movement and sound#

how to innovate

when you watch someone communicating via sign language you cant help but be mesmorized. there is something so beautiful and visceral about watching the body move, about what it conveys. what if you were to move your whole body, and through that movement were able to say something that came not only from your conscious mind but your subconscious. The energies of the body can be broken up into gross and subtle. the subtle energies are constantly being tweaked throughout the day, as the more gross energies depend more upon how much sleep we had or what kind of foods we have eaten, or fight/flight survival responses.

Regardless of what is going on internally on the gross or subtle levels is an entire language of communication that mirrors these energies, and puts them into form via emotions and thoughts. Sometimes emotions are arising and sometimes thoughts but they are very much intertwined with no clear definition of which came first. Constantly flarring forth into your psyche are concepts of being, and being itself, and with this process of expansion and contraction, chaos and stillness, we find something powerful.

All of us consciously can have an understanding of what we want to say in relation to gross or subtle energies. I am tired, I can say I need a nap. I am hungry I can communicate with the server that I would like a sandwhich. What gets lost in these basic communicative factors are the subconscious things that our brain and body are constantly computing. Most of these computations have to do with survival, even someone else facial expressions have something to do with survival if we have connected our wellbeing with theirs. It does not matter if they are a stranger or they are in close relationship to you, they will affect you on some survival level.
For example, if a man is sitting at a table across from you and looks very agitated, when you notice him, it will send a red flag up in your mind and you will start to express some either subtle or overt form of concern/worry, mirroring his agitation. If this man is your partner and they are sitting across from you, you will most likley respond in greater measure with an immense amount of discomfort, concern, confussion, or hurt, dependent on the situation. Overall the dynamics we have with ourselves and the world change but what is computed throughout the day through our bodies is miraculous and vast.

We have so much to process, not only the gross material energies like sustenance, or other peoples thoughts and opinions, we also have our own stories, and emotions, our associations, and evolution of growth and development. Because of this we need a way to work through and cleanse ourselves of this accumulation.

Many people do this in various ways. they use coping skills to carry on the things that they do, they do cleanses and fasts, they exert energy through excersice. these are all healthy outlets. I very much am a firm believer that you have to do everything you can, and anything that works for you.

What I have gravitated toward and have felt has been a universal connector in personal relations is music. Simply put sound has a frequency, and rhythm aligned with our own beings. When we are able to take notice of any moment when we have heard a song that we like, or a song we have never heard before that resonates with us, we can admit to ourselves that music is wonderful. WE can be taken by the moment and lose ourselves in whatever emotion it invokes.

For a long time I experimented with sad music. I would listen to the most heart wrenching songs about heartache and troubles, and I would associate my likened experiences and difficult times with these songs. Some might have thought this to be masochistic, and pointless, and at times, at the beginning when I didnt know any better, it was. Listening to a song that reminded me of someone I had a negative experience with, or reminded me of a sad time lets say, would put me right back to that place in time, in that poor state. But as I began to really feel the music for what it was I learned to find catharsis in the songs.

Now I find that this is often not easy when there are words, because words bring us back to the mind-thinking mental process. Sure the word can get us to observe what is going on with us, but this is more aligned with the gross energies that exist, because it strikes up memory and emotion in a way that doesnt allow for subtle energies to be held in the same way. I say this because our minds are highly associative.

Heres an example. There was this girl that I wasnt very fond of in grad school who in fact was mirroring something in me that I didnt want to admit to myself. I found her very irritating and made it a point to avoid her at all costs. Then she arrived at a mutual friends birthday party and joined in dancing as we all were to a song that I rather liked called Kids by MGMT. She started to sing the lyrics and do hand motions and exert prominent facial expressions flailing her body about. After that night, every time I heard that song I thought of her, and could hear her voice and visualize her expressions and movements. It made me very mad. I felt like the song was ruined, and I couldnt play it anymore.