Conditioning for Dance: Ideokinesis and Body-Flow?

[James Boelter]

Due to my currently limited budget, I had to delay my order of the ABC manual (sorry, Coach Sz!) and several other training videos and books to get a book I have been thinking about for more than a month..."Conditioning For Dance" by Eric Franklin.

I realize that we are not dancers here (at least not in the paid, professional, Alvin Ailey sense) but it is obvious that in our quest for better movement and freedom, we might have a lot in common with serious dancers. And dancers who seek to perform at the highest levels (you know, the ones who appear to defy gravity with effortless ease) almost always have to address problems with Sensory Motor Amnesia and Fear Reactivity. You can't just 'power through' extended modern dance sequences no matter how good your levels of stamina, flexibility and conditioning are - at some point, the Body Mind has to inhabit the movement. Otherwise, you will just look like a buffalo up there on the stage compared to the quality of movement displayed by the dancers who 'get it' even if the effort involve doesn't tax your system in the least.

Or to put it another way: Place a trained professional male dancer side by side with a martial artist, a running back, and an Olympic weightlifter of similar heights and weights. I can flat out gurantee you that the dancer will be able to leap higher (and probably farther) with less effort from a standing start, and land with less impact and noise than any of the other men will, even though the other males may be incredibly fit and strong. That's because dancers are concerned with mastering the kinetic chains that lift them off the ground, not just going 'unnnnngh!' and punching off from the earth.

CFD takes an approach I've seen before (by Body Mind Centering teachers, among others) and applies it to the problems of balancing muscles, releasing tension, generating extension, freeing 'bound' areas, and replacing 'effort' with 'elastic energy' (sound familar?) in the area of physical movement.

It does this with several 'modes', including the use of Therabands to enhance the ability to move and build strength against resistance. The most important of these modes is what they call 'ideokinesis' - use mental imagery and mental rehearsal to create maps of the body's inner geometry. Once you have the Map of the muscles and relationships between them , SMA goes away and the Body-Mind can inhabit those inner spaces in a way it didn't before.

The drills and exercises in CFD are incredibly inventive and insightful, and the anatomical illustrations and examples are some of the best and most helpful I've seen while having anatomy and physiology crammed into my brain for the last two quarters. My plan is to play around with these drills for a bit before starting practice of BMEs to see how they affect and improve the practice, and to keep a journal of how things progress. If anyone is interested, I'll post the best of these entries here or in some future edition of CST magazine.

In summary - this book might well have a place on every CST trainee and trainer's reference library as a valuable supplement to what we do here.

[rbibbs]

Good link James, between BME and dance. We do have at least one competition dancer in the tribe, and Coach teaches expressive-performance motion too, if I'm not mistaken.

Definitely let us know how the crossover works; might post a "training log" thread on it.

Rick

[Doug Szolek]

Sounds like a very fun book James.

And it may do you well to have it before my manual because the ABCs are in a way, learning how to dance with a Bruiser :wink:

Let us know how your work with the CFD goes, I sure i'm not the only one here interested.

Sincerely,

[bob_stra]

> And dancers who seek to perform at the highest levels (you know, the >ones who appear to defy gravity with effortless ease) almost always
>have to address problems with Sensory Motor Amnesia and Fear

It's somewhat common for performing arts academies to employ either a Feldenkrais, Alexander or Laban teacher. (Laban is least common IME. Ironically, it was dervived from dance.)

People don't realise all the incredible stuff that has been derived from dance. I fear that for most, dance = frilly pink tu tu's.

If you ever get the chance, download / buy the Aeros video. You will shit several small kittens ;-)

(aeros = gymnastic combined with ballet)

http://www.aeros.org/home.php?has_flash=no
http://www.travellady.com/ARTICLES/Stomp.htm

>Or to put it another way: Place a trained professional male dancer side >by side with a martial artist, a running back, and an Olympic weightlifter >of similar heights and weights.

They actually did this in Australia once, a few years ago. The show was televised, so might be a copy of it on Kazza. IIRC, it was ballet Vs Rugby Vs Australian Rules Football Vs Bodybuilding VS Aerobics Instructor.

