Mercy Arias - Loop

LOOP- MERCY ARIAS

NAME OF THE LOOP: HAPPY LEGS

OBJECTIVE: INVESTIGATE THE POWER OF THE LEGS TO CHANGE FRONTS AND MOVE THROUGH THE SPACE (without walking ;) )

1. Easy to remember ingredients: a. Using the imagery of threading the needle, it must be soft and precise, if you are in a rush maybe you will have problems to put the thread in the hole; b. Your hands are to support you, so be kind and gentle as long as you move with them, don’t let them behind; c. After you thread the needle, imagine you are doing embroidery, if you do that too fast or too slow maybe your thread will entangle, so take your time and find the perfect pace to create a beautiful embroidery; d. if you go for the variation of speed offered, just remember to finish every movement, the same way you finish every embroidery stitch before the next, just to avoid a mess.

2. First of all, I decided to focus on legs because in normal life we usually only walk and sit with them, so offer an exploration about all their power is a way to discover the potential of floorwork and to offer a different experience for that people that usually don’t go to the floor so often. I chose the five movements of the loop in order to create different sensations with the legs: threading, sweeping, pushing, extension and sitting in a stag, then I explored how to create a loop with fluidity, during the exploration I found the changing of the front orientation and I found it very useful because is an opportunity to not look the camera or the mirror (if you are in a studio) and to work on proprioception. To find the flow state: Breath slow, move and shake my ass before filming and using music that I like.

3. What felt good was to find possibilities to moving the legs and not depending only on one front to the execution, also it was nice to keep contact all the time with the floor, something interesting for people not used to floorwork.

4. Worrying less about how it looks and more how it feels (is a real thing the pressure of the camera)

5. Slowing Down, I think that is one of the major earnings of this training (and the loop), slow and enjoy and later you can add speed and sparkly movements ;)

Patricia Verity - Final Project

Final Project

Summary

My project originally was going to be about integrating Floor Flow into my existing

curriculum teaching movement to acting students. However, I caught Covid and was

quite poorly to the point where I spent around 2 weeks in bed. This project has been an

exploration of Floor Flow easing me back into movement and how this embodied

experience can serve my teaching philosophy.

Process

As part of this project I filmed my Floor Flow practices and to also be reflective of the

experience each day. I also include a takeaway from each practice that I want to integrate

either into my training and/or teaching. Next to each date is a time code for the Final

Project video where there is an excerpt from that day’s practice. This has been a

challenging project in that it felt both intimate and vulnerable but my intention has been to

understand my experience of this process and use these reflections to support others I

may work with who are experiencing similar seasons of life. I would like to honour that I

feel disappointed in myself and that I don’t feel like I am demonstrating the technical

Floor Flow skills that I have picked up through this training but I do feel like I am

honouring the principles I have integrated through undertaking this course.

17 July 2022 (00:13-01:33)

I had strong feelings of lethargy with physical and mental heaviness so spent time moving

individual body parts ie - spine, legs, arms whilst being supported by the floor. My

movement intention was around soothing through, rocking, waves, with some

pandiculation. I found comfort being close to the ground. I would describe my internal

movement inspiration as smearing.

What will I take away from this practice is to be generous with kindness and grace to

myself, and others through the experience of restarting any movement. Having the desire

to move, and doing soothing movements had a positive effect on my nervous system.

18 July 2022 (01:33-02:57)

Today was an exploration of bigger movement, which were mainly variations on moving

between being curled up and the wide X position still low to the ground. I particularly

found the experience of sensing the texture of the flooring soothing.

Following this practice I thought about the question of how I can be more compassionate

to myself through this practice. I currently have no clear answer to this question but the

principles from the training of being present and truly honouring the somatic experience

have been something I am trying to practice.

19 July 2022 (02:57-04:38)

I started this using light touch, stroking, by hands to lead movements specifically to bring

in arm connection to rolling on the floor. As I had a dip in energy even after rest days the

Patricia Verity Floor Flow Teacher Training Page 2 of 4

movement continued to be low to the ground. This feels gentle and safe for me in this

space.

From this practice I was reminded of using touch as a tool for nervous system regulation,

to slow down and be present, as a creative task that helped me to initiate movement.

22 July 2022 (04:38-05:58)

As I had more energy I felt able to bring in more leg swings and have moments further

away from the floor. My takeaway from this practice is that I may want to include skills like

backward rolls but being authentically present means honouring the energetic capacity I

have and recognising my limitations.

23 July 2022 (05:58-07:35)

During this practice I had the capacity for moving between standing and the floor. These

movement patterns were familiar and not challenging. As I have been experiencing brain

fog sticking with familiarity has helped me sustain movement for the length of a song.

25 July 2022 (07:35-09:10)

Today I was experiencing low energy again but for this practice I brought in working with

imagery of seaweed and waves on a beach. I appreciated the rhythmic possibilities of

these images and that it gave my mind a focus on something other than the movement

aesthetic. Again, movement patterns were familiar with waves, circles, and lateral rolls.

