Plant powered movement enthusiast Grant Big Love on the power of movement
A huge part of my movement practice has become moving in ways that my body wants to move because it is telling me to move, under the most stressful circumstances like school and sometimes even most non-stimulating circumstances like laying, sitting, or standing meditation. I want my body to tell me how to heal it, so I give it respect in all that I do for it, constantly learning new things from it, and even others, even animals, even plants.
One thing I have learned is about shaking the body, fully aware of it, but letting the body sort of do its own thing. To start, you may focus on shaking at one joint and move to the next beneath it, like the shoulder, the elbow, then the wrist, even the fingers (which may take practice but you can still move them back and forth, slowly or rapidly). This doesn’t need to be so thorough but again, take full awareness, presence and loving energy into the action. The shoulders hips and spine are so densely tensed for many, so doing this should help alleviate your body to a degree. Just keep in mind that this is one of many new ways to move your body. You aren’t a shaking animal, but you can shake, as well as dance, climb, crawl, run, hike, and so many other things. Enjoy this as a new thing to apply to your movement each day, maybe before or after or during other modes. Get creative.
You have most certainly seen an animal shake its body, either because it was wet or it just has a lot of energy.
It seems there are so many social circumstances that I have been in where my body which I was tuned into, told me one thing to move, while the boredom and stagnation of the people around me told me not to. We might shake our bodies before a competition because of nerves or when we are dancing, now there even is a name for a specific shaking: twerking. However, so many will rarely elect to even begin these physical events and opportunities, which is unfortunate because they are fun and often excellent to the body. I find that humans are special in their ignorance of the body, and I invite you to explore its many secrets.
Love,
Vision,
Strength,
Grant Big Fruit
