06-13-2012, 12:00 AM
From Practitioner Observation:
Tensegrity Seminars
Los Angeles (6) - August 1997
[ 1997 Index | Previous | Next ]
To: The Ixtlan Mailing List
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 00:04:46 -0400 (EDT)
LA TENSEGRITY WORKSHOP AUGUST 23-27
New Conception of Not-Doing
Just 9 months ago the sorcerers were voicing a different definition of
sorcery, and recommending dissonant behaviors like moving around in a
swivel chair on our bellies. Now, Carol Tiggs defined not-doing as an
"interruption in the natural flow of energy." Anything that obstructs
our usual behavior patterns, even for an instant, is a not-doing. The
interruption itself is not-doing. The unusual behaviors that entertain
or shock us are only the result or byproduct of a not-doing. They
believed that they had wrongly focused for years on the outlandish
behaviors, and had missed out on the essence or kernel of not-doing.
Now the new not-doing passes focus exclusively on encouraging this
subtle interruption.
This is an example of something I really like about the sorcerers.
They don't claim to know it all. Their understanding evolves and
changes with the times in a very hermeneutical fashion. They don't
fall back onto dogma and the literal truth. Nothing is sacred,
everything is open to pragmatic interpretation. As warriors, they keep
on their toes, and are running all the time, like fugitives from the
predators.
The Not-Doing Passes
The clan has had many names for the ineffable, including *Spirit* or
*It*. The current favorite seems to be the Dark Sea of Awareness. I
very much like this impersonal but beautiful/terrible image-provoking
term. The strategy behind many of the not-doing series is to exploit
the only awareness left to us humans: the narrow fringe on the bottom
of the luminous cocoon. Many passes involve splashing or dipping into
the stream of awareness that runs through the bottom fringe. They say
that the bottom fringe is connected directly to the Dark Sea of
Awareness. I feel refreshed as my toes dip into the stream of
awareness while performing these passes, and then smear the awareness
onto other parts of the body.
The not-doing passes were performed lying down on mats. We were able
to see the instructors on several projection screens that were
distributed around the periphery of the Hall.
The not-doing passes are clearly aiming at a deeper level than the
previously taught series. Even the mood and tempo were shifted. The
not-doing passes are performed very slowly, both between reps and
between passes in a series. The instructors often waited for more than
2 minutes between passes while the whole room was poised in silence.
The reason for the slowed tempo is so that the practitioner can avail
herself of the highly sought-after lull.
The Lull
The Lull or pause is the pearl sought by the practitioner of the
not-doing passes. It is a moment, or even just an instant, the length
of time doesn't matter, wherein the mind ceases and you go away to
somewhere else.
Most of us experienced the Lull during the practice. I spent much time
staring at the ceiling of the Hall. The ceiling described an
interesting pattern. It was a grid with slanted recessed squares. A
light was in the center of each square among translucent tiles. My
eyes became lost in the details of the ceiling. For a while I mused
that the pattern was the surface of a Star Wars type spaceship.
Sometimes I found myself walking on the surface of the spaceship. The
people lying on their mats were like insects hanging from the ceiling.
One Lull produced a fantastic vision and a bona fide journey to
*somewhere else*. I was watching the ceiling as usual. Suddenly, the
space opened up and I saw a Mezzanine level in the Hall. The sorcerers
were peering down at all of us over a rail on the Mezzanine. Then all
the sorcerers were doing something together in a room, and I watched
them from a distance. This memory of this Dreaming returned to me at
later times during the workshop when Florinda mentioned that she
couldn't make fun of Taisha because certain people were present in the
Hall, and when the announcement was made that Carlos was *here* in
some mysterious sense. Were the sorcerers actually among us in the
Hall, observing the effects of mass as we practiced the movements?
Were they Dreaming the workshop?
Where's Carlos?
That brings us to the question so rudely posed by a gentleman during
the Q/A session given by Taisha and Florinda. Where was Carlos? I had
been to 3 previous workshops, and had seen Carlos at each one of them,
so it was not a big issue for me. For the many first-timers, it was an
issue. I had thought that Carlos would not be able to stay away from
an intensive LA workshop, but the energetic tides were just not right.
