Words that Explore Motions
Frustration: Part of the Learning
Do you find yourself being frustrated when learning something new? Trying something new can be frustrating, as it brings us outside of our comfort zone. Confusion and frustration are part of the learning process. However, if you learn how to replace frustration with fascination, a whole world can open itself to you! Learning how to learn is different than taking a course or learning a skill. But how do we get to know ourselves enough that we understand how we learn things? And since movement is the first thing we do as babies, isn’t it a good idea to start to learn about ourselves through movement?
Published by: Christine Germain
I was Initiated to Ice Climbing this Winter!
Halfway through the first climb, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it to the top. I did get to the top, but I was completely exhausted! I’ve done indoor wall climbing in the past, as well as circus arts on trapeze and rope, but ice climbing was totally new to me. It was a two-hour class, and already after the first climb, I wondered how I was going to do the other climbs? However, I teach movement. I know that it’s not all about muscle strength.
Published by: Christine Germain
Three Tips for Returning to Training, After a Long Break, Injury Free
What regimen should you adopt, when returning to training after a good time out, to maximize results and minimize the risk of injury? Now is the time of the year when we come back after our vacation. Have you been thinking about starting a new activity? Or are you considering returning to your favorite sport or practice? Has it been several weeks, months, or even years since you last put on your skates, skis, or your running shoes?
Published by: Christine Germain
Don't Let the Pandemic Kill Your Technique
On Radio-Canada on March 30th 2021, Catherine Lalonde, dance critic and dancer, told Pénélope McQuade that the pandemic had killed her technique. So much so, that she no longer considered herself a dancer. I do not want to diminish the magnitude of the effects that the pandemic is having on performing artists. It is true that the technique and the practice of our art form is very important, especially if we want to keep the same ardor and physicality…
Published by: Christine Germain
Desire Lines – Exploring Our Inner Landscape
As a teacher, it is important to me that I learn who my students are. Communication being a pillar of learning, is ever more resonant and inspiring through interrelatedness. Learning about the nervous system can be perplexing, for those being introduced. But through the pedagogical use of analogy, I can ease their way towards transformation…
Published by: Christine Germain
Chekhov and Feldenkrais®
I don’t have the answers. You do. When you come to my Awareness Through Movement® Class, I am not asking you to do a movement with perfection, or how you imagine I think it should be like. I’m actually offering you guidelines and suggestions so that you can explore all the possibilities and potentials that can exist. If you’re into Theatre…it’s a bit like Chekhov; not performing Chekhov, but when reading Chekhov. Or if you’re in rehearsal and realizing there can be so many…
Published by: Christine Germain
Embodying Choices
I grew up not having many tools to explore my choices. Things were either good or bad, right or wrong, and I wasn’t aware of all the options available in between, resulting in a lack of freedom. Don’t get me wrong—I was free and expressive and privileged. But in my youth, I didn’t have many tools to temperate myself. I was going all out, giving my 100%, and driving myself empty, until I no longer had a choice, other than to rest. Then I would go full out again…
Published by: Christine Germain
The Seasons Within
For the first time in years, I am spending time in a place where the change between seasons is drastic. Quebec, Canada has cold winter with a lot of snow, then spring, where the trees have fresh new green growth and we get to see a totally new landscape after the rough winter. The summer is well appreciated … Québécois will do all they can to spend a sunny day outside, because they know this won’t last very long…and often too soon, autumn shows up, as a “spectacle”…
Published by: Christine Germain
Breathing to Your Peak
I have been a dancer and athlete since I was 5 years old. At the age of 25, after traveling the world and studying dances in their cultural context, I decided to enroll in a contemporary dance program. After suffering a severe injury by way of malpractice, my dance career was put on hold indefinitely. I was told by a physician, “you can forget about a career in dance”. It was during this period of acute pain, that I was introduced to the Feldenkrais Method®…
Published by: Christine Germain
Photo Credits: 1) Canva | 2) Pixabay. | 3) Canva | 4-7) Oda Aase Johnsen | 8-9) Christine Germain
