FFTT Final Project Reflections:
1. What are the easy to remember ingredients of your loop?
Leg lift + turning over/ flipping over of the torso + movement initiated by the eyes/ head
2. Describe the process. How did you choose the parts? How was your experience leading up to filming this? What did you need to do to get in the right state of body/mind/spirit to flow?
I began by choosing music that resonated the most with me throughout this journey of floor flow exploration. This music is called, “harana.” It is a traditional courtship/love song played with a Philippine guitar. This genre of song always seems to put me in a contemplative mode, which is quite conducive to slow movement. Since I am now living in Canada – about 13,000 km from the place I call home – moving to this music also brings me a sense of comfort and nostalgia.
3. What felt good (or provided a health challenge) in this video loop experience?
First, it felt good to do this under the heat of the sun. (Okay, it’s not the tropical heat, which would’ve been very nice, but it’s the heat I am blessed with as I write this.) Second, it felt very good to move my head, neck and pelvis. These are the parts of my body that have been affected a lot by a change of work conditions during the pandemic, and I am sure that I am not alone.
4. If there is ONE thing that you would do differently, what is it?
I’d like to be more mindful of relaxing my shoulders, which have also tensed up a lot over the past couple months.
5. What did you learn from this experience that you will apply to your own training or teaching?
So much of my approach to movement – as I have discovered during this pandemic and this training – seems to be aligned with somatics practice. Not only is this something I have begun to explore, but this word, “somatics,” is actually relatively new to me. Even though I have only scratched the surface of it, I still learned a lot from this course that I think are “staples” that I’d like to keep when teaching floor flow: breath awareness, gratitude for what the body can do, and engaging in movement as a way of responding to pain or fear.