’m giving the instructions while Dorothy does a hand dance. Follow along if you like.

OK. So you dance with your hand, Gretchen.  Big deal. What’s the point!?

A one-hand dance is strangely satisfying. Totally relaxing. Plus, I’m frequently surprised by all the different ways I can move my hand. If there’s that much expression in one hand — just imagine how much there is in a whole body!

Here are some other good reasons:

Stress Relief

A hand dance is great for stress relief, too. When I’m feeling too overloaded, taking 30 seconds to shake, punch, and zoom my hand above my computer can work wonders. (In InterPlay we call this exformation).

Prayer*

One-hand dances are lovely for remembering people we care about. For example, lately I’ve been waking up with specific people on my mind. Right there in bed, I’ll do a one-hand dance on behalf of the person I was thinking about.  Usually it lasts under a minute, and I always feel more connected to that person after wards.

Discernment

But I’ve saved the BEST reason for LAST. The one-hand dance is a remarkable tool for discernment. I know, that sounds wierd. How do you discern something by dancing!? Here’s what the facilitation manual says on the subject:

Have each person think of a question they have for/about themselves. Then have them take the question directly out of their “focusers” and let it float out in the space. … Do a one-hand dance, then afterwards notice with a partner about anything that came up.

I’m constantly astounded by the ideas that “show up” when I move. When I was writing my thesis, I often used movement to “discern” what the next steps in my research should be. You can read more about that here.

But why does it work!? Why does movement sometimes free up our ability to think innovatively about something? Maybe because the brain stops thinking so hard. It’s often in this “letting go” place that inspiration strikes. More about this in a fabulous New Yorker article on eureka moments.

It might also because the movement of the hand distracts us from our inner chatter. Since we’re focusing on the movement of our arms, we’re less likely to spend time listening to all our judgments, worries, fantasies, etc etc etc. Freed up from our habitual thinking, were more likely to notice new ideas that pop into our minds.

I’m sure there are other reasons, too, related to the neuroscience of how movement changes our thought processes.   The body-mind connection is fascinating!

Now What?!

So, I’m curious: did you try doing a hand-dance along with the video? If so, what was it like for you?

Please don’t think you had to have a “aha!” moment in order to comment. All experiences are totally legit.

(If you want to comment, the link is actually up under the heading to the blog post; sorry it’s so hard to find!)

*P.S. I hemmed and hawed about whether to use the word “prayer” in this post. It’s such a loaded term in our culture, and I think some people are turned off by it. Here I refer to prayer as a way of sending good thoughts in the direction of people I care about. It does not have to be specifically religious or spiritual, although it can be.

This post is part of a project to share reflections about all 28 of the Core Elements of InterPlay.  For background information about InterPlay or this project, read What the Heck is InterPlay?!.

Ack! Get Me Out of My Head!

Before a recent InterPlay class, I was chatting with a participant.  He revealed that over the last few weeks, he’d had a hard time getting into the warm-up.  “I’ve been so in my head,” he said, “judging myself and my experience. Incapable of relaxing.”

His experience was so unpleasant that he would have walked out, only he didn’t have his car with him. Out of desperation, he discovered something quite profound:

I told myself to really let my body feel what we were doing, to see if I can drop down from my spinning mind into my still body.  It turns out that I really enjoyed the class after that.

How cool! He exercised his power to turn his own experience around — simply by inviting his body to notice what it was feeling.

I asked whether there was anything I, as leader,  could have done to help him to drop into his body sooner.  He thought for a moment, then added:

No, I don’t think so.  Or, even if there was, I like that I discovered it myself.  It felt satisfying to notice what was happening — all by myself! — and to make a choice that changed my experience for the better.

Sigh. I have to admit slight disappointment. My ego wants to be the Provider of Rich Experiences for others. But here my student showed me that he can take care of himself! His power to notice, and act on what he notices, is his biggest ally.

We Do Stuff…and Then Notice

This story is a lovely example of the InterPlay concept of “noticing.” My facilitator’s manual says that the simplest way to explain an InterPlay class is this:  “We do stuff and then notice.”

So, after we do an improvisational exercise — storytelling, for example — the teacher will probably ask,”What did you notice about that?”

I used to be really annoyed by this question. It’s so general!  You see, I’ve been trained in several conversation methods, most of which are highly structured, guiding the participant’s reflection intentionally through specific questions.  InterPlay’s broad “What did you notice” seemed loosey goosey to me at first.

But now I really get why it’s often useful to stay general. It allows people to tap into their own experience and say whatever is helpful for them.  Participants can enter the reflection at whatever place is comfortable to them.

Notice Your Own Experience

Whatever you notice is exactly right. Well, that’s not exactly true.  In InterPlay we do encourage participants to notice their own information — not anybody else’s.  This is actually quite challenging.

It’s so easy to watch someone leaping around the room ecstatically and say, “You were having a great time out there!” Even if I actually have no idea what that person was feeling while dancing.

Instead, staying connected to my own experience, “I noticed you did a lot of leaping, and I imagined that you were really enjoying yourself.” Or, “Watching you leap made me want to leap too.”

In the story  my student told me, he was so proud of himself because he was able to NOTICE some information about his experience: judging thoughts, the inability to relax, feeling really “top heavy.”

Once he NOTICED this information, he had the freedom to make a choice about it.

And that choice ended up changing his experience for the better.

Yay for noticing!

What do you notice?