TAO 2-Week Study Notes (PART 2)

Session 3: The Art & Science Of Athleticism

Athleticism: The ability to displace one’s body in space

*Art = Making something simple more complex

*Science = Making something complex more simple ...there are pros and cons to both approaches (neither is better per se).

Cultivating Attention: Especially when outside, narrowing our focus is crucial for effective learning and for the right kind of attention to spill out into the rest of the session (eg. simple throw and catch game)

Energy Systems: Aerobic - with oxygen (upto approx 60% of max Heart Rate / effort)

Anaerobic threshold - much less oxygen (80% of max HR / effort typically) // Extreme Anaerobic - (90+% of max HR / effort); a 1-rep max on bench press or 100m competitive sprint for instance.

*SOURCE: The Science Of Running (Steve Magness)

A Useful Heuristic For Athleticism: “The lower body needs intensity, the upper body needs complexity” (Ido Portal)

*SOURCE: The work of Ido Portal

JUMPING: Elastic qualities transferring into many different areas of movement and life // arms as elastic levers and brakes (before and after jump) // split and joined arm configurations invite easy turns, jumps and simple athletic manoeuvres.

TOUCH-SHOULDER GAME: Alive yet safe fight practice, linking footwork, coordinations and energy systems together (60% / 80% practice etc) CHABLONE: Greater than the sum of its parts! Simple yet infinite type of practice and training tool. Has ‘emergent qualities’ - patterns, styles, manoeuvres and coordinations that can never be planned, rehearsed or predicted etc.

SEQUENTIAL QUALITY: Never stopping, always moving, even if at a very slow pace. Invites a state of FLOW and spontaneity during one’s ‘improvisation’ (in this case, Chablone)

PANDICULATION: The ability to regulate, harmonise and balance out one’s body through intuitive movements. Running and walking great for this (amongst other tools).

STICCATO / FIRE BREATH: Fast, rhythmic, diaphragmic breathing (200 reps total). Powerful tool for gaining attentive control of one’s emotional state, and strengthening one’s core and respiratory system.

Session 4: Floorwork & Soft Acrobatics

Floorwork: ‘the poor man’s massage’ (unknown genius).

Acrobatics: the capacity to reconfigure one’s body in space.

The Shrimp & The Starfish: ‘Moving from the centre’ - fundamental principle we can apply to many areas of life and movement // the term ‘auxeticity’ is the ability of an organism to contract and expand as needed.

CIRCLES: ‘Material efficiency’ - the more sides / more circular then the more space is created within the same amount of material.

SPIRALS: Allows us to move smaller OR larger / inwards OR outwards without stopping or changing direction.

FIGURE OF 8: Allows us to change direction (clockwise / anticlockwise) without stopping or reversing our movement. ...examples of all such shapes found everywhere in Nature, as well as in the body - expressed by the hands, spine, legs, head, feet etc through infinite movement possibilities.

*SOURCE: Everything Moves (Susan Lowell de Solorzano)

AMALGAM WALK: Softening / relaxing hands and feet, walking in all directions (To ‘amalgamate’ means to blend or combine).

HEAD DEXTERITY: Keeping head, eyes and neck available and dexterous at all times.

*SOURCE: The work of Marcello Palozzo

KICK-UPS: Shifting body weight / developing ‘proprioception’ (awareness of one’s body parts in space) / stimulating the vagus nerve / moving blood around the body / building foundation for further inversions and acrobatic manoeuvres .

IMPROVISATION: Circles, Head and Legs (3 areas to explore during Improv). What might socks, shoes, barefoot etc offer us as a tool and/or also take away from our learning and development?

STILLNESS: Eg. the Standing Pole. The background upon which everything else is built. What does it mean to keep a layer of stillness with you everywhere you go...? And whenever you move also...?

...Movement and Stillness are perhaps not ‘opposites’ in fact, but entwined / entangled / reliant upon each other.

For more movement education and writings, visit: www.danieleagles.co.uk