Practice of movement

Hi Johnny, I don’t know if you’ll accept this but for my second reflection post I’d like to write about my yoga teacher. I don’t know much about her – teaching yoga in Esch-Hurvis Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:10am-12pm is one (her only?) of her side jobs, because she changes into a pant-suit like attire after, and walks across the bridge from Warch, to her parked car? Or her other job? My friends and I think she might be involved in PR, some kind of desk job.

I went to yoga at the beginning of spring term to improve my performance in my dance class, forging a few connections/lessons to my art practice.

1.     She’s unknowingly rushed.

She moves onto the next pose too fast, preventing us from getting the whole stretch. It irritates me, but it’s made me realize the importance of space. For me, that space could be the brief silence in the middle of a narrative, the pause between sentences in a monologue, the steady, unspeaking and un-reacting facial expression. If one is not cognizant of being rushed, then the audience will probably miss out on something you (the artist) wanted to convey.

2.     She forgets the other side.

Most of the time, if not all the time, she’ll forget to do the same exercises on the other side of our body. This has made me think about balance, and how the pull of my artwork is mostly inward. I think it’s important for artists to be cognizant of the inward and outward elements in their work, in terms of how it might speak to others and not just ourselves. This goes back to how I think artists must be very educated and aware about all potential audiences and reactions that their work might elicit.

3.     She doesn’t say enough for each exercise.

I think a major part of yoga is mindfulness, making us aware of each physical gesture and thought that crosses our minds as we move. If we are not fully aware of all of the elements that we put into our work, even if it’s just a few seconds in a video, then is it really our work? While the interpretations of any artwork are definitely not static, I think it’s really important to be aware of the intent behind each element and how it is outputted in order to really own up to the work as a whole.

To be honest Johnny, I did go to Joan’s talk, I just find myself a lot more compelled to write about people that make me think because they have thoroughly engaged me. Not that I didn’t find her talk significant or not interesting, it’s just going to yoga often enough has made me think more critically through the practice of physical movement.

Mary Overlie's Six Viewpoints

https://sixviewpoints.com/thesstems/

The Power of the Doodle

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-power-of-the-doodle-improve-your-focus-and-memory-1406675744