On June 4th I was invited to participate in this daily on line event in Brazil, promoted by the Brazilian Eutony association, called "Eutony at the quarantine", that each day offers an on line Eutony practice. In order to help the Brazilians to undo their aloneness during this difficult time, as well as to further spread the word about Eutony in english speaking communities, I invited the AEDP community to attend. Amongst the around 60 participants, we had visitors from the US, England and Canada.
Here is the introduction to the practice and below you can access a link to an audio of the entire session - both in English and Portuguese.
My name is Tania, I graduated in Eutony in 2012, in Sao Paulo. After that, I moved to Canada and here I have been practicing Eutony in English and it has been a great adventure! For the last 5 years I have been teaching Eutony in the pain clinic here and have been learning the local expressions here from my clients. Doing it in English has been rewarding, as well as, at times, challenging and lonely. This class is about bringing together English speakers and Portuguese Speakers.
According to the Canadian Eutonie association, all eutonists in Canada are in Quebec, and they all speak french… I went there once to visit them, and the only word in french i knew was “hebergement” - which is what i had to say to the taxi driver to get where i was going to stay, at Laval University where the Eutony school resides there.
I want to invite you to approach this practice today, as if you are approaching a new language - the language of the body, your "hebergement". At some point we are going to lay down on the tennis balls, or bean bags if you prefer. That will have effects on your muscles - maybe on the tone of your muscles, which some would call “inactivating trigger points” - a famous technique in pain management. In Eutony, the idea of tone, though, goes beyond the muscle.
You might notice your skin, and your bone structure and its weight. You might notice changes in your salivation, and other autonomic regulations, like gurgles in your stomach, or yawning.. you might notice the pace of your thoughts changing, and the whole internal atmosphere and your breathing changing. You might notice pain, or other protectors, here and there… and that is ok. See how all your systems dialogue with it.
When I was in Quebec, I met another English speaker- lovely Marianne- who was finishing her training in Eutony, and also grappling with her languages. She told me that in this process, she wrote a poem called “I speak floor”. In this Eutony practice today, I want to invite you to get curious about the language of the floor, and how you dialogue with your supports. Around your body and within your body.
And the most recent part of this journey has to do with AEDP - an experiential psychotherapy method, that focuses on learning the language of the heart and how our emotions help us build togetherness. The AEDP institute located in NY, is dedicated to undo aloneness, especially now, during the pandemic. Recently, in a video with 40 therapists speaking many different languages, Kari Gleiser, responding to our Brazilian AEDP representative, Candida Soares, said that she wished that we in Brazil could feel a string connecting all hearts together.
In the practice today I want to invite you to notice how is it like to be here with others. From so many different places, through the internet. Feeling accompanied, in isolation? Feeling intruded upon? Feeling safe?
Remember that there is nothing here that has to happen. We are just visiting. And anything and everything you experience here, we welcome.
One of the local expressions I learned from a client was “being in a pickle” to describe a difficult place we are in when we are in persistent pain, when i know that if i move i’m in pain and if i don’t move i’m also in pain…. This class today is about inviting you to savour the tastes of this pickle and find what other tastes are there, other than sour.
You will need 2 tennis balls or bean bags to practice this, in addition to a space on the floor, or whatever firm surface you can lay down on. Feel free to use blankets to cushion your contact with your supports, as well as pillows.
Special thanks to my dear friend Monica Hernandez for translating me into Portuguese, and to the Brazilian Eutony Association for promoting the daily on-line event.
For more info on that in Portuguese, access https://www.eutonia.org.br/.
For more info on the institute AEDP in Brazil https://institutoaedpbrasil.com/
For more info on AEDP institute in New York in English https://aedpinstitute.org/about-aedp/
Listen to the full session here
The whole audio is 90 minutes long, but the actual practice starts at around minute 15:20 and ends at around 1:16:00. What comes after that, are comments and appreciations, that you may enjoy listening to as well, getting a sense of what other's experience was like.
Enjoy your practice!
When you take a moment to practice this, please feel free to send me a note about your experience, by sending me a message here