I just found this article.
Architects' drawings of the human figure. Something interesting to look at a Sunday night.
Looking at the drawings and then at each architect's work makes me think about the body and how the way we see/feel ourselves influences so heavily in our work.

http://www.archdaily.com/784121/these-architects-drawings-of-human-figures-offer-an-insight-into-their-minds

Comment for Javi's post

This is a comment for Javi's post that I can't post as a comment because...ugh...technology

I just commented on this and it got erased, so I don't know if my inspiration will come back. But, I was saying:
It's interesting how the work influences the mood. In class I've gone from feeling very cranky to very happy, and vice versa. It's amazing how the mind makes connections...
The arms begin at the sternum. At the center of the body.
I remember the first time I felt I was in love, I felt it in my arms. And it still happens. Whenever I have and intense profound feeling, my arms get very tingly. I was aware of this, but I hadn't made the connection. I can think of my arms now as part of my body, more than as just 'extremities'. My arms are my body.

I'm so Happy Re Mapping my Arms by Candace

I'm So Happy: Re-Mapping My Arms

Re-mapping my arms for our AT class was honestly one of my favorite exercises! For the first time in my life, I felt a sense of freedom to move my arms and body as I pleased.  My body was in a state of heavenly bliss. It was sensational to finally move freely and be FREE! I was able to give consent to my body to explore bring present in the room and most importantly, being present in the moment.  It truly meant so much to me.

My partner Andres use the pinky ball to navigate specific parts of my arm joints and my arms felt awakened.  Andres helped me remain centered by speaking words of affirmation to me during the exercise.  Usually, my shoulders, arms, and back holds the majority of my tension. Throughout this exercise, I was able to fully trust Andres with letting go of all my tightness and peeling away at the rigidness of my body.  At times, the pinky ball felt painful under my collarbone, yet I kept fighting through the pain since I knew the end result will be a positive outcome. The most impressive discovery I made was my arms felt lengthened which brought on a new strength in my body. This newfound strength was beneficial for me in speaking my text without hesitation or overthinking my action in our text circle.

Overall, this exercise correlated with a quote from The Happy Mapping of Arms reading, “When the collarbone comes back to its rest position there will be a feeling of ease, and movement will be available in all directions from that joint.” This quote sums up my reaction to how happy my collarbone was after the exercise.  My body was poised and at ease.  The movement in my entire body was three dimensional instead of one dimensional. I definitely plan on incorporating this exercise into rehearsals from here on out.  Thank you so much Margi for introducing this!

Allelujah Arms by Javier Padilla

 Allelujah Arms
By Javier Padilla 

Overview:
This has been one of the most interesting/amusing exercises we have done in class. This is one of the first exercises where I could feel what was happening in my body right away. The shoulder blade sliding, the rib cage expanding, the collar bone moving, everything was present and I was able to pinpoint exactly what they were doing. The "hurt so good" pain of the pinky ball really gave me an idea about how much we  over use the muscles in that area. 

The Uneven Reveal:
After going through the exercise once and reaching both hands to the ceiling laughter filled the room. The awkward, uneven and totally unbalanced lengths of our arms seemed to be the most perfect visual metaphor of what our lives had become. Never did a more accurate, physical image resemble the confusion and awkwardness of my personal well being. I actually looked the way I felt. 

Finishing the exercise:
After doing both sides and resembling a human being not constructed by Frankenstein, the lightness and freedom in the arms was extremely new. The tension and weight  before was unnoticed until having this new sensation in my body.  Allowing gravity to takes its course when we would drop and suspend was dramatically changed. Dropping and suspending didn't become a muscular task anymore. For the rest of the day my body actually felt more in-sync. This exercise gave me another way of analyzing my body and inhibiting it.

Fin.

Re-Mapping my Arms was Life-Changing

from Ellen Bryan:

Re-mapping my arms was pretty life-changing.  Well, it would be life-changing if I did it regularly and often, which I now plan to do.  I did a similar exercise in undergrad, re-mapping my arms AND legs and it completely changed my alignment: I no longer felt like I was having to hold my body in place—it just was.   I felt this again in class last week.  I habitually collapse my chest, which I never relate to back/shoulder tension.  My chest hadn’t felt that free and open in a very long time— probably since the last time I did this exercise 4 or 5 years ago.  It compounded the discovery that the uninhibited body is completely in balance.  And so when my shoulders are tense, so is my chest; when my calves are tense, so are my knees.   Which works the other way: if I release my shoulders, I release my chest, so on and so forth. 

I think the true joy and satisfaction of this exercise is that it provides almost instant results— something we do not get with a lot of the work we are currently doing, where things we learn today might not make sense days, weeks, or even years from now.  The simplicity of having gravity work for you, instead of against you, and just breathing into those muscles melting over this little pinky ball helped me focus the energy I normally use to “stand up straight” into active energy for what I am doing. 

Now I try to do this exercise for a few minutes before I get up every morning.  I find it oddly energizing, despite just lying on the floor.  The initial shot of pain through my shoulder does a pretty good job reminding me to breathe.  On the mornings that I have successfully woken up early enough to do this, I am actually able to get ready for the day much faster and with much more ease.  The first morning I did this, I looked up at my clock, expecting it to be time to leave for class, but I still had not 5, not 10, but 20 minutes left.  My body and brain were so alive, and I hadn’t even had my coffee yet.  So I happily, a word I never use to describe myself during mornings, worked on lines while sipping on caffeine.  

Magic Arms

This week of AT was one of the craziest yet. The process of rolling out my shoulders was slightly painful, but the results were completely amazing. While we were laying out our little pinky balls, I had the thought, "This feels terrible, what is Margi doing to us?!" When I got up off the ground, my thoughts shifted to something like, "Where has this technique been all of my life?" I felt light throughout my entire body when we got on our feet. I tend to hold a lot of tension in my shoulders, and I felt like a new woman this week! It was like I was floating, in a way; I wasn't being weighed down by my upper body anymore. James was my partner, and he made the observation that he felt this unified energy throughout his shoulders and arms, like they were operating as one instead of being comprised of separate parts (shoulder, bicep, elbow, wrist, etc.). I didn't connect with the foot roll-out quite as much , and so this whole shoulder roll-out blew me away.

Overall, I think AT is going well. I just feel like I haven't had enough time to really implement it into my every day routine, and that's the only way to see a real difference. We have had a lot of new information and ideas thrown at us in these first few weeks--Linklater, Alexander, text analysis, scene work--so for me, it's been difficult to find a way to bring all of these things together on a daily basis. At times, I find myself falling on bad habits when I'm rehearsing. I guess at this point, all I can do is keep reminding myself. The only way to get rid of bad habits is to replace them with good ones!

Thoughts

Working with George reminded me that intention will focus the technique and make the connection to action very present. It was very reminiscent of the "direction" section of our reading. I find myself getting lost in AT frequently. My body feels supported and alive, but connecting it to the techniques I'm familiar with has always been a struggle. The Magis Workshop helped to strengthen my connection between acting and AT, and I walked away from class feeling more prepared to use the excercises in rehearsal. The use of containment was also very helpful. I've always found that using large, broad emotions comes easy to me, so taking a step away from that to hone in on something was refreshing and ultimately very useful.

AT is changing how I check in with my body. My central energy feels smaller and more specific, while my limbs and muscles feel expansive. It creates an interesting dichotomy in my mind, feeling so small, yet so large.  I'm very elemental with how I visualize things in my body (Fire, Earth, Wind, Water), and in class I always feel like a palm tree with huge leaves, and when I'm properly suspended, the air is keeping the leaves up. It's a helpful image that frequently pops up in my mind's eye.