Workshop on Well-Being for Plymouth Music Zone
14 staff
2pm-4.30pm Nov 24 2017
Main issues of working under pressure under chaotic circumstances and shortage of time.
Some of the challenges raised
participants maybe in a state of aggression/stress
heavy equipment, prevention of accidents (wheel chair/mobility safety issues) awkward positions and access
sheer numbers (eg 30 primary school ukulele players to one teacher)
localities far-flung so travelling between venues and little time for recovery
Aim to raise self awareness and offer choices for practical self-care.
Lunch prior to starting was a great way to meet people first, get to grips with names and make an informal connection with as many individuals as possible.
Plan… overview
The mechanics of tension
Body mapping
tea break
Situational role play
Takeaway tips
First Activity
group divide into A’s and B’s
The toothbrush as analogy ( thanks to Penny O’Connor)
( by sheer coincidence some staff had been sweating all week to meet yesterday’s deadline to complete and produce music as accompaniment to child teeth care video)
“Statues”
A’s observe while B’s “brush teeth” with anticipation of a dreadful day/exciting day
I call “Pause” and ask B’s to ramp up the physical tension.
check in to see how it is to breath etc.
swap A’s in action. B’s observe
play with various moods that evoke fight/flight/freeze/ holding patterns; compare with the thought of a holiday in favourite landscape/climate etc
notice what happens as a consequence simply of thought and physical response.
“mind moves the body”
Discussion
My story of first learning to use electric toothbrush and immediately assuming the red warning light was a fault with the “equipment” whereas it was actually an indication of my using too much pressure.
Compare our own “ warning bells” of using too much energy and not being aware/not paying attention. How can we become more aware of these alarm bells?
summary
It wasn’t the toothbrush, it was me.
easy to place attention on the offending circumstance/equipment.
Alexander’s experience etc
Mapping
Meanwhile a beautiful granite head sized river-bed stone weighing approximately 6kg has been passed around the group.
anecdote about the misguided renovation of the Carnegie Hall… cement poured under wooden floor destroyed the acoustics. Rectified by removing cement.
AT helps to remove the “cement” so that by releasing our grab-hold on the bones, our own “instruments” can resonate with greater freedom.
Body Mapping.
(Albinus Plates)
when we move in a way that is a mismatch to our innate design, the result is always tension.
How when the heavy head is out of “balance” the nervous system has to work so much harder to enable us to remain standing.
Seated in a circle I spent a little time with a few individuals in the group demonstrating with hands on, the contrast between chin head and nose head….how sitting, with a sense of the sitting bones can become an act of dynamic balance as opposed to effort.
All moving around the room.
Chin head/nose head… the balance point of head on neck…the bottom of the head at the front is not the chin!
Dog tail, duck tail,
Wing structure
how extremes of the above and in combination, limit range of movement of the wing structure, the breath etc
the relevance for musicians and their instruments/computer stations/etc
Preparation for role play… (thanks to Bruce Fertman)
Divided group into 3’s and 4’s “we have 10 minutes before Tea Break and I’ll call time”
( very nice quiet chime that needs me to come close to each group and ‘ding’ gently)
“choose a challenging situation that you could role play.
i.e. as though preparing a short clip from a film scene”
1 or 2 observers. Their role is to keep to task in the planning
the “actors” compile a short scenario to illustrate after tea.
from the 4 groups I would select the one that I felt
most able to offer some constructive intervention
seemed to speak to as many of the individual and group needs as possible.
went around each group in turn to clarify details/instructions and roles of observers and to pick up on subject matter etc…
opportunity for me to stand back, observe group as whole, check in with myself and with group co-ordinator
Pooh Quote
“it is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long difficult words but rather, short, easy words, like “ what about tea?” (thanks to Robyn Avalon)
TEA BREAK ( continue with role play preparation/discussion if necessary)
Each group spokesperson outlined a situation. I had said that I would select one.
