My abiding memory of the two days I spent at Wolfgang's workshop is the way I felt as I drove home - the most fully embodied and alive I have felt for a long time. Great as it is, that sort of intense feeling can't last so what else did I take from the event? The session where we took turns to lie down and be worked on by 5 others - one taking the head and one on each limb - was a powerful reminder of what it takes to force us to let go of our urge to control. You just can't stay in charge with that sort of energy around you. Moving in threes while playing with the roles of who leads and follows further uncovered our deep-seated control-freakery. By later in the second day the wonderful peacock feathers had us twirling under their spell, experimenting with the balletic freedom of movement that came from letting go and following the extravagant, elegant plume balanced on our hand. It really is possible to think up through a feather!
But what did I learn as a teacher? That even teaching AT it is scarily possible to get into habits. We watch someone walk or sit and know what we are looking for, and probably how we think we can best help them realise the habits they have. All too often, as we did in the lead/follow exercise, we work from a point of control and can't see our own habits in the process. What Wolfgang brought to the fore was the possibility of moving with someone - not controlling but sharing the movement - and in the process sensing how they move, what their mind and body is doing and where the tensions are, whilst hopefully sharing a living example of release in movement. There were some activities we did that I might be wary of using with some pupils - an elderly arthritic new pupil may be put off by being asked to trust me to tip them backwards and forwards, but a lot of the principles could be adapted to suit a variety of people and situations. Foremost though it reinforced the privilege we have in sharing the beauty of use - mind and body working as a harmonious whole.
