Embodiment Practice: Continuum Movement

When I was a child, I used to enjoy making random sounds and noises. I liked noticing the way my body felt when I would hum. I liked noticing the way the sounds would change if I simply moved my tongue to a different position or held my mouth and lips in a different way. It was a non-goal-oriented "scientific" play: experiments with sound and vibration with no hypotheses and no conclusions, just curiosity and a sense of fun.

To be honest, I still experiment with the way my body reacts to sound. And in fact, I have discovered that other people do, as well. Continuum Movement is an awareness and embodiment practice that uses sounds, breath, deep, silent listening, and micro-movements as a way to explore the body, to play, to meditate, to un-label, and to dissolve old movement patterns. They key premise is the interaction between sound and the fluid in the body--an idea which translates well into the practice whether you take this premise literally or metaphorically. For me, personally, Continuum is one of my most important spiritual practices, one of the key fuels that ignites my sense of mystery, creativity, and curiosity. And it is a whole lot of fun.

Writing about Continuum Movement is difficult for me because so much of what happens for me at my Continuum classes can't easily be translated into words. If an outside observer came to watch, she would see a bunch of people sitting, lying, crouching, standing, bending, and rolling on the ground making strange-looking faces, funny noises, and bizarre movements. Really, we look kind of odd. Or we look incredibly primal, beautiful, and free, depending on your perspective.

What I love about doing Continuum Movement is that it gives me the opportunity to spend a large chunk of time every week simply exploring my internal landscape. I get to ask the question, "What happens if...?" What happens if I follow my internal impulses and move the way my body calls to be moved? What if I give myself permission to move in a new way or to think of myself in a different way or to make a new kind of sound?

Because of the amount of time I spend focusing on my body and my senses in Continuum Movement, it is inherently self-referentially erotic, at some times more so than others. I have had spontaneous bursts of energy (i.e. orgasms!) that have originated from almost any and every place in my body. Orgasms are never the goal, and "sex" is never the intent, but, as with any awareness and embodiment practice, sometimes fabulously juicy, sexy energy spontaneously arises, moves through me, then transforms, grows or dissipates as spontaneously and freely as it arose. And, as with sex or any meditation, sometimes not much seems to "happen" at all-- it can, at times, feel quite ordinary and uneventful, even awkward, which brings just as many opportunities for self-discovery as the times that feel profound and earth-shattering.

If you are in the Triangle Area of North Carolina, you happen to be in close proximity to two fabulous Continuum teachers, Rebecca Lawson and Sabine Mead. In fact, Rebecca is teaching a workshop this weekend (scroll down) geared toward folks who are new to Continuum but also appropriate for those with more experience, as well. And in April, Sabine will be offering a Continuum workshop on Women, Eros and Pleasure! If you are not in my neck of the woods, you can find a teacher elsewhere in the country here.

I leave you with the words of my Continuum teacher, "Be the movement you are, not the movement you do."

Photo by Jay Sekora