The Emotional Movement Hypothesis
So here it is folks… call me a scientist, a spiritualist, a philosopher, who cares… but I DO have a hypothesis this time!
(As appose to my usual bunch of interesting questions and potential, poetic answers)
The hypothesis being that: All Movement Is Actually ‘Emotional’
This first became strikingly clear to me some years ago when my Butoh teacher explained rather wonderfully to us students that all physical movement has an emotion, and all emotion has a physical movement.
Most people would agree with this statement (generally speaking), but I suspect that ALL movement (physical or otherwise) is actually emotional too.
Many of our basic drives, instincts and actions are not really physical - at least not in the basic sense of the word. Conversing, writing, reading, painting, meditating, talking, eating etc.
These are movements apart from any obtusely physical practice, and seem to bare no resemblance to a moving body at all in some cases. And yet they are deeply emotional, requiring some of our inner most feelings and most vulnerable aspects of ourselves in order to do them.
Let’s take creativity, for example - perhaps the most remarkable ‘movement’ that a human being is capable of. After all, Art requires us to literally make something out of nothing; to channel some illusive idea or thought into tangible reality of some kind (be it on canvas, paper, a theatre stage or computer screen)…
Creativity is pure emotion. Even men and women with spinal cord injuries, barely able to move their bodies or even digest food, can do it, and sometimes really well!
So what’s actually happening then? How is emotion gathered, utilised and released within the body? And in what ways does it help us to understand the movement practice of our own emotions?
David Lynch is a great example of a true creative in my opinion. He makes the films HE wants to make and rarely plays it safe. Lynch also creates pretty shocking and unique contemporary artworks!
The simple (and most honest) answer: nobody knows!
However, let’s at least try a few (sort of) solutions to the problem; as, after all, we’ve made it this far!
1) Energy doesn’t necessarily have a purpose…
One of the ‘bibles’ of movement (in my opinion) is a book called The Neuroscience of Human Movement (by Charles Leonard). It explains, among many other things, that at least one third of the neurons we can measure in the body seem to have no actual reason for being there.
From a perspective of human self-will this is disappointing and even frightening - to think that we are just a bunch of partly pointless particles bumping around and randomly doing things with ourselves as a response.
From the point of view of destiny, the TAO or any sense of being susceptible for higher forces / greater powers, this is pretty understandable and even cool! Imagine after all that human beings are more like radios (with antenners) as appose to generators, and that we channel energy from other places, instead of creating anything ourselves…
Well, then it could be that all these neurons, emotions, energies that we harness and try to make sense of can be utilised, transformed and channelled in all kinds of ways… our job is to make clean and valuable pathways for ourselves and others to utilise these forces, instead of trying to either hold onto them or deny them for ourselves.
Perhaps I am biased, but this sounds like a pretty remarkable (and truthful) way or understanding emotional energies we all have access to; be it jealousy, anger, love, sadness, joy etc.
The Universe is a complete mystery. The idea that it must have a clear purpose is pretty much just a man made creation. And yet, what if purposelessness was actually the greatest thing of all?
2) Energy is neutral…
It’s been said that anger is an angry response to a neutral stimulus; that pain is a painful response to a neutral stimulus; that joy is a joyful response to a neutral stimulus etc.
At the basic level of reality everything simply IS WHAT IT IS…
Science tells us this. Spirituality also tells us this. The more both progress over time, the more this is shown to be true.
It’s a bitter pill to take though… of course, because it’s not comfortable to accept that one’s partner doesn’t really LOVE them so much, or that one’s child is actually SO important, or that that career you dedicated your life to also isn’t that special.
Ironically, once we can see our emotional attachments and drives as being rather ordinary and down to earth, they become much more manageable and even enjoyable. Emotional life becomes more like a game, rather than a desperate challenge.
What if your marriage or passionate love affair was actually more like a friendship? What if your work was more like a simple daily chore?
We can be strangely addicted to our struggles after all, it seems, just as we can be wildly hooked on those things that give us pleasure.
It is what it is - my favourite saying of all time. Just like the way Forrest Gump sort of stumbles rather smoothly through his life, ‘floating on a breeze’. It’s always humbling to be reminded of our insignificance, relative to all things.
3) Energy follows the Laws of Nature (‘The way’ / ‘The Tao’)…
We’ve all heard those sayings:
“What goes around comes around / What goes up must come down / Excess of pain breeds joy; excess of happiness breeds suffering”.
Whether it’s the yin and yang, the snake that bites its own tail (as in Chinese Philosophy) or the simple laws of physics, we all know deep down that there are no shortcuts, and so shouldn’t be surprised if one feels tired and a little down after a night of wild drinking and drug-taking (for instance).
Our emotions work always to be balancing us out; grounding us when too erratic, exciting us when feeling low and generally shifting gears throughout the day as is required. One cannot cheat the laws of nature in this respect; or at least not for long. Any miraculous attempt to bipass such laws almost always (and pretty quickly) smack us back to harsh reality.
Understanding and accepting our emotional options in all situations, and in every moment of the day, is the game; and our limited beliefs around what SHOULD be done in a day, or how we SHOULD feel on a particular date of the year, are usually what come in the way of us returning to balance over time.
The Tao Te Ching perhaps best describes this phenomena of forces moving through, energetically and emotionally. Reading it (and practicing various Taoist, physical and mental exercises) can enable us to use and feel the subtleties of yin and yang throughout our lives…
It has been said that rivers remain the same because they are always changing. Constant change and the momentary death (and rebirth) of ourselves allows us too to be a ‘river’.
So ask yourself:
What emotions might you be regularly avoiding? And are you obviously more comfortable in certain emotional states compared to others?
We all have our stories and our journey when it comes to emotions. Giving time and reflection to feel and discover yours for exactly what it is can only help, dear reader.
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