The circles with reaches felt so good.

26 July 2022 (09:10-10:44)

This practice was inspired by leg swings and moving between levels. Partly an

exploration of ideas for the Final Loop, with many partial loops not seen in the video

excerpt.

I find when I am anxious I can’t focus, or concentrate, and this came out in my practice

today where there were lots of beginnings but not sticking to any one movement idea. A

clear pre-planned loop could be useful grounding, but also self-compassion when things

don’t go to plan.

27 July 2022 (10:44-12:45)

This practice came out of wanting to re-find rolls. It was satisfying to find it was not a skill

that I had ‘lost’ even if the finesse wasn’t there.

Afterthoughts

I will take away from this experience the practice of self-compassion and have the

intention of holding space for others with grace. Recovery from injury, or illness isn’t

linear, some days will feel better than others. The floor can be a tool for grounding and

soothing for the nervous system. Also, repetition at times was a tool for me not to ‘think

ahead’ and was something to focus my mind on when anxiety was present. Working with

imagery, or tasks like using touch can move the mind away from being overly concerned

Patricia Verity Floor Flow Teacher Training Page 3 of 4

with the aesthetics of movement - which I for me was valuable when a skill, or movement

pattern, felt out of reach. That the conditions and principles of Flow will meet the

practitioner where they are and that any practice is not wasted.

Patricia

Patricia Verity - Loop

Floor Flow Loop Description

Loop Ingredients

First Homework Loop - Sit, Lay Down, Roll Over, Sit, Kneel, Stand, Kneel, Sit.

Decision process

I wanted to return to the first homework loop to compare my experience and movement

quality from that first video. Also, as I have been experiencing brain fog after Covid

coming up with a ‘new’ loop felt challenging and stressful in an unhelpful way.

What felt Good/Healthy Challenge

It felt good and a healthy challenge to come up with movement pathways for this loop.

Compared to the first homework video where I seem to be in a rush and I remember my

mindset being like “What next?” In the video for this Final Floor Flow Loop I feel ok with

taking my time with the loop and having a mindset of “try this”, so even if I am still heady I

am still open and curious about possibilities within the loop.

One thing I’d do differently

In the moment and watching the video back I feel like mentally I was very rigid with this

loop and I can see myself thinking in that moment. I am also looking forward to taking this

type of loop and trying it in different spaces and on different surfaces. A lot of my Floor

Flow work has been in my living room on some dance flooring I own and it is exciting to

be open to what other spaces and places can offer to this practice.

What do I take away

That these simple loops can be containers for exploration and having a fixed task helps

keep my mind occupied on what I’m doing. I have a tendency to either over complicate

loops, or be aimless in floor exploration so coming back to these principles is good for

me.

Patricia Verity Floor Flow Teacher Training Page 1 of 4

Final Project

Summary

My project originally was going to be about integrating Floor Flow into my existing

curriculum teaching movement to acting students. However, I caught Covid and was

quite poorly to the point where I spent around 2 weeks in bed. This project has been an

exploration of Floor Flow easing me back into movement and how this embodied

experience can serve my teaching philosophy.

Process

As part of this project I filmed my Floor Flow practices and to also be reflective of the

experience each day. I also include a takeaway from each practice that I want to integrate

either into my training and/or teaching. Next to each date is a time code for the Final

Project video where there is an excerpt from that day’s practice. This has been a

challenging project in that it felt both intimate and vulnerable but my intention has been to

understand my experience of this process and use these reflections to support others I

may work with who are experiencing similar seasons of life. I would like to honour that I

feel disappointed in myself and that I don’t feel like I am demonstrating the technical

Floor Flow skills that I have picked up through this training but I do feel like I am

honouring the principles I have integrated through undertaking this course.

17 July 2022 (00:13-01:33)

I had strong feelings of lethargy with physical and mental heaviness so spent time moving

individual body parts ie - spine, legs, arms whilst being supported by the floor. My

movement intention was around soothing through, rocking, waves, with some

pandiculation. I found comfort being close to the ground. I would describe my internal

movement inspiration as smearing.

What will I take away from this practice is to be generous with kindness and grace to

myself, and others through the experience of restarting any movement. Having the desire

to move, and doing soothing movements had a positive effect on my nervous system.

18 July 2022 (01:33-02:57)

Today was an exploration of bigger movement, which were mainly variations on moving

between being curled up and the wide X position still low to the ground. I particularly

found the experience of sensing the texture of the flooring soothing.

Following this practice I thought about the question of how I can be more compassionate

to myself through this practice. I currently have no clear answer to this question but the

principles from the training of being present and truly honouring the somatic experience

have been something I am trying to practice.

19 July 2022 (02:57-04:38)

I started this using light touch, stroking, by hands to lead movements specifically to bring

in arm connection to rolling on the floor. As I had a dip in energy even after rest days the

Patricia Verity Floor Flow Teacher Training Page 2 of 4

movement continued to be low to the ground. This feels gentle and safe for me in this

space.