Again, IIRC, the Australian Rules Football guy won.

The tests included suicide runs (beep test), flexibilty, 1RM in bench press and squats, and the rapidly inclining treadmill stress test.

Anyway, I'm keeping an eye out for the CFD stuff. Report back ASAP! ;-)

[Ken Harper]

Bob, Jim:

The Aeros video online was amazing.

I'd be interested in learning more about CFD. I always thought that Cossack dancers were among the most athletic performers I'd ever seen and then I saw Twyla Tharp's and Mark Morris's troupes perform and got even more respect for their grace, strength, agility and non-stop movement.

The scales lifted from my eyes when I read "Boddhisattva Warriors," showing the entertwining of classic Indian dance with the development of the "martial arts" that the legendary Boddhidharma brought to the Shaolin Temple from India.

If you ever have a chance to see classical Indian dance, you'll be amazed at how closely the dance positions resemble different types of gong-fu, qi-gong, and wushu training.

Ken

[Robert V]

When you really get the concepts of Bodyflow and biomechanical movements, the picture gets vast and clear. I think you begin to see what is sophistocated movement and what is not.

I think the Bodyflow and ROSS training methods give you power of knowledge, and with that knowledge comes the power of freedom.

Once you truly "get it", I believe, your possible resources will expand.

I am a dancer and I know how sophistocated the movements can get, yet dance can also cement muscular patterns that will be limiting.

[Robert V]

Oh, thanks...

I'm getting that book!

[Scott Sonnon]

Great dialogue. Check out Human Movement Potential: Its Ideokinetic Facilitation by Lulu E. Sweigard.

[CarlS]

My plan is to play around with these drills for a bit before starting practice of BMEs to see how they affect and improve the practice, and to keep a journal of how things progress. If anyone is interested, I'll post the best of these entries here or in some future edition of CST magazine.

Please do, sounds great.

[Chuck]

When you really get the concepts of Body-Flow™ and biomechanical movements, the picture gets vast and clear. I think you begin to see what is sophistocated movement and what is not.

I think the Body-Flow™ and ROSS training methods give you power of knowledge, and with that knowledge comes the power of freedom.

Once you truly "get it", I believe, your possible resources will expand.

I am a dancer and I know how sophistocated the movements can get, yet dance can also cement muscular patterns that will be limiting.

Saying "when you really get the concepts" makes me feel better because at this time I'm left scratching my head. Body Flow is not an easy book to grasp. At least not for me. How long does it take to get it?

[admin]

Saying "when you really get the concepts" makes me feel better because at this time I'm left scratching my head. Body-Flow™ is not an easy book to grasp. At least not for me. How long does it take to get it?
No worries Chuck! You've already got it! The real trick is to approach it with a childlike ignorance. Body Flow is a difficult book in many ways simply because we are overly complicated. Start tossing out everything you 'think' or 'know' to be the case and just have a 'I wonder what this is' sort of approach and your own inate bodily wisdom is going to jump forward. And there is no rush. Traveling this road is a life-long adventure of discovery. Go slow and don't be attached to any outcome and you will be delighted at what you will discover.

The secret is that Coach Sonnon is teaching us what we already really know, but have buried under years of emotional/body baggage. Good luck on your journey; 'getting it' is only the beginning!

[James Boelter]

Chuck, I agree that Body-Flow and CST can be somewhat hard to 'get into' in book form. Your best bet is to get a sample video and to see it in motion. If the Maximology or BME/KC video series are too big of a leap of faith in money and time, I would recommend volume one of either "Grappler's Tool Box" or "Peak Performance Pugilism ("Prime Your BioEnergy"). GTB is an early version of the BME/KC material, and volume 1 demos many of the extremely impressive plasticity and elastic energy available to a Body-Flow Master. PPP volume 1 shows very advanced ROM/Warrior Wellness style drills and 'soft work'.

If you have to stick with the books...just keep reading and pondering, and keep checking in here at the Forum and CST mag; enough people will be discussing these concepts (and others) at length, and you will be able to get a better sense of context for what Coach Sonnon is about. Give some time, and it will all come together.