Someone suggested maybe he had a cold. How mundane.
Theatre of Infinity
Wow! Wow! Did you think that these people take themselves ever so
seriously all the time? The Theatre of Infinity will blast that
conception. Prunella Fitz-Moritz, the alluring red-headed
transformation of Carol Tiggs and hostess for the theatre, assured us
that this was not acting, but actual transformations of persona. For
in the world of sorcery, all acts are final. Some skits were extremely
funny, as in "This Girl is Mine" starring Tiggs as another bombshell,
"Farleys' Day", "The Hunter and the Hunted", and "A Lesson for the
Unenlightened Ones". "The Marionettes", which traced a love affair
between a robot-like man and woman, hit extremely close to home. The
best one-liner came from the lips of host Lorenzo Drake, who knelt
down at the edge of the stage to say to a woman in the audience "I saw
you on the mat earlier." Lorenzo asked us all if we were feeling
empty; why not watch the 24-hour sorcery channel on cable in our
hotel? Indeed.
Sorcery paradigms: Cynicism vs. Suspension of Judgment
Everyone seems to eventually view these workshops with one of two
perspectives. The cynic sees the cost as too high, the bookstore as
too commercial, the profusion of movements as a gimmick to induce the
unwary consumer to keep returning for more. The practitioner simply
suspends judgment, and goes along for the ride. The movements are
performed to perfection in the way they are taught, and the answers
are sought from the end results of practice and experience. I do not
judge either the cynic or practitioner, although the practitioner is
closer to my heart. As the sorcerers say, "I never thought I'd live
forever, so let's do it."
Postscript: Santa Monica Practice Group
On the evening following the workshop I attended a practice group in a
dance studio on Santa Monica Blvd. From 35-40 people were in
attendance, a figure that was probably inflated by the recent
workshop. This workshop was no nonsense practice - not much
socializing here. We practiced the 6 long forms many many times to
exhaustion. This practice really helped to cement my kinesthetic
memory of the long forms, most of which would have faded without the
practice group.
I heartily recommend these practice groups to those who can't afford
to attend a lot of workshops. They really help!
Tensegrity Seminars
Los Angeles (6) - August 1997
[ 1997 Index | Previous | Next ]
To: The Ixtlan Mailing List
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 00:04:46 -0400 (EDT)
LA TENSEGRITY WORKSHOP AUGUST 23-27
New Conception of Not-Doing
Just 9 months ago the sorcerers were voicing a different definition of
sorcery, and recommending dissonant behaviors like moving around in a
swivel chair on our bellies. Now, Carol Tiggs defined not-doing as an
"interruption in the natural flow of energy." Anything that obstructs
our usual behavior patterns, even for an instant, is a not-doing. The
interruption itself is not-doing. The unusual behaviors that entertain
or shock us are only the result or byproduct of a not-doing. They
believed that they had wrongly focused for years on the outlandish
behaviors, and had missed out on the essence or kernel of not-doing.
Now the new not-doing passes focus exclusively on encouraging this
subtle interruption.
This is an example of something I really like about the sorcerers.
They don't claim to know it all. Their understanding evolves and
changes with the times in a very hermeneutical fashion. They don't
fall back onto dogma and the literal truth. Nothing is sacred,
everything is open to pragmatic interpretation. As warriors, they keep
on their toes, and are running all the time, like fugitives from the
predators.
The Not-Doing Passes
The clan has had many names for the ineffable, including *Spirit* or
*It*. The current favorite seems to be the Dark Sea of Awareness. I
very much like this impersonal but beautiful/terrible image-provoking
term. The strategy behind many of the not-doing series is to exploit
the only awareness left to us humans: the narrow fringe on the bottom
of the luminous cocoon. Many passes involve splashing or dipping into
the stream of awareness that runs through the bottom fringe. They say
that the bottom fringe is connected directly to the Dark Sea of
Awareness. I feel refreshed as my toes dip into the stream of
awareness while performing these passes, and then smear the awareness
onto other parts of the body.
The not-doing passes were performed lying down on mats. We were able
to see the instructors on several projection screens that were
distributed around the periphery of the Hall.
