How to Practice Tensegrity® Movements

How to use the videos in the Library:

You may find it most helpful to begin by watching the entirety of a video sequence, and then practicing a short sequence of movements along with the video instructor, and repeating in sections until you have learned the sequence.
Or, you may experience more benefit by first following along with the video showing the individual movements, and after practicing this way for some time, moving on to the video showing the entire sequence.

Stances:

Standing:

The best standing stance is with feet hip width apart, toes forward, weight distributed evenly on feet, with knees and elbows slightly bent.

Sitting in a chair:

Feel your sitting bones--the bones you feel when you sit on a hard surface. Sit with your pelvis in a neutral position, not rolled forward or backward. The best alignment is with upper legs more or less parallel to the floor. You can put a blanket under your feet or on the chair to achieve this, if needed.

Sitting on the floor:

You can fold a blanket or pillow to sit on, to bring the hips higher than the knees.

Lying down on a comfortable surface or mat:

If it feels more comfortable you can have a thin folded blanket or cushion under your head—and not underneath the neck. To support the lower back, you can place a bolster or folded blanket under the knees.

Transitions:

It is suggested to move between all these stances of sitting, standing, and lying down gradually, with awareness. Notice in the videos shown how the instructor moves slowly from one stance to another, with transitional positions in between.

Breathing:

For most of the Magical Passes®, breathing is normal. There are a number of Magical Passes® with specified breathing instructions, shown in these videos by the instructor and sometimes also indicated in the notes below the video stream. It is best to avoid the tendency to breathe shallowly when learning or concentrating on a sequence, and instead keep the breath moving normally throughout the whole sequence!

Tailoring your practice to your body, and energy state, time of day or season or life season:

Tensegrity® entails continuous adaptation of our bodies and beings to our environment, our energy levels, the time of day, the season—to the conditions at hand. So, if you have for example, a knee injury, or your energy level is low, and you need to adapt any of these movements by refraining from certain ones, or practicing fewer movements, or going a slower pace, or moving to a chair, please do so.

Or you might practice certain series for different parts of your day, as in the “Series for Preparing Intent” to begin your day, and “Mapping the Body for Silence” before going to sleep.

Or during wintertime, you might do more warmups, such as “Remembering the Stream of Vitality,” or take a gentler approach with certain sequences.

Music:

We recommend that you begin your practice with these videos with the volume set to “off.” It is recommended that while learning a series, you practice without musical accompaniment or other elements, such as conversation or TV sounds in the background, which might distract from your concentration and ability to feel the full expression and effect of the movements.

 
Once you have begun to “inhabit” a series or sequence and experience the deeper effects of silent practice, you could, from time to time, turn up the sound volume on the video, to hear the music or sounds that accompany the series, or to give yourself an extra boost when needed, such as when you’ve had a challenging day, or need an extra incentive to practice, or simply to enjoy the Magical Passes® with music.

Enjoy the experience, and the results!