Authentic Movement

Authentic Movement is an expressive improvisational movement practice that allows a group of participants a type of free association of the body.

When starting a basic AM session, participants start in a comfortable position, eyes closed to sense their inner body-mind processes. They then wait for stimuli to arise within them, and follow each impulse expressing movement or sound. Individuals move through the space entirely free from any direction or expectation. This allows people to explore psychological processes as they arise into kinesthetic responses of movement or sound.

The moving participants (movers) are passively observed by a witness, who ‘contains’ the experience of the mover by witnessing their movements without judgment, projection or interpretation. In this way the witness is also an active participant, as witnessing is a practice in observing one’s own sensations and impulses while observing the mover’s. At the end of the session we share our experiences with one another both as “movers” and as “witnesses”.

It’s difficult to describe the potency of authentic movement.
Its power hides in the afterglow.
In the way we negotiate with the censor, the judge, the suppressor,
In the way we remove the obstacles to empathy,
It is the surprise of now.
Beware of such power,
it could make you confront injustice.
Unequivocally,
we belong.
We give ourselves the time,
the respect,
the immersion,
the purification,
the community we hold dear.

It is about presence. Revealed in the presence of others.
In the alchemy of others we choose differently.
Others in our daily life we relate to in a rather coherent formula of behaviors…though we have choices, we do not dance through these relationships.
Here,
yes. 

Authentic Movement is a practice that allows us to be fed from source,
nourished by a structure enabling us to tap yet another layer,
even deeper than we imagined possible.   

This structure enables us to be for one another the witness…ready, in awe, for whatever has yet to emerge. 

Please join us at this place.  

Come home… 

Among equals in reverence for the truth of dance.

~ Fanchon Shur, member

The freedom to close my eyes and turn inside to see the light within, and then to let this light shine out through muscle and bone joint connections which cause the body to move and express itself. 

With other movers in the room, there are times when we meet and share our essence. A harmony, a unity, a brighter space is created. 

These connections are the weaving together of a fabric. These overlappings, this support of one another, these times of frolic like a litter of puppies, are great opportunities to provide for a healthy society. This practice strengthens our humanism and there sits a witness who sees with open eyes all that unfolds.

~ Jeanne Speier, member

We meet on the 3^rd Friday of each month 10am to 11:30am in the Growth in Motion studio.
The group will decide whether to invite a new member.
If you are interested, contact Fanchon Shur, director of our Authentic Movement group, at fanchonshur@neurodevelopmentalmovement.org.