Immediate fix: check out Coach Sonnon's article "The End of GPP" to get an idea of how he implements and integrates freedom of movement and 'soft work' with hardcore training and sweating.

[Robert V]

Let me try:

This is what "BodyFlow" said to me.

BodyFlow told me that what inhibited my movement potential was "tension". This tension was brought about by stress, trauma, negative self image, all of which, found a home in my body at one time or another.

It also told me that because I stop moving in certain ways, my body forgot how to move that way.

Bodyflow explain to me that we are born with potentially almost perfect movement abilities. Yet, what I mentioned above, breaks us down and limits our movement potential.

What is in our power is the ability to recapture that "grace" and we do that by getting out of our own way, letting the tension go, breathing our way to movement freedom and aligning our bodies in the best possible way to foster our best breathing and most fluid movement.

You see, that tension, stress, trauma and negative self-image breaks down our movement, structure and breathing. To recapture that grace we must learn to consolidate our movement, structure and breathing.

One of the things in our way is improper "core" activation. This effects our breathing, structure and ability to move with our greatest potential. What we must learn to do is activate our core properly, from the inside out rather than from the outside in.

Bodyflow gave me examples of movements that were sophisticated and complex. This was a must, for to enhance our movement potential, we must work outside our expected ranges of motion. These movements "wake up" our neuromuscular system and gives use new patterns of movements to prepare for deviations in expected movement and allows us to get back on our natural and expected path quicker.

Bodyflow showed me how I could enhance my movement potential even more by connecting several movements together to create one chain of seamless movements.

Bodyflow expounded on how mistakes are good for us. They highlight where we need to grow. It's our ability to recover from these mistakes that gives us grace and agility.

Bodyflow, as with the ROSS material, simiplified what masters and gurus have been trying to explain to their students for 100s of years...and most still don't get it.

I read and watch dozens and dozens of Yoga and movement resourses, yet to get it in plain english, I always go back to Bodyflow.

[admin]

Superb! Great post Robert!

[Robert V]

I beg you to also read the book several times and refer back to what I wrote.

Try this: been over and reach for your toes. See how far you go. Feel where you are tense. Now, move your hips directly over your heels and begin to breath naturally, but deeply. Just tell your body to "let go".

Notice your expanded range of motion. It wasn't flexibility. It was breathing and alignment. We are all flexible enough, unless there is an injury. We just have to "get out of our on way". That's Bodyflow!

Now, later get Maximology.

Then, read the book a couple more times.

But always continue to experiment with BMEs regularly.

It will not come, for it it already there.

[Chuck]

Micheal, James and Robert,

Thanks for the awesome posts and information. You have me convinced that I am on the right path. I keep telling my son that it's not where you are but what direction you are going that's important. This feels like the right direction.

I'm going to print out and save and review your posts.

A lot of what I am reading is interesting in light of recent experience. I had some tightness in my shoulders and neck and decided to take Mike Mahlers advice and get a massage. I apparently found somebody good because she has made my shoulders feel great but has also found a lot of tightness in my body. I have started doing joint mobility drills and stretching (something I never liked doing) and in conjunction with the massages feel better overall than I have in a decade (I'm 53). I can't wait to learn more about Body-Flow and the various movements. My grandparents all died at 98 or 99 so I probably have a lot of time left and realize that what I do now will control my quality of life over the years.

[James Boelter]

That's great, Chuck! You will quickly find that many of the supposed "inevitabilities" of middle age and beyond are really a matter of social conditioning and a weird kind of hypnosis that tries to convince you that all that's left for you after age 45 or so is a recliner, a remote, and as much beer as you can down each night before the wife yells at you.

I say "the hell with that noise!" Movement and breath is the best fountain of youth and the best 'health tonic' there is. Your MD has a vital place in your health and wellness (mostly as a diagnostician), but he isn't going to be able to help you if you don't breathe and move :!:

"Maximology" was worth ever penny simply to hear Coach Sonnon state that we tend to place arbitrary limits on our potential and our abilities. That really hit me where I lived - I realize that this is actually a classic "self help" chestnut, but something about his delivery in the context of that seminar really set off a process in me that is still going on.

So use common sense....but don't confuse common sense with "Fear-Reactivity"!