Meditation and Movement with Ursula Laeubli
Meditation and Movement
Ursula's Meditation and Movement classes are postponed for the Spring 2010 term.
Class times:
9.30am- 12.30pm
9.30am- 10.20am: Meditation
10.30am- 12.30pm: Movement
Full cost for 8 weeks: £60/ £30 concession or Meditation only £20
Echo Echo can offer a pay plan for this course with payments in 2-3 stages
Tuning In
Tuning body and mind is similar to tuning an instrument. We can move towards more sensory awareness and openness while playing our magnificent instrument. This includes breathing consciously, shaking off tension and softening the body through easy, clear and focused exercises.
Meditation
How often do we give ourselves time without distracting or stimulating ourselves?
Meditation explores giving ourselves time.
With a kind and patient intention we sit in stillness and are present within a deeper physicality. We can sense our breathing, moment after moment; we are aware of our dynamic posture and the detailed balancing that is taking place as we release and give direction in sitting still and upright.
We notice numerous thoughts of all sorts, as we sit and we decide to leave ourselves alone; this opens space for the complexity of our mind to be exactly as it is.
The meditation practice follows the Zen tradition.
Movement and dance practice
In everyday life we move all the time; non-stop - including breath, heartbeat, cell division etc. There are smaller and bigger movements, passive and active movement. Conscious movement is mostly driven by practicalities and we are not aware of the quality and vocabulary we express. Nonetheless we develop an intricate and unique language, our body language that makes us who we are.
There is no other person who moves like you do! This movement intelligence gets explored and developed in this part of the morning.
We recognise structure, colour, or atmosphere. We learn to soften through our muscular system, to roll, surf, glide, slide, spin, sense lightness and freedom.
As we open to people around us we create another layer of inspiration, someone's turn might cause you to move towards or away, in an immediate response, comparable with the wind moving grass.
At the centre is one question, how do we move, moment after moment and in what way is this a dance?
Ursula Laeubli
Co-founder of Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company, Ursula teaches dance practice in the genre of new and contemporary dance. She teaches technique, exploration, improvisation and contact improvisation.
All of her teaching is influenced by a merging of eastern and western body and mind practices. Martial art forms, meditation and yoga inspire and underpin her dance practice. Her dance technique deals with a deepening of understanding the human body, skeletal, muscular and dynamic in relation to gravity and space without loosing a connectedness with human interactions such as play, communication, curiosity and humour. At home in French movement theatre and clowning and influenced by Alexander Technique and Release Technique Ursula developed her own way of teaching a direct awake intuition for the creating of solo and group dances.
The weekly classes are held every Friday morning at Echo Echo's dance studio in The Waterside Theatre, Derry. Starting at 9.30am, Ursula requests that everyone arrives early so as not to disturb the meditation.
Meditation class ends at 10.20am and after a ten minute break, the movement class begins at 10.30am and ends at 12.30pm.
The 8-week course commences on Friday 16th October at 9.30am and the full package costs £60 (concession £30) or meditation only classes cost £20. There are payment plans available.
This is an extremely popular course so you are encouraged to book your place early by contacting Echo Echo on +44 (0)28 7134 2266 or e-mail info@echoechodance.com
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