The workshop, too, reached its final day (October 13).
This time, the Rolf Instructors are three: Rita Geirola (hereafter Rita), France Hatt-Arnold (hereafter France), and Herve Baunard (hereafter Herve).
The class proceeds with Rita as the main and France and Herve as sub, supplementing from time to time. The ERA opens at 8:30 a.m., with fruit, hot water, and water prepared, so it is possible to relax in the break space and prepare for the class.
The class begins at 9 a.m. First, an Embodiment is presented by Rita. In the Part 1 and Part 2 classes too, the class begins with Embodiment; the difference is that, after finishing the Embodiment, a clear explanation of “with what intention it was built” is required.
The class started with Rita’s Embodiment. Watching the situation of the class, from time to time it was split into two groups — an “observing group” and a “receiving group” for Rita’s Embodiment — setting aside time to observe. I think there are not that many opportunities to look at a group from the standpoint of someone who teaches, and what is gained by seeing with the eyes is great.
According to Rita, “a human learns to ‘see’ through education and experience.” As I wrote before in this column, this contrasts with the other two senses (the inner-ear sense and the muscle sense), which are already in place (see “Organizing the Balance of the Three Information-Gathering Systems“); and with sessions and Embodiment, too, there is the meaning of acquiring the method of observation by seeing a great many of the students’ own.
As points of observation, the class proceeded while explaining:
How are the dynamics of the class changing?
How does each student grasp the Embodiment?
How should support be given?
The practice extends to floor and bench work as well. Mainly, how to integrate the upper body and the lower body of sessions 1 to 3? Paired with a partner, a session using words was done. Because the interpretation of word choice differs by culture, and because even in English the interpretation differed from person to person, it became a valuable opportunity to learn word choice.
After each person’s lunch break, in groups of three, a 30-minute preparation time is given. Then one representative presents, and two go into support. The presentation is 10 minutes, the discussion about 15 minutes. With what intention was the Embodiment presented? Mainly, it was compared against Rolfing’s principles.
For reference, Rolfing’s principles are summarized below, so please check them if interested:
- Palintonicity (two-directionality)
- Embodiment
- Articulation
- Hubert Godard’s Tonic Function
- Stephen Porges’s Polyvagal Theory
From these viewpoints, feedback was also given.
And as for the feedback, it was also interesting that the printout distributed by Giovanni Felicioni at the time of Phase II of the Basic Training was shared again, and it was carried out based on the guide.
On the second day, the finish ran 30 minutes late, and I wondered how things would go; but by the third day, the students’ time management came to go well of their own accord too, so that the finishing time ended even before 6 p.m.
However, receiving six Embodiments in a day is truly demanding. Among the 18 participants, there were some who dropped out, and the sense came across of how Rita and the other Instructors were laboring over how to create the space.
At last, today is the final day. Only the final day is set to finish at 4 p.m., but my own Embodiment presentation also awaits. What form will it take? I’d like to take on the class while enjoying it.