Final Project FFTT - Karen Lehman
SUMMARY OF PROJECT
My final project is being submitted entirely in written format, due to the need to maintain the confidentiality of the group participants. I was excited to incorporate what we learned in FFTT into my work as a Clinical Psychologist with a specialty in trauma. On March 2, 2022, I had the opportunity to lead 2 groups of survivors of interpersonal violence in a Floor Flow workshop over zoom. Read below to find out how I planned and executed this project, the particular challenges involved, the wondrous discoveries, as well as some verbal and written feedback from the live/virtual participants. I will incorporate my responses to Marlo’s 5 process/reflection questions into this summary, too.
“Why did I choose this project?” When Marlo first mentioned the Final Project, my immediate thought was to use FF for trauma healing, as I have personally found these floor explorations to be extremely therapeutic. Throughout the FFTT program, whenever I attended a live or recorded session, or practiced on my own, I immediately experienced a sense of “ahhhhhhh” and release upon laying on the floor and gently moving. I was eager to share this experience with others!
In my traditional therapy practice I use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness for trauma work, but lately have been incorporating body movement as an essential aspect of healing. I often observe clients’ bodies moving into a “frozen” or immobile state when fear and anxiety get activated. Playing with simple body movements and breath, particularly during CoVid when many people are moving through spaces less frequently, has been quite helpful for moving emotions through the body, and helping people get “unstuck”. I have been doing individual therapy entirely over Zoom since March of 2020, and inviting clients to move their bodies in their own home environments during sessions has been a powerful way for them to build new habits. What if I took these movement practices a step further and incorporated a
full-blown Floor Flow experience into a therapeutic setting?
Fortunately, I had a potential opportunity to try Floor Flow within an existing community.
A little background to explain my final project… I have been involved as a provider and advisor for a student-run organization at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) since 2019, called the "Thriving and Not just Surviving Initiative" which seeks to provide alternative methods of healing body and mind for students who have experienced interpersonal violence. Thriving gives students a 7 week group experience, where they get to experience numerous healing modalities with a different provider each week. Pre-Covid, during their first quarter I offered a Pole Dance in-person workshop, which focused on sensual embodiment, self-trust, and breath while moving around the pole. This was a huge hit!!! The students loved the opportunity to step outside of their comfort zones, and move their bodies in new ways in a safe space.
When the CoVid lockdowns began, this program eventually switched to the virtual Zoom platform. I have been invited back as a provider once per academic quarter, and offered various workshops via zoom. I've had to get creative, but found modalities to help participants tune into their breath and bodies by moving on chairs and the floor. In past workshops, I have started with guided, freeform movements to warm up and focus inward, but then transitioned to teaching some “sensual” choreography. But, teaching even simple choreography over Zoom proved to be quite challenging! 1) technology issues with internet connectivity, syncing of voice and music for specific choreography, etc., 2) “space” issues for students - silly me once thought that everyone would have access to a chair, but that is not always the case! Even having floor space can be challenging for college students with roommates and small rooms, 3) videos turned off - in the early stages of the pandemic, people tended to have their videos turned on, but over the past 2 years, with “zoom fatigue” people tend to turn their cameras off more frequently for meetings and classes (I do too!). 4) The 4th constraint is that as the outside provider I enter the group without any background info on the participants. The student group leaders always lead a
check-in and wrap up, in which I’m not involved. I step in with zero info, other than how many members might show up, and quite often never see their faces or spaces at all. The Thriving Initiative has always saved my workshop for the finale, or last of their 7 week series, due to high ratings from past participants. This timing is great, because the members are more comfortable with the process and have a sense of group cohesion already - just not with me!
All of the above constraints made teaching choreo online unrealistic. But the participants reported that they enjoyed the free-form guided warm-ups…
So…. as I moved through the FFTT personally, I realized that the FF experience could be so accessible and healing, even in one session!
