Neutral Mask

The first term of my Alexander Technique teacher training ended today after a five day residential course. Our schohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifol went to the Maitripa comtemplative centre in Healsville, a buddhist retreat in a beautiful part of the Upper Yarra Valley.

No TV, radio, mobile phone or internet disturbed the calming effect of the surroundings, and Paul Hampton, actor and Alexander teacher, presented the theme of this residential: the Neutral Mask.

David, Jenny, Penny McDonald, Ria and Margaret made up the teaching crew, and besides Jose every student came for at least some of the time to Healsville. The first day started with a nice lunch and the Neutral Mask. Paul brought a bunch of white masks, the eyes slightly downward slanted, the mouth a little bit less smiling than on the linked photo.

The mask does not know anything, wondering about everything and saying yes to everything. The mask lives in an imaginary world, aware of an all surrounding horizon, moving its view around with its head and not its eyes. The mask does whatever it want to do, however, it does not speak and does not explore its body. One can only see the mask when it faces the audience.

Paul instructed the participants into the characteristics of the mask, and how to handle the transition of oneself into the Neutral Mask. You treat the physical mask with respect, never put it face down, never poke your fingers through its eyes. You stand facing a wall, have a good look at the face you will put on in some seconds, take the rubber band around the back of the head, slide it slowly down onto your face and make it sit comfortable.

We started with all of us wearing a mask, and walking through the room, getting a first impression how it feels to wear it, breathing mainly through our mouths as hardly any air passed through the tiny holes of the nostrils.

Then we played some setting through, with three or four masks playing in the same imaginary setting. Have we seen the mask? I enjoyed both observing and wearing the mask. The settings became more complex from day to day, from involving objects to doing hands on partner work on the last.

I hope to find a source for some decent Neutral Mask, best with androgynous features. Using the mask on workshops looks like a promising idea for AT group work and even introductions into the principles.

Reverse monkey

My day started with a slight hangover, a bit of a cold, tense muscles spiced up with some self-pityness. I fostered this combination while in semi-supine before I had a turn with Jenny. Although I didn't anticipate my situation to get better, the turn brought me back into a more balanced state. As soon as I stopped trying hard, and feeling bad about the misuse during the weekend, release happened and got me more aware again.

As only half of the students came in today, I had a second turn with Ria, exploring the range of motion of my arms. The yoga session felt intense, although I already forgot how we started it. Doing the dog again drained a lot of energy, yet doing it properly brought some good stretching. We ended the yoga session with a reverse monkey, walking up the wall while supporting the body weight with the hands.

I slowly begin to understand the monkey now, and it certainly works better with intention than micromanaged on joint level. The final group session lasted only half an hour, and while waiting for the Pilates session with Heidi I tried to teach juggling to Ria and Rossi.

The pilates exercises challenged me a lot, although we did them in a slow pace. We started with raising awareness for our breathing, as most exercises synchronise breathing and movement. As all of us lack core strength, Heidi chose exercises involving the pelvic floor. Pilates challenges me more than expected, yet I like it. I will try to find some description on the web of what we did to do a little homework.