Authentic Movement and Teaching

I know “Authenticity”is a buzz word right now. But it remains a great way to describe what it is that we’re searching for in our own creative movement practice or moving art.

It’s also what we’re searching for in our work. We want to present ourselves and our work as we are, authentically.

Everyone benefits when we show up as our selves. Below I share two stories from personal interactions I had with two younger coaches/teachers. Seeing them happier in their coaching/teaching profession warms my heart.

The video below is of a mentor of mine Linda from Fighting Monkey Practice.

Linda is a dancer and an incredible mover and teacher. I wanted to show you this video within the context of Authentic Movement. Now Linda could just give her students planks or push-ups to strengthen their core, shoulders and chest. Or, as she has done here, give those students something more playful, more artistic, more authentic to her own training and lineage.

Which one do you think her students enjoy more? Which one has more engagement and encourages physical expression? Which one will keep them coming back for more?

I speak much more about Fighting Monkey here: How to Get Smashed & Keep Going.

Creative Problem Solvers and Play

My calling is to help you become skillful and creative through establishing a direct connection between you, your environment and your task. Not pulling away from it by becoming an automatic and reflexive robot. As a moving or martial artist, or just someone that wants to enjoy the physical world around them, we must become adaptive problem solvers and creative decision makers.

One of the best ways to help cultivate these elements is through partner play. Below Molly and Alex do a wonderful job of communicating with one another as well as with the tool that’s between them.

It's a shame we're outsourcing these.

It breaks me heart actually that we have and are completely outsourcing our own Creativity and Physicality.

When was the last time you allowed yourself to be bored? To let your own thoughts and imagination flow ?

I fully support learning from other folks and gathering resources and inspiration but there has to be a balance.

There has to be a time in our own lives where we stop the entertainment and channel surfing. And physically… we have basically stopped all skill work, even in relationship to movement and exercise. There is no skill associated with sitting on a seated leg extension machine and busting out some reps. Maybe useful in some rehab/prehab situations but unlikely...

Cooking and preparing our own food is a pain. We can't even clean or vacuum our own homes, we have to outsource that to little round robots. And then we complain that we have aches and pains. Yes we do, because we're doing less and less to actually nourish our tissues with movement.

We do not stop moving because we get old, we get old because we stop moving.

Creative Movement Live

My signature workshop: Creative Movement Live is an intensive training, a meeting between an artist and their body. It’s a workshop that gives you permission to be yourself fully.

Not in a way that is meant for other people or for their approval or pleasure, but your own. This workshop is about you and your creativity and physicality.

It is a workshop that ask for a lot and in return gives back just as much.

On this creative path is trust, and I’ve been blessed to help facilitate a curious, playful exploration of possibilities.

Thank you to everyone who has taken my Creative Movement Live , shown up fully, and trusted me to help guide and shape your relationship with movement, play and physical expression.

It’s your journey, your pilgrimage, but I’m so honored to have been there for you. Thank you.

Making Motor Learning Easier ( 2 Things)

Generally speaking there are 2 things that make learning easier.

Learning, in my field of movement and motor learning, can be a very deep and broad topic but I'm trying to keep things basic and very understandable.

In the video example above, I speak about balls being a perfect example of novelty and familiarity.

Sometimes when I’m presenting or teaching my Creative Movement Workshops I can feel some hesitation and apprehension in the air.

People do not know what to expect and are a little shy.

But once I break out the balls, usually tennis and medicine balls people relax a bit and become very willing to play and explore.

You can check out two completely different populations, from two different workshops, using the same simple ball game here:

Creative Movement Workshops

Experiment with these and let me know what you come up with.

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Creating a Sacred Space

Every practice has a space, and that space is sacred.

Setting up your workspace is a vital part of your creative process, whether we’re speaking of creative movement or another artistic expression or practice. Your environment has a significant impact on expression.

A personal place of expression is a grounding influence and a partner through every phase of expression.