“What do you think your project offers the participant?” Freedom. Self-trust. Joy. Playful exploration. Opening of the body. An opportunity to be present and feel safe in one’s body. An opportunity to find ease and comfort in moving one's body. A connection to one’s breath in the present moment. And an opportunity to return to the floor anytime. Without going into great detail, many of these states and experiences can be lost as a result of trauma and interpersonal violence. Bypassing our thoughts and beliefs, and just guiding the body through new movement patterns can be a way of accessing these states and experiences in a way that feels empowering.
What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training and teaching? First of all, the preparation stage helped me tune in to the multi-layered teachings Marlo provided at a deeper level. There is so much detailed information in the FFTT program, that you cannot possibly absorb it all at once. Going back to review has been immensely clarifying and helpful. It was actually a blessing for me to know that the most important thing as a teacher was to keep this workshop CLEAR and SIMPLE.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I had the opportunity to do this TWICE in the same night. The first group had 19 undergraduates and the second group had 9 graduate students.
Here was the plan I created for the course, and was actually able to follow it:
1. Prep before the session:
a. Technology - with Zoom, I used a bluetooth microphone, and I pre-tested everything, music, cameras, etc. I asked the group leaders to make me a co host so that I could “share computer sound” - these 2 variables provide optimal integration of music and voice.
b. I asked the group leaders to tell the participants they’d be most comfortable in layered clothing, including socks, and to clear as much floor space as they could (enough where their bodies could lay flat, and hopefully “log roll” once or twice). I knew there were a lot of potential constraints for the participants, and I needed to keep the “asks” quite simple. But I asked myself, how would they be most comfortable? The group leaders already ensure that participants are in a private space for their weekly meetings
c. Planning a simple outline - I had approximately 50-55 minutes per session. I wanted to have a 3-5 minute introduction for myself and what we would do; and also 5-8 minutes at the end for transitioning out of the movement, and gathering optional feedback
d. Creating a playlist on spotify
2. During the session - Introduction - I introduced myself and my background, and very briefly explained what we would be doing, and the reasoning behind it.
3. A warm up - with the goal being to create a sense of safety, comfort and focusing into the present moment. Having them get used to my speaking and guidance in a less demanding way - i.e. beginning with walking may initially feel less strange than rolling on the floor!
a. Begin upright, walking around their spaces
b. 1 at a time, tune into each of your 5 senses… name 4 colors you see, touch 3 different textures, name 2 things that you hear, go up and smell 2 different smells… this is a great method for moving away from thoughts, and more into body sensations and the present moment
c. Brought attention to breath
d. Brought awareness to feet (points of contact)
e. Introduced variables of speed while walking - slow, medium, fast - noticing breath, tension and ease, walking backwards as a way of introducing something out of the ordinary
4. Eased them down to the floor - explored how to find the floor, used some structure but allowed some freedom to explore the options; emphasized there is no “right or wrong” method to get to the floor - this was a 1st opportunity to explore options and self trust
5. Led them through a pandiculation movement exercise - because this was probably my favorite thing in FFTT! - I also introduced the concept of letting go of the familiar at this point; I loved Marlo’s explanation of animals pandiculating in nature… I didn’t want to stop the flow and show videos, so I had them visualize cats and dogs pandiculating and had them imagine other animals performing pandiculation, ones they had not seen
before - so this became an opportunity to tune in to imagination, again in a non-threatening way
6. I initiated a simple 3-part loop - I actually had gone back and reviewed the 1st loop Marlo taught us, and basically used that, as well as the way she clearly introduced it to us. This felt like 3 body positions that would be accessible to nearly everyone.
a. 3 part loop - 1-Hands and Knees; 2-seated; 3-on belly
b. Introduced each element on its own - finding a balance between structure and the freedom to explore (this is challenging when you cannot see the participants, so I decided to err on the side of clarity/structure during the introduction of each element)
c. In each of the 3 movement introductions, I introduced the variables of rocking, shaking, gliding, contracting/releasing - as optional invitations “what would it be like if you…” -
d. Brought attention to: breath, points of contact to floor, shifting weight
e. Introduced the idea of looping between these positions. The concepts of playful freedom and exploration, “there is no right or wrong way to do this”, finding movements that feel “pleasurable and joyful”; “how could you get from hands and knees to your belly?”
