PMR: Dancing My Dance

Personal Movement Ritual (PMR); Kristin King

A personal movement ritual is a daily practice that involves a "ritual" in movement that is exploratory in nature, and that would allow personal growth and insight to develop through the practice and reflection of the process. This PMR was assigned through my Creative Movement, Process, and Therapy class and will serve both to fulfill that class requirement, and as a personal learning experience that will inform both elements of my personal life and my therapy career. Through the use of this blog, I will post my progress and reflections based on the PMR I have defined below. 

  I. Practice

 a. The practice that I would like to experiment with as my personal movement ritual is based off of the “dance your dance” movement we did at the beginning of the semester. I find that letting myself move however it is that feels right in the moment has been revealing to me so far this semester, and I would like to explore this further. My practice will involve “dancing my dance” for the day with at least a single element as a focus point that could include but is not limited to, a mood, a feeling, a body metaphor, an inspiration, a thought, or an object. Once a focus is established, I will move with this focus in mind, however my body feels is right to move, the goal being to let my body move me rather than my mind. Music may be used, or it may not, but either way I will aim to work within 15-20 minutes. Afterwards, I will create an artifact to represent the experience, which could be as short as a single word, or as extensive as a drawing or song. These I will keep together, or in a journal if appropriate, along with the original focus image.  

b. This practice is authentically mine in that it will manifest from an organic place of energy, allowing this energy to move me in whatever way feeling “right” to me. Additionally, my focus image will be a direct reflection of a current theme or event in my life or from the day, which may then evolve or change depending on my body’s response.

II. Intent

a.  I hope to gain personal insight from this experience as well as release and quietness. I hope that through moving based on a relevant theme, I will unveil truth or authenticity, and possibly closure or acceptance. I also hope to use this ritual as a way to let go and release unwanted tension or negative energy.

b.  At this moment in my life, I am on the verge of moving in many directions. Moving away from friends and family, moving away from important relationships, moving towards career, moving past heartbreak, and finding strength and will to keep moving. Because of the varied nature of my emotional mental state, I would like to allow myself an open window of opportunity to let anything that needs to come forward a chance to do so, give myself a time to heal, and give myself a chance to release the tension and stress I associate with all these things. I need to “move” for myself without the stress that forward momentum is affording me in the rest of my life.

III. Container

a.  I need to keep the promise to myself to do the practice at least three-four times a week, but recognize that this is an exploratory process and that I shouldn't beat myself up for missing a day. This practice needs to be in a do-able time frame, most likely in the afternoon, right after school/work for about 15-20 minutes. This practice will have a simple beginning (finding a focus image), and a simple end (artifact of experience). It may have music or it may not, depending on my needs that day. The journal/artifact will although me to track my “progress” on insights as they occur.

b. The most important container for this practice is the structure of the ritual and when I will implement this ritual. The container needs to be flexible enough to allow myself to be successful, but in the ritual itself, the structure will be necessarily to induct myself into the practice, to focus during the practice, and to adequately gain insight and closure after the practice.

IV. Creative Process

a. Besides movement being inherently creative in and of itself, I require movement in order to access my own creativity. If I feel stuck, or restless, or stagnant, it’s a sign that my internal energy is sluggish, and therefore so is my mind and my creative mind. To free the energy in my body through movement, I am able to open up the creative taps so that they can once more flow. Making movement a part of my creative process will allow me to be in touch with my creative energy more readily, and have freer and more satisfying access to it. This ultimately leads to my happiness since creativity is extremely important to me in my life, and is often the ink from which I paint my life’s story.

b. I anticipate that this movement ritual will help me open up to myself and find more authentic ways of being in the world. I expect that through moving in reflection of myself that I will come to new understanding and acceptance as well finding a natural flow of movement that doesn't feel forced. Additionally, I expect that I will remove creative blocks and be more in touch with my creative side and my life’s creative process.