Over the five days of November 27 (Wednesday) to December 1 (Sunday), 2019 (see “November 27 – December 1, 2019 (Second Half): What Homework Has Been Assigned? + How to Teach?“), the second half of Part 3 of Rolf Movement started.
To take part, I entered Munich the day before (11/26).
On the first day (11/27), I reached the first of the last five days of the Rolf Movement Training, Part 3, and took on the class together with the 18 participants.
As I wrote in “November 27 – December 1, 2019 (Second Half): What Homework Has Been Assigned? + How to Teach?“, this time the main thing is a 50-minute Embodiment presentation. In groups of three, with the roles of one leader and two subs, each presents (the grouping is the same as the first four days).
At the start of the class on the first day, the presentation order of the 18 people was introduced. On the first day, four people gave presentations. Each had individuality (a person who builds up logically, step by step; a person who guides the class in an unpredictable direction; and so on), and the ways of presenting were diverse as well. Within the 50-minute time allowance, they expressed themselves to their hearts’ content.
Above all, what can be said in common about this training is that a psychologically safe space is in place. Partly because a certain degree of challenge is allowed, that came out in each person’s presentation.
After each presentation ended, there was a feedback time.
From the students, there were honest and frank opinions about “what was good?”, “what was of concern?”, and “how did it feel physically (pleasant, unpleasant)?”, which were instructive.
At the very beginning of the first day, Rita Geirola (hereafter Rita) explained that Rolf Movement can be learned only through practice — and so, she explained, by each person experiencing presenting, the process through failure becomes nourishment for learning; partly because of this, the awarenesses from the feedback of the staff, including Rita, were great.
Whom should the lesson be given to? And in that case, what words to choose? Since each person has a way of using words with their own culture as a background, she wants them to learn through the process of teaching — that was Rita’s main feedback.
Rather than judging the other as “poor or skilled,” how can they improve and bring out their own individuality? France Hatt-Arnold (hereafter France) spoke mainly about the importance of putting things together logically.
When one student introduced work done sitting, France said that to sit is to feel gravity. At what timing to bring awareness to Phoric Function (see “Where to Pay Attention in Movement? — Phoric Function and Fixed Point“) — where weight is felt and where it moves? Since, depending on the student being taught, there are those good at Grounding and those good at Space/Orientation, it is better to convey Tonic Function (see “How to Relate the Body’s Movement to Tonic Function?“) with options in hand — such was the advice.
When conveying a yoga class, how to put “movement” into words and convey it understandably? And when incorporating movement into a Rolfing session, how to convey it in words? There is much to learn in the experience of teaching toward a large number of 18 students. My presentation is set to be the last on the second day, so I’d like to look forward to it.
Over the five days, after taking the class of 18 people up to Saturday, certification and individual interviews are held on Sunday (12/1). I’d like to take on the class with a good sense of tension to the very end.