What Happens at a Creative Movement Workshop?

I’ve been asked to share a few details about what happens exactly at a Creative Movement Live workshop.

So I thought I’d be all formal and list a few objectives of the class to give you a better idea of what takes place.

Objective:

1. To develop quality movement and to experience the joy that comes with it. Joy makes everything easier and easy is productive. Less friction equals more momentum, and more momentum equals better results.

2. To build rapport with yourself, your training partners and the client or athlete. Most of the games and drills we’ll explore are cooperative challenges and shared successes.

If we can get ourselves & our clients/artists/athletes minds out of the workplace and into their bodies and training session we’ve done a good job.

Each creative movement is specifically designed to establish rapport and enthusiasm while addressing the entire spectrum of athletic develop and human movement.

In this workshop you’ll learn and practice exercises from several traditions such as martial arts, gymnastic and old school physical culture.

You’ll also learn to adapt several training tools into your creative movement program such as medicine balls, ropes, bands and agility equipment. Many times we’ll be combining those tools as well.

Other Objectives:

1. Getting comfortable with the drills. How to coach them, what to encourage and what to avoid.

2. Where does it fit within the overall program? Creative movement training can be used very effectively in several locations during the training session, such as the warm-up, active recovery or part of an intense circuit. creative movement training is very versatile, for example, it also works very well as an initial ice-breaker with a first time client.

3. Explaining the benefits. Clients may not associate play with results. It’s best to approach this question in a hands-on manner while demonstrating some drills that focus on the clients wants and needs. For example, there are many play-based drills that directly train the “core.” It’s hard to deny a training effect after a few moments.

4. Working with the variables. The variables are endless, timing, tools, rhythms, stability, balance, laughter, joy, self- expression and creativity to name a few.

Hope to see you there: Creative Movement Live Brooklyn

Living Life as an Artist

Living life as an Artist is a Practice.

You are either engaging in the practice or you are not.

It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it. It’s like saying, “ I’m not good at being a monk.” You are either living as a monk or you are not.

We tend to think of the Artist’s work as the output.

But.

The real work of the Artist is a way of being in the world.

Thank you Rick Rubin and The Creative Act.

I write more about practice here: Every Practice has a Space, and that Space is Sacred.

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.

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...Break the Exercise Rules

“Exploration “Play Rules.” These rules are as follows:
(1) you shall investigate the unfamiliar until it has become familiar; (2) you shall impose a rhythmic repetition on the familiar; (3) you shall vary this repetition in as many ways as possible; (4) you shall select the most satisfying of these variations and develop these at the expense of others; (5) you shall combine and recombine variations with one another; and (6) you shall do this all for its own sake, as an end in itself.”

— Desmond Morris - The Naked Ape (1967)

I wrote about this exact topic a few months ago. The fancy term in the movement literature is Motor Creativity but Creative Movement sounds much better.

You can check out that article here: What is Motor Creativity?