Reading Response

I enjoyed the A New Flute story, however I had quite a bit of trouble getting into the Body Works reading. I felt as though the step by step "Now move your arm" and "Now do this" instructions defeated the point of being able to feel the different energies. I related that frustration I felt to A New Flute because all the while the flutist was following his regime so strictly he never truly experienced letting go and letting the music come from within him. I connect this to acting and singing as well, as I have often felt pressured to do so many things and learn so many techniques and somehow apply them to everything that it became more about that than about the art itself.

I am glad that we worked with the buoyant, radiant and potent energies in class because I have a hard time translating written step by step instruction into a physical feeling and more importantly a focused mental concentration and energy. I found that it was probably difficult to explain in writing and that is why the text is so wordy. It is truly something you just have to "feel" which of course applies to A New Flute and any type of artist who is perfecting their craft.

I have been trying to personify the energies and relate them to characters or animals. For example, buoyancy reminds me of a ballerina, radiancy reminds me of Peter Pan and potency makes me thing of Jafar from Aladdin. In imagining these characters and relating them to the instruction of the experiments in the book, it made it easier for me to take on the energies myself. For animals I also thought of a hippo as being buoyant, a bird being radiant and a snake being potent . . . doesn't Jafar turn into a snake at the end of the movie?