Brian Johnson Movement

Grateful 😇 for another revolution around the Sun 🌞. As time passes and form continues to change, I grow increasingly more interested in that which has never changed. I’m fascinated by the fact that the same witness has always been there, unaltered, always available to connect with. The more I peel back the layers and enter into that knowing, the more I become comfortable with the uncertainty that comes with being human, giving rise to the deepest of gratitude.

Thank you all for the wonderful notes, wishes, gifts, the truly warm my heart. ❤️

Novelty and complexity in the great dance toward expansion and growth.

The novel is shiny, tempting, and always trying to pull us in.

The complex is riddled with difficulties, paradox, and resistance.

Sometimes we are lucky and make conscious choices that foster that evolution.

Mostly, decisions are unconscious to the role these two play in development along a path.

The novel can exist without the complex.

The complex cannot exist without the novel.

Seek novelty only and progress is lost.

Become aware of the relationship and the force is with you.

It’s only through process, discernment, and trust that the path is sustained.

All these years later, I’m still very much hyper aware of the tendency to move away from what I don’t like. And the paradox that the more I do move toward those things, the more I start to “like” them, and the more I step into something bigger.

This is an ongoing practice for me and a directive for my daily approach to movement and life. The “what” is somewhat arbitrary, trusting the process and continuing to open up to the new.

It is wisdom that is searching for wisdom. - unknown

So many reasons to practice, so few needed to practice.

Initially, the more reasons we build up for why we move or practice, the more longevity we bake into actually moving and practicing. But over time these reasons come to represent hollow shells, empty of lasting any value (aesthetics, skills, expression, to name a few). What they do offer is a deeper connection to both ourselves and the world around, exposing our true nature, which is to move, play, be, all without need for a reason. 📷

Movement is deeply tied to the sensitivity of the organism. As we move through life, losing sensitivity becomes a slippery slope, and unfortunately is the norm. The phrase “in touch” literally refers to our ability to stay connected, grounded, with our true nature, part of which is big bodied | complex movement.

Our environment and conditioning doesn’t support our biology. Our priority placed on thinking only gradually puts us out of touch with the practice and honing of other senses, gradually losing this quality that keeps us “sharp”.

We do have a choice however every moment of every day to connect with ourselves, nature, our nature, moving more. It’s a place to start anyway and a potent reminder. 📷

One persons health is anothers disease.

For many years I’ve been in denial as to the ill state of health that our society has fallen to. Gradually we have and continue to become increasingly sick, sedentary, diseased, fragmented, and separated from our natural world. Our “connections” continue to unfold more and more in the virtual, a direct extension from the thinking only aspect of our being.

We have yet to realize that what gets created from sickness is more sickness. We don’t see it because we don’t think we are sick. We continue to study sick people to understand what health is. It’s akin to studying air in order to know what water is, which of course is nonsensical.

There are many reasons we can point to for how we’ve gotten here, most of it based in the unconscious. Some might say money or greed, others might say comfort or ease, but the first stage of moving forward is to wake up and accept. As these two crucial components come together naturally there is a desire to educate oneself. I’m not referring to forced schooling but to personal education, through individual research, trial and error, understanding who and what we are.

This is a huge reason movement is a cornerstone to a solution for a sick society. It pulls us out of the virtual and back into the physical, is very potent in personal education and refers back to other aspects of holistic health (nutrition, sleep/rest, stillness).  

What am I saying here? Don’t judge your own health of what others think is healthy for you. Your health is your responsibility. It must come through inquiry, experimentation, study. Research points a direction, personal exploration adds discretion. It’s the discretion and discernment that we so desperately need.

A few valid questions to start with that will be explored in future posts.

What is a healthy diet?

What is good sleep?

What is stillness?

What is health?

Important questions with ambiguous answers that need more clarity and congruency to move forward.

Technique without process is a short, and often unfullfilling pursuit. Collecting technical details of practice just leaves you with a pile of unorganized material that amount to very little on their own, leading to even more chaos and confusion.

Technique with process sustains. It integrates information in a more direct path to sense making of the topic, in this case, a well organized movement practice.

The technical is only the first step in any process. You have to learn the parts in order to inform new qualities that only exist beyond technique. This happens through consistency and repetition and is part of an orderly system.

Questions worth inquiring regarding process.

Do I have one?

Is it working? How do I know?

Are there any examples or representations of the path I’d like to pursue? If so, what’s stopping initiation of the next step?

These have all served me well in the past and continue to serve me today. ✌🏻

When one is oriented in process, it’s byproducts all the way down.

Process solidifying into practice brings about the qualities and attributes we consciously and unconsciously strive for, as byproducts of this process. It allows us to better understand how things connect preventing us for losing steam when we feel we’ve hit the peak of development. There is no peak, only process. From a movement oriented approach here are just a few.

six pack abs.

fitness.

skill acquisition and performance.

longevity and health.

artistic expression.

self discovery.

List the reason you move and a focus on process will take care of it. It will also bring in a higher quality approach. This applies not only to movement but also to other holistic qualities related to how we live (eat. think. commune).

And this all begins with view. Establishing a beginners mindset and remaining forever a student.

We are never looking for, but are always interested in, students open to this mindset, they seem to find their way here. If this resonates let us know and we’d love to have you. 📷

Here’s what I can guarantee, you will fall back.

Back to a smaller frame of reference, a practice discipline or group of patterns that feel familiar, comfortable, and easy.

But if you’re honest with yourself, you won’t stay there long, you can’t. You’ve tasted something bigger, broader, and more expansive. You realize that for every second, minute, hour, day that you’re there, you’re shrinking, contracting, reducing to the old you.

This isn’t just some hippie dippy talk, this is real life. We all move through these spirals, up and down, in every aspect of life, mostly unconscious. A general rule of thumb is that when stress increases, disturbances create imbalance and we choose to step back down into our old patterns. It takes real diligence, stamina, work, consistency, awareness, and humility to keep moving along the upward path. We intuitively feel when we’ve moved from our non-fixed point in either direction but often can’t pinpoint the wobble.

What does this look like from a movement oriented approach? Here are a few examples I’ve both seen and/or experienced.

Practicing what’s comfortable. Staying in and viewing from a particular lens or environment you already know when deep down you intuit that you’ve outgrown the particular practice.

Trying to create something new from the same lens or “container” by simply adding a few tricks, instead of adopting a wider more inclusive perspective.

Trying to create your “own” amalgamated practice, when in reality you barely commit the time for any practice, nor understand basic principles that would even allow you to amalgamate them.

These aren’t easy realizations to come to, I know, I’ve experienced all of them, which is why it’s also fairly easy for me to spot when they pop up. Whether that’s in myself or my students, I know these things are constantly in flux. Moving along the spiral is the process of life and understanding when we’ve found something true, and working toward it, the infinite game.