This was the moment to illustrate the value of inhibition… I did not know what to do yet, so described how I wanted to take a moment, get a sense of myself and the room, and (as i could feel myself disappearing into a slight hole… they were all truly tricky situations!!) make good eye contact with everyone and take time to make a choice from the 4 on offer.
I could also feel the pull of wanting to find solutions rather than pay attention to the quality of being.
This was the situation I was most drawn to choose.
An interview/staff review situation with boiling frustration for the person being reviewed and utter oblivious and dogged “we will keep going until we are finished with the paper work” in the other.
Interviewee
White knuckles, deep slump and clenched toes. No eye contact. etc etc.
Interviewer
totally unaware of his subject, buried in form-filling/task completion.
after a minute or so of watching this scenario become more and more painfully stuck, we “pause” and take a break, while the rest of the group says how it makes them feel… great discussion. Varied responses from laughter to acute discomfort/anxiety… and the opportunity for me to encourage people to notice themselves in addition to their colleagues.
Action Replay.
now I intervene with a slow stream of suggestions to Mr. White Knuckles. “notice the space we are in. the room around you. your feet on the floor. what would happen if you placed your hands softly on your knees, unclenched your toes” etc .a little hands on guidance.
He opens out and sits tall. and makes eye contact. His opposite number, Mr. Oblivion shifts and looks up from the sheaf of paper work.
Me to Mr. not so White Knuckles “is there anything you’d like to say to Mr. O ?’
“do you think we could go for a walk before the sun goes down?”
and the grip/powerlessness of the situation has loosened.
From here it was possible to use this as a model to briefly address the other 3 unplayed role play situations.
We continued with a little more about our interviewee who is very tall and who often feels he has to contort himself by reducing his height so that “others feel comfortable”
excellent discussion here… beliefs/identity/what is considered natural. “why not be yourself here”
I am very short in comparison.
we were enjoyably able to explore the discomfort together.
Feedback and invitation
to help me set up other opportunities for me to share this work
I put this in here because I knew I would be likely to forget at the very end of the workshop.
Discussion around the experience of the afternoon. Very positive.
“ at no time did it feel like one more thing to do or get wrong”
“completely different approach that makes it feel relevant to what I’m doing”
I will get a summary of the written feedback forms in due course.
Nice way to make a transition between this role play activity and moving into final piece of the afternoon.
To Takeaway “The Cycle”
This is an etude developed by Mio Morales and which you can look into by finding his Facebook page where he has been demonstrating and enlarging on the topic with daily videos for the last 40 or so days.
I wanted to offer the most portable, least time consuming yet powerful practice in training agility of thought combined with effectiveness on the nervous system.
Something that would conceivably be a manageable form of self care.
I could have chosen constructive rest, but my suspicions were that whilst this would have been a relaxing end to a full day, it might have a very small take-up!
In fact the pace slowed right down and the room became very still and peaceful.
Finally a poem, written in summer 2016 in response to observing Bruce Fertman’s work.
Stay right there
There, where she can receive herself.
Where she can perceive herself.
As she is .
No judgement, only warm, friendly curiosity.
The curiosity that simply asks a little question,
here and there.
We take in the beauty of her form.
A sculpture worn by many years of life’s mouldings
and brushings.
Bumps and blips.
The slights and slips that pass in the night.
A foot tells a tale of turning in.
A curl of the elbow, shrug of the shoulder.
A twist, a shallow breath, a chewed lip.
How are you doing?
A whisper of smoke drifts in with the question.
It coils and spreads, sings and croons, apparently aimless,
yet not so.
Be here
A coyote calls on the plain, howls to the moon
and remembers.
She settles back a little.
Shifts her weight.
Takes a look around and eases out..
Softens and spreads.
A spell unbound.
She is so beautiful.
Come take a walk…..come home.
& lastly
“Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could contain a rather large amount of gratitude”.