I personally envision the studio, the dojo, or the woodshed as a nucleus of creation, a source from which creative movement and expression flows outward to other areas of life and the place to which it returns again.

Personally, I maintain my artistic workspace as a sanctuary, a place at home where creative expression is nourished and regenerated.

Start by setting up your space. Your very own creative movement woodshed.

A few years ago I was struggling to find or uncover my own practice so I literally built a woodshed where I could move and create daily.

I wrote about here: Jiu-Jitsu and the Slow Track.

Exercise, Expression and Creative Movement

““I estimate that the average professional person gives much more time each week to physical exercise than to creative expression. We have discovered that health is significantly affected by how we care for our bodies. Why is it that we have overlooked the way creative energy influences our individual and collective well-being? Can you consider making a small weekly time commitment to creative exercise?

If your time is really constricted , consider how a discipline like creative movement can combine body, mind and creative spirit.””

— Shaun McNiff

Putting the Art Back Into the Art of Teaching

Some of your students/ athletes/artists simply will not consider themselves artists. My personal opinion is that anyone that steps inside a movement or martial arts studio is already an artist, it’s simply a matter of refining and cultivating one’s artistic skill.

Recently a mentor of mine, who is a dancer, told me that everyone is a dancer, but some people just need to learn, or maybe relearn the techniques. As a grappler, I would add that we are all grapplers, but maybe we just need to learn or relearn some techniques. My sons, as toddlers were excellent dances and roughhousers (grapplers.)

That’s how I think about movement and martial arts. Or even personal training and athletic development. It’s our job to bring out the artistry and movement creativity in our students. We are here to help guide and shape someone, not to change them.

If you’d like to learn more about my upcoming workshop please go here for some details Teach Like an Artist.

TEACH LIKE AN ARTIST

$50.00

Teach Like an Artist Workshop

Whether you've learned to teach through a solid teacher training program, apprenticeship, or time and experience, you know there's a lot to coaching & training: safety, spotting, cueing, anatomy, and all of the soft skills.

But how do you teach like an Artist?

How do you make deep connections with your students, clients or athletes?

The Art of Teaching is about creating connection.

And it may not seem essential at first, but if you've ever felt burned out, struggled to come up with new material, or noticed that your students stop progressing at a certain level, it might be that your spark of artistry needs to be reignited.

This workshop will help you:

• Make deeper connections with your students, clients or athletes.

• Create an environment that is fun for everyone (including you!!!)

• Adjust your lesson plan based on your student’s body type, learning style, or other individual needs

It is great for coaches & trainers of all levels of experience. Think of it as a continuing education workshop to support and enhance your skills as a coach or trainer. Improve your connections and remember why you wanted to do this whole teaching thing in the first place!

WHO IS THIS FOR:

Anyone who currently coaches, is thinking about coaching or wants a deeper understanding of what goes into teaching a class, a 1 on 1 session, or a practice that balances good technique with creativity.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

-A 90 minute video class presented by Jason C. Brown who has 23 years of experience as a movement and martial arts teacher.

-A downloadable PDF/Ebook of the “Teach Like an Artis” approach.

-An opportunity to as questions and get real time answers (live recording only.)

TEACH LIKE AN ARTIST

$50.00

Creative Movement Workhops

I recently taught a workshop in beautiful Philadelphia PA called The Art of Play.

The focus was on creative movement and exposure to different moving and martial arts like combat yoga and steel mace work (heavy but artistic and graceful.)

My creative movement workshops are about connection and communication.

Communication with yourself, with other people but also with the mediums and tools we use and play with.

I like to think of ourselves as craft folk and often use the imagery of us shaping the medium or the object, and in return, having the medium or object shape us back.

We touch the clay and the clay touches us back. We touch the yoga block or dragon's pearl and they touch us back.

Creative Movement Training is all about physical problem solving.

This Art of Play workshop took place in beautiful Jim Thorpe PA. The artists/athletes were quite a diverse group of movers, yogis, dancers, physical education teachers and gym rats.

A good time was had by all. We change partners often to bring even more variety and challenge.