The not-doing passes are clearly aiming at a deeper level than the
previously taught series. Even the mood and tempo were shifted. The
not-doing passes are performed very slowly, both between reps and
between passes in a series. The instructors often waited for more than
2 minutes between passes while the whole room was poised in silence.
The reason for the slowed tempo is so that the practitioner can avail
herself of the highly sought-after lull.
The Lull
The Lull or pause is the pearl sought by the practitioner of the
not-doing passes. It is a moment, or even just an instant, the length
of time doesn't matter, wherein the mind ceases and you go away to
somewhere else.
Most of us experienced the Lull during the practice. I spent much time
staring at the ceiling of the Hall. The ceiling described an
interesting pattern. It was a grid with slanted recessed squares. A
light was in the center of each square among translucent tiles. My
eyes became lost in the details of the ceiling. For a while I mused
that the pattern was the surface of a Star Wars type spaceship.
Sometimes I found myself walking on the surface of the spaceship. The
people lying on their mats were like insects hanging from the ceiling.
One Lull produced a fantastic vision and a bona fide journey to
*somewhere else*. I was watching the ceiling as usual. Suddenly, the
space opened up and I saw a Mezzanine level in the Hall. The sorcerers
were peering down at all of us over a rail on the Mezzanine. Then all
the sorcerers were doing something together in a room, and I watched
them from a distance. This memory of this Dreaming returned to me at
later times during the workshop when Florinda mentioned that she
couldn't make fun of Taisha because certain people were present in the
Hall, and when the announcement was made that Carlos was *here* in
some mysterious sense. Were the sorcerers actually among us in the
Hall, observing the effects of mass as we practiced the movements?
Were they Dreaming the workshop?
Where's Carlos?
That brings us to the question so rudely posed by a gentleman during
the Q/A session given by Taisha and Florinda. Where was Carlos? I had
been to 3 previous workshops, and had seen Carlos at each one of them,
so it was not a big issue for me. For the many first-timers, it was an
issue. I had thought that Carlos would not be able to stay away from
an intensive LA workshop, but the energetic tides were just not right.
Someone suggested maybe he had a cold. How mundane.
Theatre of Infinity
Wow! Wow! Did you think that these people take themselves ever so
seriously all the time? The Theatre of Infinity will blast that
conception. Prunella Fitz-Moritz, the alluring red-headed
transformation of Carol Tiggs and hostess for the theatre, assured us
that this was not acting, but actual transformations of persona. For
in the world of sorcery, all acts are final. Some skits were extremely
funny, as in "This Girl is Mine" starring Tiggs as another bombshell,
"Farleys' Day", "The Hunter and the Hunted", and "A Lesson for the
Unenlightened Ones". "The Marionettes", which traced a love affair
between a robot-like man and woman, hit extremely close to home. The
best one-liner came from the lips of host Lorenzo Drake, who knelt
down at the edge of the stage to say to a woman in the audience "I saw
you on the mat earlier." Lorenzo asked us all if we were feeling
empty; why not watch the 24-hour sorcery channel on cable in our
hotel? Indeed.
Sorcery paradigms: Cynicism vs. Suspension of Judgment
Everyone seems to eventually view these workshops with one of two
perspectives. The cynic sees the cost as too high, the bookstore as
too commercial, the profusion of movements as a gimmick to induce the
unwary consumer to keep returning for more. The practitioner simply
suspends judgment, and goes along for the ride. The movements are
performed to perfection in the way they are taught, and the answers
are sought from the end results of practice and experience. I do not
judge either the cynic or practitioner, although the practitioner is
closer to my heart. As the sorcerers say, "I never thought I'd live
forever, so let's do it."
Postscript: Santa Monica Practice Group
On the evening following the workshop I attended a practice group in a
dance studio on Santa Monica Blvd. From 35-40 people were in
attendance, a figure that was probably inflated by the recent
workshop. This workshop was no nonsense practice - not much
socializing here. We practiced the 6 long forms many many times to
exhaustion. This practice really helped to cement my kinesthetic
memory of the long forms, most of which would have faded without the
practice group.
I heartily recommend these practice groups to those who can't afford
to attend a lot of workshops. They really help!