f. Since I could not see participants during the looping, I put in reminders to find ways to move slowly, with attention to the sensations and breath
g. After explaining the positions and introducing the loop concept, I told the participants, “I’m going to play a song, that is just about 3 minutes, and you have the opportunity to explore moving through these 3 positions, however you want”. Throughout the song, I’d make suggestions again about tuning into rocking, circling, gliding, reaching, breathing, sensing POC…
h. I was mindful to pause, and not offer too much!
7. As the song and exploration ended, I invited participants to take a moment to complete their explorations, and to then lay on the floor in whatever way felt comfortable and supported. I told them we would just rest and breathe for a moment.
8. I then suggested they rise up if and when they felt ready, and “join me up at their screens”.
9. I thanked them for inviting me to lead them, and said I was curious about their experiences if they felt comfortable sharing (Marlo had suggested that I could ask for feedback if appropriate). I made sure to allow about 5 minutes for this time.
Here is the solicited feedback that I received (again this was solicited and written down by me at the end of each of the 2 workshops to me while I was present. People are unlikely to share negative feedback to someone in the moment, so unsurprisingly it was all positive; yet it felt quite open and authentic). Some people turned on their cameras and spoke through their videos (which was lovely to see faces!), some spoke with their videos turned off, and some typed their comments in the chat:
● “I felt so relaxed and loose”
● “I’ve never felt so confident”
● “I felt empowered and trusting”
● “Relaxed and free”
● “That was super beneficial”
● “I felt so much freedom”
● “Freedom in my body”
● “I relaxed a lot”
● “This was so helpful cus it’s the week before finals and my stress is all gone”
● “I had no thoughts, they disappeared”
● “I gave myself permission to connect with my body in a way I’ve never done before”
● “I love it”
● “I feel so good”
Those are just some of the comments, but the words “relaxed, free, empowered” appeared in the chat quite a bit.
What felt good about this project? - Interestingly, what felt good for me was also related to the goals I had for the participants. 1) I felt a lot of self-trust! I felt prepared and ready. Marlo has really given us the tools to lead Floor Flow experiences. Trusting myself and trusting the importance of keeping things simple and clear. 2) It also felt good to be totally present and in the moment while leading this – and it was actually super essential when in both workshops I had no visual feedback on how the participants were doing. I had to tune in deeply to my own breath and my own experience, which made this a deep process for me… but one I also had to verbalize and articulate clearly to others. I also had to find the balance between being focused on my body experience, yet being aware of the next steps and the progression. I felt comfortable with using language that provides both clarity and exploration. 3) It also felt good seeing the glowing faces and hearing happy voices at the end. Honestly, when you can’t see anyone, you literally have no idea what’s happening… you just keep going; so it was really nice to realize that people had connected to the experience.
If there is one thing you would do differently what is that? - I would love to do this in person, and I believe there will be an opportunity to do so, if UCSB continues to transition back to in-person experiences. The hardest part for me, in doing this over zoom when all of the cameras are turned off, is not knowing if I’m offering too much. I do try to pause and speak slowly and breath slowly myself, but I may offer too many variables at times. Also its challenging without the visual feedback, to be sure that I’m being a helpful guide for people who may have larger bodies than mine, and mobility restrictions. I believe this is an area in which I can continue to improve. But, overall, since I had the opportunity to do this twice, with a 30 minute break in between, I changed almost nothing in between, as the first session went well. I shortened the “walking around the space” part of the warm-up and got to the floor more quickly, just due to time constraints. I would also have loved to have a video of myself leading this workshop, just so I could reflect on my pacing - again wondering if I was pacing things slowly enough, and not offering too many suggestions. Again, due to HIPPAA and privacy, I was not able to record this workshop in any way.
Thank you for taking the time to read this!