Pathways: Reflection for week 5

I am finding it most difficult to weave together the meditation stuff, movements, and all of the sophisticated awarenesses I've learned in the past 2 years into something truly cohesive, rather than four separate parts with some discussion between each one.

This week I worked with a guy that does the hard labor stuff with me as well as directing modern opera (his masters is in operatic singing) - and was kind of dumbfounded by his lack of movement when I offered it. There is definitely no perfect recipe for dialogue, and like a carpenter, he was much more interested in breaking down movements together, with me along side him, puzzling out how different ideas of yoga speak might be inhibiting the very movements they asked us to exhibit. While he was all about the ideas I was introducing, I was not so happy with how disjointed our practice was, especially as he so sweetly offered himself up to me as a test subject. There was a concreteness he needed to feel safe to explore in front of me, and I suppose having that to offer in my tool kit is something I can't keep avoiding.

For my lack of grace, I am heartened by a text he sent me later about a yoga class he attended later that same day - we had spent a fair amount of time exploring/discussing the upper limbs and scapula, and it felt noticeably different, and he couldn't wait to work with me again.

He mentioned having felt container-less right after our session, and I hear in that, a certain amount of not being held, so I am thinking about different ways to hold people, and different kinds of pathways in.