Sensation and Meaning in Movement
a DuVersity Seminar
Thursday November 4 -- Sunday November 7, 1999
at Claymont Court, West Virginia
TIMES: Registration 9:00 AM Thursday, seminar hours will be 10 AM Thursday 'til 3 PM Sunday
COST: $450.00, includes room and board
(add $100.00 for private room)
LOCATION: Claymont Court
Charles Town, West Virginia
REGISTRATION
& INFO: Karen Stefano
(301) 230-4960
registrar@duversity.org

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We are 'embodied minds', but the usual mind-body dichotomy is a product of misunderstanding. Mind-body is a static duality, but the trinity of body, mind and affect can become a 'meaningful dialogue', a movement rather than a fixation. Sensation, feeling and thought combining in the moment transform the experience of ourselves. Distinguish thinking from feeling, and feeling from sensation, then the whole comes into operation: 'it flows'.

The Workshop
Movements: One of the most valuable products of Gurdjieff's teaching consists of a series of 'movements' (sometimes called 'sacred gymnastics'). They can enter into our bodies as sensation and liberate insight through feeling. Sensation is a neglected area of psychology and relatively underdeveloped in western people. To get into sensation requires the suspension of the ingrained 'body-image' we have that overlays the body's own consciousness.
Art: Use of artistic media and an aesthetic attitude can dissolve some of the entrenched thought-forms that block the flow of energies, or 'affect'. By sketching, modelling in three dimensions and using collage we can open to experiencing the inner articulation of the body in sensation; so that the body is no longer just a 'thing' that moves about. We can educate ourselves to feel movement intelligently.
Dialogue: The movements are more than a spectacle to receive through the eyes, or a coordination to be mastered. We need to become conscious of the'language' in which they are made. Outwardly, there will be lectures and discussions on the nature of energies and the arising of impulses. Inwardly, there will be a growing recognition of the 'inner language' that begins as feeling. Being concerned with meaning, we need also to share our perceptions. Some of our time will be devoted to communication, and dialogue in particular.
Background
The workshop is a total immersion in the process of inner exploration and requires a sense of wholeness. It will not build in steps but gradually clarify. Though we utilize Gurdjieff's movements and much of his language and approach, our enquiry is open to other methods involving artistic media and communication. Everyone needs to 'learn the body' and there have been many valuable contributions to this education besides Gurdjieff. The workshop will extend over four days, beginning 10 am Thursday (registration 9 - 10 am) and ending 4 pm Sunday. There will be evening sessions on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Contributors
Anthony Blake, author and facilitator, studied under J. G. Bennett, David Bohm and a variety of teachers to gain understanding of 'total process'.
Karen Stefano is an artist and practicing psychotherapist. She has worked with Jungian analyst Dr. Edith Wallace on the collage method.