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Through touch we understand & through action we expand our horizons. The practice of writing is an interesting way to reflect on our experience. Thought and feeling are so fleeting. To commit them to paper is to bring them into a form of existence. Who knows what is possible for each of us if we all work together? If we listen to our world with all of our senses .. and converse with our whole being ..

Where do ideas come from?

What is it that allows us to realise that we could do something we had never considered but know it’s exactly what we’ve been looking for? Is it a random accident? or is it already there as a possibility somewhere within our structure?

The tendency is to think of structure as that place bordered by our skin but what if we considered our environment as part of our structure?

How do we approach the more challenging experiences of our body?

Those parts of ourselves that seem too troublesome to bother with. It’s so easy to ignore them. The tight shoulders! The restricted neck! The sore hip or tight hamstrings!

It’s a challenge in all movement systems - When we practice we like to do the things that feel nice and avoid the things that take more effort. If we consider what we need and spend a little time each session doing that it makes an enormous difference.

Gravity is a magnetic force pulling us toward the centre of our mass - toward the centre of the earth. We are a part of the earth’s mass. That means we’re contributors to the force of gravity. As you read this now you are being drawn down to the centre of the earth. In every moment we are falling. To surrender to that falling is to move with the flow of life ..

Our feet are like ears, capable of the most spine tingling sensitivity. They are connected by bone and the resonant inner spaces of our body to our inner ears.

We are a miracle of interconnected segments entwined and enclosed yet open to the vast spaces of existence dancing within the shape of gravity’s force.

Our feet, on the earth, are a voice of our presence.

The width, depth and volume of our body is the space of life. There is something wonderful about the shape of our sides. Orientation through the our ears .. The expression of width through our hands .. and the movement of breath ..

You can be on your front or your back and still be on your side .. or you could be in the middle. But where do you experience the middle of your side?

Is it an area? or is does it extend in a line through your body?

You may have been wondering why the writing exercises I have suggested use a pen when everyone nowadays writes with a keyboard. The reason has a lot to do with one of the themes of this lesson - getting a grip with your absolutely amazing, opposable fingers and thumbs. This lesson considers what it is to touch .. both to listen and to express ..

The lesson this post refers to considers the mechanics of how we hold things .. particularly ourselves.

We hold and are held by many things be they physical objects, people or ideas.

What is it like to hold things? and what would it feel like to be held by you? ..

The series of lessons the title refers to explore writing but It’s not just about organising your thoughts into written form.

It’s more concerned with the process of creation whether you’re using a pen, a camera, a musical instrument or a shovel. We explore the use of the arms and hands and the way the things we do influence the shape and quality of life.