I have just watched an amazing and touching
film I wish everyone could be exposed to. You can watch it, too, at http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/play/11936/The-Animal-Communicator
This is a documentary on communicating
with animals. It follows a woman who listens to and talks with wild and often
upset animals. As I listened, transfixed by her presence, I recognized the kind
of resonant, receptive presence we aspire to in Biodynamics in establishing and working within a
safe relational field. This is important in Biodynamics in order for the client's system to settle under conditional patterns and resonate more fully with deeper, Biodynamic forces.
The animal communicator endeavored to
explain her ability to talk with and understand animals as a
The state of resonant
presence required to practice Biodynamics and other forms of therapy requires deepening beyond an egoic state of active doingness into a state of
universal beingness. Here, we can receive and communicate what is essential for
health and well-being.
This is a state we naturally and relatively
easily enter into in practicing Continuum Movement. Emilie Conrad, founder of
Continuum, speaks of
interspecies inclusivity. Like the animal communicator listening to the animals, the Continuum practitioner slows down into a quiet, receptive state, where we can experience the nourishing waves of energetic information from the cosmos, the planet, and our own internal fluids. We may find ourselves moving like other species, our arms becoming wings, our tail swaying, it's movement rippling up through our mid-line.
In communication with other species, there
is an acknowledgement of an interspecies continuum. Indigenous peoples who are
still skilled at this level of listening and being, declare that we are all
connected and belong to one family. We can learn about ourselves and our
potential from other animals, as we are on one continuum with them. We can also
help them, as well as ourselves and each other, in this state
We can consider this a natural and
spiritual state. In the film, traditional animal trackers speak of seeing a
line of light leading them to the animal they are tracking. This again is
similar to my experience of Biodynamics (and Continuum). I often see or sense light, like a
path, guiding me to understand the dynamics of the client’s system and where it
wants me to make contact next. Like the animals, the client’s system is often
relieved just to perceive it is being heard, without requiring anything of it.
When we emerge from this being state, we
run the risk of forgetting it in our busyness, then need to return to
rejuvenate. This is one reason I am so grateful for my occupation, where I can
spend my days deepening into quiet presence with others, appreciating and
receiving who and how they are. It is also why I practice and teach Continuum,
as I see an almost desperate need for those of us immersed in modern culture,
and its incessant speed and overwhelm, to settle into being and re-member,
re-connect with, what really matters.
Being is not only our original, natural
state; it is also essential for us to thrive. It may be becoming increasingly
important for our basic survival as a species. I hope it is not too late, and
that we are willing and able to let go enough to return to being.
