In this class, we’ll explore five fundamental qualities that reflect our options for satisfying and effective action.
Modern psychology, organizational research, the new sciences, wisdom traditions, and martial arts have all repeatedly “discovered” five fundamental elements that represent human qualities and behavioral options. These elements link to personal development through body-mind practices, and also represent options for satisfying and effective action across domains (e.g., leadership, team building, career development, relationship building, athletic performance).
In the four-week “Bioenergetics: Vital Awareness” class, we will be doing an introduction to fundamental body-mind practices that are core to bioenergetic work. Naturally, we’ll be attending to body, moving, breathing, energy – and increasing awareness of both our natural spontaneous selves, as well as ways we block knowing and living our true selves.
In that class we’ll also be touching on what I’ve called the Elements of Power in various personal development and leadership trainings over the years. These elements reflect five basic principles/tools to return to over and over in the midst of everyday life. The elements are: Presence-Energy, Ground, Heart, Intent, and Openness. In this class, we’ll focus on body-mind experience, and learn how these elements offer fundamental practices for personal awakening – for recovering our presence, our true selves, and for living and expression who we are more fully.
Self-awareness, self-expression, and self-possession are important in body-mind work, and these elements provide a route to these three prized qualities in the bioenergetic tradition.
The core principles address the role of presence/awareness, energy and habits in our lives. Presence and conscious use of our attention-awareness is the basic practice, energy is the basic resource, and habit (mental-emotional, bodily) is the basic trap that keeps us from being present in our authentic selves. In being present, and learning where we “interrupt” ourselves, we gain increasing access to the power of our hearts, bodies, and minds and become more empowered in our relationships.
Being in the world, these practices support us in living fully, happily, and effectively
The four fundamental practices are tools we use to: ground, listen to our heart, hone our intention, and to remain open. These tools can be used in a moment-by-moment way in the midst of everyday life, to be present and to rest in our authentic selves, and connect with the world around us. Being in the world, these practices also support us in living fully, happily, and effectively. We can live and build what we care about in the domains of our physical selves, our relationships, and our careers.
Elements of Power
Presence/Energy
Ground Heart Intent Openness
In another post, I’ll cover some more details of these qualities/practices, and also show how they can be found across many domains (e.g., career work, leadership, martial arts, archetypal psychology). I’ve covered these topics over the years in my in-house organizational work, as well in seminars I’ve done. By introducing these elements into the body-mind work, we firmly ground the principles and practices in your bodily/emotional experience – your felt sense of self. Again, all toward the purpose of being present authentically, increasing your sense of the free flow of life energy – and serving the principles of moving toward self-awareness, self-expression, and self-possession.