Describe your process:

Vision: To invite the aspect of space to the process of grief and grieving by drawing awareness to the physical space we occupy. To use the floor as a means to anchor and explore movement possibilities. To build a loop with words that correspond to what the student needs to give herself space to grieve.

• We started oﬀ with standing connection to the floor. I wanted for her to explore how her feet make connection to the floor as she was having a hard time settling into the space. It seemed as if she needed to ground through her feet so we focused on contact points from the feet first.

• Next we worked with moving breath through. 4X This is a method that has helped me to feel both my center as well as draw awareness to how much space I allow myself when I’m feeling unsettled.

• On her 4th breath I asked her to make her way to the floor where we established diﬀerent contact points lying down and then guiding her towards being aware of “How the floor holds and supports her”. I asked her to take the time to scan the body and to see if she could get a sense of where the grief is felt. “Where is the rigidity?” “What are the sensations?”

• We then worked on moving side to side while shifting contact points.

• I asked her to come up to a seat and explained the looping activity. I gave her cards that had words describing actions, feelings and positional references and asked her to build a sentence that described what she needed to feel in this space of grief for today. Her words were: Expand - Push -Circle - Swoosh

• She then mapped out the space that she needed to move in with yoga blocks and I asked her to move through the sentence 3 times.

• To build an awareness around the diﬀerences that space has on our process of healing, I asked her to tighten up the circle. *Note: If this was uncomfortable for her I wouldn’t have done it! I respect the individual needs of the client.

• She repeated the exercise in a small space and she said that it helped her to realize that space in fact was in issue in her need to process. I’m glad that she was willing to explore both options.

• We ended lying on the floor connecting with the stillness and breath.

How did you choose your project?

What a journey this has been! A little back story for context. So when I saw that FFTT was being oﬀered, it was literally the only style of training that was lighting me up and guiding me towards healing the grief that I had been experiencing just 2 1/2 months in from loosing my father. I was so lost and felt deeply disconnected from my body which was quite scary for me as I really call dance and movement my language and home. Every method of training that I was, at one time able to pull from was not working and sometimes made me feel much worse during such a delicate time. As the training went on, I began to feel more connected and focused.

I’m a movement coach and dance teacher who works predominantly with women ages

50-70’s. Often, my clients speak of and seek healing from accepting identity landmarks as they age. Many of these identity shifts come with loss. Loss of vitality. Loss of connection to their sensuality, sexuality. Loss of friends, family, etc.. With all of that loss comes a need to “return”.

But returning or reinventing ourselves (in our culture) is usually aimed towards extreme journeys and expectations that sometimes lead to even more sensation of loss!

In my own experiences, I’ve noticed that I can censor and restrict my space for grief and loss. As a culture, I just don’t think we give ourselves the necessary space (physical, emotional, mental) to work through the waves of grief. I firmly believe that if we identify the physical space needed, we can begin to unravel some of the pain, trappings and stories that hold us down.

The hope is that we can become aware, identify and give permission to ourselves to move into our needs of healing rather than subscribe to the pressure and expectations of superficial transformation. So this exploration through some of the FFTT foundations seemed like a good way to explore the possibilities.

Why did you choose this method?

I chose this method because as said earlier, it spoke to me during my times of grief. Playing on the floor and feeling close to the earth grounds me and takes me to a very specific place of “returning”.

What felt good or provided a healthy challenge in creating this project?

It felt good to align this work with my personal experiences and those of my clients. It’s a tall order to ask folks who are experiencing loss or grief to tap into space, emotions and awareness and to seek refuge through movement. So much courage! I had to scale way back on planning a lesson based on how delicate this can be for folks. I had grand plans initially, but discovered that those were “MY plans” and that keeping it simple (focus, awareness, breath, exploration) was plenty for the experiences of my clients. Having the time to journey through this training on my own helped me to identify that the potential for healing could be there for others.

What do you think your project oﬀers the viewer/participant?

I think it oﬀers a pathway into witnessing, awareness, energy shifts throughout the system, reflections, support, clarity of individual needs by slowing down and utilizing the basic tools of FF. (Contact points, breath work, moving slowly, using the floor as a support to explore)

If there is one thing you would do diﬀerently what is it?

Cueing! I have a sense of paralysis when it comes to cueing when not moving myself. Maybe this comes from being so intrigued by the way other people move that I can’t break out of my curiosity! Lol

It was sooo very clear to me as I worked with my student that I needed to provide better cues and pace them properly. Great lesson for me and absolutely something I would like to deep dive into more.

What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching?

So much. I’ve learned that less is more. Slowing down takes time. Sometimes providing a source of guidance comes from embodying personal experiences. Proper cueing and pacing provide a landscape to journey vs a street to walk through. It’s also been confirmed that shooting floor footage is a true nemesis of mine!

2C.

Project Summary:

This project is an entrance and peek into how much physical and emotional space we allow ourselves to identify loss, grief and change. By being aware of breath, contact points and the physical connection to our emotions, I feel we innately build a sense of space in our being. As we identify the changes and shifts there is more possibility to bring ourselves back into healing, flow and vitality.