I love this: Reading about Alexander this morning and thinking about order and our design. "When the head is leading and the spine following, all movement is organized and supported dynamically, and it is that organization and support that gives moment its breathtaking beauty and integrity." Conoble from How to Learn the Alexander Technique. Then I find this on brainpickings.org : http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/14/a-theory-of-pure-design-beauty/ "By order, I mean particularly three things - Harmony, balance and rhythm. These are the principle modes in which Order is revealed in nature...." Denman Waldo Ross on design and the experience of beauty.

Run Run Run said the pine tree's mom

Now that we have the internet... Our tour took us to way out there places and I found the urge to run. Maybe it was because we were constantly on the move, migrating in an overloaded vehicle, to a new destination daily. I got caught by this feeling to move forward and it came from seeing the dramatic shifts in landscape in a magnificent, humbling, ...holy continuous changing contour over the earth - feeling a part of that somehow and being taken by possibility. We started in California and when we hit Yosemite, I felt I needed to run beside these mountains - to be that small and that big at the same time. Then it was the deserts, around the rim of the Grand Canyon (like whoah - shouting into the canyon at 7 am on a deserted path is surreal)...animal, Rocky Mountain National Park, and oddly beside golf courses in Denver. It's been so hot that waking up at 7 and going running has become my routine (except today, my alarm didn't go off so I decided to write in the blog now that I can!). To start off thankful for my space in the world and needing to move forward in it has become my practice. I'm still nursing my ankle a little bit and oh so close to my running goal this summer. Now juggling...that's another thing. Haven't found much inspiration there.... JJ

We were working on "vocals" during a Mary Jane rehearsal several week back, and I experienced a very clear moment of...integration. I felt my voice through my physical self in very distinct way - harnessing my whole instrument to move this sound - or this sound harnessing my whole instrument. I was taken by the power I felt - the realization of power from this vocal/physical connection. My voice and body weren't working in tandem - it was something different - I felt it all happening together/ simultaneously.  I have always thought of my voice as a thing supported by my body - in partnership with breath...but I've been incorporating voice into my physical routine. Normally I run in silence, I do handstands in silence, I do pushups in silence.  This moment of integration is something I'm very curious to continue to investigate this summer and so far I've found vocal engagement in my practice to be a driving agent. The movement of body and voice together - the resonating feeling that happens - the sense of whole hurling through space - the spaces in the body where voice comes from.

Summer 2012

Hello Fellow Authors:
 
You have made it- the end of your second year. For the next year you will be co-authors of this Blog- the place to inspire and motivate one another over the summer months.

Lets get started by listing our priorities and goals for the summer.

Personally I would like to focus on hand balancing, writing, and running. 

Hand balancing
I would like to develop and implement a 30 minute hand balancing work out that builds strength, endurance, and coordination while targeting flexibility in the muscles engaged in the hand stand. 

Writing
I want to have the curriculum for each of my subjects in each of the three years of the program ready to go when school starts. I would also like to have the first draft of a book about Acrobatics started.

Running 
I would like to work myself back up to being able to run for 30 minutes. This will be the last step in my ankle rehabilitation.

If each of you could comment on this post with your priorities and goals by Friday June 8, 2012 I will put together a proposed schedule for comment and discussion.

Here we go...

Joe