For the past few weeks driving to work in the morning I have observed a young man walking; he looks as though he’s on his way to work, and intermittently he starts dancing, just a couple moves, a spin or a side step shuffle, and then a return to a sauntering walk. To be frank he looks a bit silly. He’s not very skilled, and something about his body control and expression resounds with desperation for attention, yet I am convinced there is both a magic to it, a magic in it (that is something external and something internal). I knew it as soon as I saw it, but I didn’t have a concise way to describe it until today, which I will get to in a few paragraphs, but first some background.
Today I was reading Bioenergetics by Alexander Lowen wherein he makes an incisive point on pages 52-53 that I’d like to paraphrase. The nervous pathways of the body mediate and coordinate sensations, feelings, and emotions. These pathways have a natural flow to them akin to how blood, or maybe more accurately lymph, flows through the body, a pulsed or rhythmic current like how the heart pumps the blood, or breath guides lymph, but these pulsed nervous sensations take the form of involuntary movements, which are most obvious when we see the movements of a baby (Imagine a one year old in his baby bouncer). As we grow older this type of open motility becomes inhibited, but there is always some degree of motility in our movements–the natural flow and processes that occur in our body at all times. To Lowen, the degree of involuntary nervous flow—of sensation, feeling, and emotion—directly correlates with how animated and alive we are. to him solely voluntary movements are lifeless and mechanical, whereas the involuntary charge in the muscle that corresponds with the movement gives it pleasure, and expression.
While I can’t say I agree entirely with Lowen’s concept, I do agree that energetic physical expression comes from the release to the body’s natural flow, rather than through a conscious compulsion. When expressing joy physically one simply allows the emotion to course it’s own trail through the nervous pathways. It’s not something consciously directed. When we try to consciously direct expression physically it tends to be counter productive because the conscious control of movement is constricting on the nerves, whereas emotional release is opening to the pathways. (Hence in bioenergetics we have blocked pathways from constrictions of emotional trauma. Also in Tai Chi and Chi Gong we have the practice of moving with open pathways)
When I first read some of Lowen I misread a point of his on page 53, but my misconception still makes sense and is not in direct opposition to Lowen either, so far as I understand his position base off what I have read. It is a different understanding of voluntary expression and involuntary expression. To begin this post I mentioned passing this young man on the way to work—back of house food service, and occasional serving. So there is a lot of movement, and it’s involuntary in the sense that I don’t really want to be spending me time doing it. It’s a job, not a passion. Because I often don’t want to be there my movements become passive, and mechanical, my mind retreats and I become more robotic. Then there are days where I feel blessed to be working. I am voluntarily there, and my actions are full of life, and I am consciously engaged into all the details of each project. I’d say this is a common experience for a lot of laborers. And we are all familiar with repeating hooks of songs over and over, or jingles from a commercial, even some random verbal gibberish, or maybe having a little move you do unbidden like a shuffle of the feet or a clap of the hands. This could be the body trying to re-align the nerve pathways of expression.
Returning to the sauntering dancer walking to his job in the morning, when he stops and breaks it down he is opening his nervous pathways through a deliberate process. feel the emotion, let it build up, express through dance, walk it off. I have feeling like this could be a useful method for daily empowerment. There are a lot of things we feel are out of our control. a dance is something directly under our control, it’s primally expressive, and it opens the nerve pathways for release of tension.
I love the term deliberate movement. the word deliberate, though it means typically cautious and balanced, has the word liberate right in it, and the concept of restoring balance to the body’s bioenergetic system is core to this notion. I’m going to go look for some good dance therapy videos and if I find them I will share them here.
So when we are confined to involuntary situations like our jobs or vocations, becoming little-by-little lifeless and mechanical, maybe we can invoke vitality into ourselves, liberate our anxieties, or bring back a better sense of balance and presence with some magical movements like the sauntering dancer I pass on the way to work every morning.
Principle Vitality 