Quote from: Cramulus on April 23, 2019, 09:59:30 PM
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We are sitting in rows and columns. Each column performs an action at the same time (and those action correspond to the digits in the number 142857, but I won't get into that here). There's a movement where you look to the left and hold it for about 15 seconds. Then there's a movement where you look to the right and hold it for about 15 seconds. Because each column is doing these actions but staggered by one beat (ie, I'm looking to the left, while the column on my left is looking to the right), you end up making eye contact with the person on either side of you for a 15 second period.
This was an intense experience. During this exercise, I was in a heightened state of sensitivity. Very focused on all the tiny little emotions in the body and how they manifest in the muscles. On que, I turned my head to the left. I made eye contact with this guy next to me.
Eye contact is like an electrical conduit.
In 15 seconds, I saw him go through so much.. he's aware of me, then he's aware of my perception of him. I experience the same. The tiny movements of the muscles around his eyes... I could feel his deep seated anxiety, and his reaction to me seeing it, his attempt to overcome it, his failure to insulate himself. Likewise, I could feel my own fear of the Other, and how it manifested on my face.. and also how I was reacting to his seeing me. We were plugged into one another, directly. Nothing supernatural here, but I felt like we had a moment of true psychic contact. Electrical contact, soul to soul. I learned more about him in 15 seconds than I know about some of my close friends.
After the class, I went to shake his hand and say hi, but he jetted, quickly, preventing the opportunity. Probably on purpose. I'm reminded that there are reasons we build walls around ourselves. And there's a reason you don't want to be "conscious" all the time - it's not comfortable. If we were receptive all the time, we'd be crushed by it.
It was a powerful moment - shook me to the core.
about 15 years ago I was part of a group and we used to have very similar exercises, instead of rows and columns we seat in couples in front of one another looking into the eyes for as long as we can, the teacher just observed and separate the couples when the exercise fails, I personally couldn't follow for more than 2 minutes and a few students actually completed the exercise. We did that sort of movement for months one day a week. That's was a very good time of learning things. I wish I could find a school like this again.