From this practice I was reminded of using touch as a tool for nervous system regulation,

to slow down and be present, as a creative task that helped me to initiate movement.

22 July 2022 (04:38-05:58)

As I had more energy I felt able to bring in more leg swings and have moments further

away from the floor. My takeaway from this practice is that I may want to include skills like

backward rolls but being authentically present means honouring the energetic capacity I

have and recognising my limitations.

23 July 2022 (05:58-07:35)

During this practice I had the capacity for moving between standing and the floor. These

movement patterns were familiar and not challenging. As I have been experiencing brain

fog sticking with familiarity has helped me sustain movement for the length of a song.

25 July 2022 (07:35-09:10)

Today I was experiencing low energy again but for this practice I brought in working with

imagery of seaweed and waves on a beach. I appreciated the rhythmic possibilities of

these images and that it gave my mind a focus on something other than the movement

aesthetic. Again, movement patterns were familiar with waves, circles, and lateral rolls.

The circles with reaches felt so good.

26 July 2022 (09:10-10:44)

This practice was inspired by leg swings and moving between levels. Partly an

exploration of ideas for the Final Loop, with many partial loops not seen in the video

excerpt.

I find when I am anxious I can’t focus, or concentrate, and this came out in my practice

today where there were lots of beginnings but not sticking to any one movement idea. A

clear pre-planned loop could be useful grounding, but also self-compassion when things

don’t go to plan.

27 July 2022 (10:44-12:45)

This practice came out of wanting to re-find rolls. It was satisfying to find it was not a skill

that I had ‘lost’ even if the finesse wasn’t there.

Afterthoughts

I will take away from this experience the practice of self-compassion and have the

intention of holding space for others with grace. Recovery from injury, or illness isn’t

linear, some days will feel better than others. The floor can be a tool for grounding and

soothing for the nervous system. Also, repetition at times was a tool for me not to ‘think

ahead’ and was something to focus my mind on when anxiety was present. Working with

imagery, or tasks like using touch can move the mind away from being overly concerned

Patricia Verity Floor Flow Teacher Training Page 3 of 4

with the aesthetics of movement - which I for me was valuable when a skill, or movement

pattern, felt out of reach. That the conditions and principles of Flow will meet the

practitioner where they are and that any practice is not wasted.

Patricia Verity Floor Flow Teacher Training Page 4 of 4

Nicole Poller - Loop

Reflections on the movement loop

FFTT final project – Nicole Poller

Movement goal and prompts:

For the loop exploration I set myself the goal to work on my proprioception of my body on the floor relative to the space I am moving in. As a tool for that I prompted myself to keep my eyes closed and move in a pretty limited space of around 1,60x2,50.

Reflections and perceptions:

I chose the prompts that I was working with because I found the idea to read the floor in very detail by sensing it intensively very interesting. As my movement space is an old wooden floor with some bumps, scratches, knotholes, slightly structured and the spaces in between the wooden tiles are sensible, I was thinking to use the structure and particularities of the floor as a roadmap and wanted to find out, if this works to guide me. I limited the space to move in to avoid getting overwhelmed sensually .On top of that, I was thinking to increase my physical sensing ability by keeping my eyes closed.

The video of the loop is a 4 minute cut of an all in all 15 minutes movement session. I cut out the last 4 minutes of movement.

I think for the completeness of the reflection it makes sense to also include the time I was moving which is not visible in the video.

When I started moving with my eyes closed I focused a lot on my contact points with the floor, especially my hands as they were without clothing. With the prompts in mind I started feeling the structure of the floor in a much more intense way than usually and observed myself trying to use my hands to memorize the structure. Also my feet felt more sensitive to the ground, even though I was wearing socks. Still it felt that I am sensing the floor deeply and especially when I was doing sliding motions I also tried to memorize the sensations.

In the beginning of the looping I sometimes opened my eyes briefly to see where I am and check if I am where I was thinking I was. To my surprise it was pretty accurate. Knowing this I moved more confidently keeping my eyes closed. I was kind of prepared to bump into my pole or the bed which were close to my movement space but this did not happen.

Having experienced the movement and sensation of the floor I started to feel more easeful in my movement, which allowed me, to go deeper into the motion and switch my attention on how I was moving. My attention switched to how my hips could move with more ease and how it felt moving in the rhythm of my breath.

The more I moved with my breath supporting me, the more natural the movement felt for me and also my way of sensing the floor intensified even more.

All these things combined (movement feeling natural, intense sensing of the floor, being able to move in the dedicated space confidently) was leading to a feeling of joy and deep connection to the floor. I felt way more supported by the floor than I usually do or better to say the feeling of support was very present during the loop session.

Conclusion:

To sum up the reflection I would say, this exercise definitely was a very intense experience of proprioception and the feeling afterwards can be described and grounded and self-perceptive. It was especially interesting to use the structure of the floor as a roadmap for my proprioceptive perception and I was very surprised how fast my body memorized these structures that were leading me. It reminded me of a memory of walking through a snow storm where I could not see my environment and only used my feet along the edge of a path to find my way.