The Gurdjieff Movements and Sacred Dances
"The reason why the Gurdjieff Movements can be considered truly a meditation in movement is because they synchronize time and space."
The specific structure of each Movement is meant to synchronize the mind with time and space,​bringing us to stillness. Movement continues, yet there is effortless effort, as the Daoists would say: Wu Wei. This means the mind is in the present moment, it is inhabiting the body fully, and we are feeling exactly what is happening and including all of the impressions around us. To be here and now, collected and without distraction is to prepare ourselves for something of a higher order to appear in us. Something conscious. Then we simply know, and we move, or we act, without effort.
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It is not enough to say "we need to be present or "we need to be conscious". What does this actually mean?
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The Movements are a tool to help us inhabit the body fully.
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As I reach towards what is asked of me in a Movement, I must sense, my arm for example, but without sacrificing the awareness of my legs, and also of the group. It can seem complex, but the goal is not to achieve, the goal is to Be. When I have an integrated understanding that sensation is on another dimension than thinking, and that they can happen simultaneously, then my intelligence increases, my awareness deepens. And this is an example of consciousness expanding.
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How might this look on a practical level in daily life?
If I begin to be more conscious at the level of the
microcosm of my body, then it will be a much more
organized effort to become more conscious of the
macrocosm that is my life. And from there the even
bigger macrocosm that is the world and then the
universe. In fact it is the law As Above, So Below,
which is represented in the Movements, as are many
other laws which have been taught in ancient mystery
schools. So, when I follow the design of a Movement,
I experience certain habits in my body, in my emotions, and in my mind. These are neural pathways that have been formed from habit and conditioning. As I keep practicing the Movement,
I form new neural pathways. Within the safe space of the group, I am able to see and give space to previously unconscious patterns, and by experiencing new neural synapses within the Movements, it becomes a physical foundation for mental and emotional transformation. We must become used to viewing the body and the mind as one phenomenon with a spectrum of gross to subtle matter made of vibrations - the bodymind.
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In this work, the body is the gateway. It is here and it is real. It is the physical manifestation of our minds and emotion. It is spirit incarnate. We do not separate the body from the spirit, we transcend through immanence.
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In this way, we have a dance with a specific and intelligent structure, along with music with specific vibrations all meant to wake us up. ​
Video courtesy of Amiyo Devienne.
Constantly we forget from where all of our manifestations come from. From where our thoughts, emotions, movements come from. Also our desires, longings, daydreams, fears, and joy.
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Our practice is to strengthen our connection with that source where there are no divisions. That source is awareness, a witness, and it is our essential nature, which is an effortless source of Being. Like surfing, the Movements and the inner work require effort in order to then reach a place of letting go and surrender to a higher force within us.
Jeanne de Salzmann,
The Reality of Being: The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff
"Why do we come to work together? We feel that if we do not participate in certain conditions, we will be taken by habits and life circumstances in which we will be lost. Perhaps here, together, it will be possible to experience conditions in which a higher energy can appear in us and around us. We will then become responsible together to serve it."
Working in a group
The conditions that Madame de Salzmann mentions above are created by a group coming together with a common purpose. The conditions are further refined by the Movements and Sacred Dances and other specific structures of self-inquiry. Our purpose: self-observation and self-remembrance.
Each and every person in the group is necessary to act not just as a mirror for others but to add their sincere efforts to a magnifying pool that is being created moment to moment. These efforts keep on building within the container in such a way that the collective benefits from them - each individual is no longer supported only by their own individual efforts, but by the group effort.
Photo courtesy of Amiyo Devienne.
Neural Regeneration
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A remarkable aspect of these conscious movements is that we can interpret them as being both artistic and scientific. The new synapses created between the left and right brain hemispheres literally produce a shift in perspective, and thus, a new understanding of ourselves and the world. There is a very important implication in the creation of new synapses, because it also means we are letting go of automatic reactions and behaviors. If you want to learn more about the science behind movement and creating new neural synapses and how these relate to our emotions and mind read this blog post. The intensity of presence creates a force in us which is beyond our normal will, it is the awareness out of which our minds exist, and with which we can witness our mind, emotions, and physical body with distance, verifying everything and working from empirical experience, hence making this a scientific technique towards self- observation.
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Meditation
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This scientific and artistic approach towards self knowledge helps us get in to a state of meditation and centeredness, which, in today's world, and with our modern minds is getting more and more difficult to do by just sitting in meditation or mindfulness. Even though it might sound like a short cut to meditation, in fact it is an arduous process, but with great benefit. The counter-intuitive movements, body coordination, and some very slow movements considered Prayers stretch our attention span and ask us to be utterly present as continuously as possible, otherwise it becomes impossible to do the Movement as it is meant. This is how the Movements become our actual teachers while the leader is a transmitter. The Movements have the capacity to gauge our attention span, presence, attitude, physical, mental, and emotional automatic reactions and postures.
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