Practical Butoh Training Guide2009 Arm Standing Exercise

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/butoh/itto/method/arm_standing.htm

Practical Butoh Training Guide 2009 by Kasai's Butoh Dance Method

Arm Standing Exercise for Butoh

(Feb.7,2009) "Listen to the voice of God of Gravity" is one of the basic ideas in Noguchi Gymnastics by Michizo Noguchi. The arm standing exercise has been developed by myself and Butoh dancer Mika Takeuchi while practicing and teaching Butoh. This exercise is one of the derivative exercises based on his idea of "God of Gravity". Because we have 8 million gods in the Shinto religion in Japan, and our body weight clearly dictates our movements, it could be one of such Gods. The standing upright is a good exercise to feel what is going on in our body, but because there are many factors such as bones, muscles, and tendons interrelating one another, it is not an easy task to perceive clearly the involved body parts one by one : There are too may variables to process eectively. We have developed some other exercises aiming at perceiving the weight of our body with a limited number of variables: The arm standing exercise is one of such exercises containing only the ngers, hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders, shoulder blades, etc. of our forearm while lying on one's back.

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Practical Butoh Training Guide2009 Arm Standing Exercise

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/butoh/itto/method/arm_standing.htm

"Corrected-sitting exercise (Tadashi Za)" in the cross legged sitting is another exercise for checking and modifying the vertebrae from the neck to the sitting bones (ischia). Because we are not very much sensible to our back area, and it is not easy to discriminate each part of the back area without being touched, the arm standing exercise should be practiced rst as an easier exercise, followed by "corrected-sitting exercise" after developing your sensibility enough in your back area.

The arm standing exercise is as follows:

(excerpted from the paper [Arm Standing Excercise] ) 1. Lie down on the oor on your back. (If you have back problems, you may keep your knees bent. It is not necessary to stretch your knees, and the so-called semi-supine position is often desirable for people with back trouble. If you still nd this position painful, stop doing the exercise.) 2. Stretch your arms wide open [with your palms facing up] along the oor. 3. Rest your arms on the oor. 4. Try to touch the oor with all of your nails in order to stretch your arms farther. 5. Release tension from your entire body and take a rest for a while. 6. Slowly lift your forearms, keeping your elbows on the oor, until each arm forms a right angle. 7. Keep breathing normally. Try not to close your throat when you move your arms. 8. Slowly lift your entire arm. (Fig.1) Don t move in a hurry. This is a precious moment to perceive

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Practical Butoh Training Guide2009 Arm Standing Exercise

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/butoh/itto/method/arm_standing.htm

your arm weight for an encounter with the god of gravity in terms of Noguchi Taiso.

Fig.1

Fig.2

9. Continue lifting your arms, raising your shoulder blades o the oor. 10. Stretch your arms all the way upward. Keep this position for a while. 11. Release tension from your shoulders and allow your shoulder blades to rest on the oor while your arms are kept straight upward. 12. Feel your shoulder blades on the oor and try to locate the point on which the weight of the arm rested. *Most people nd it dicult to "feel their shoulder blades". I would add the following explanation: Your shoulder blades are like a foundation upon which all of the weight of your arm weighs. It is also advisable that the instructor hold the lying person s arm and give a slight pressure toward his/her shoulder blade so as to perceive the point more clearly.

13. Try to suspend your arms up in the air with as little muscle tension as possible. Keep your arms in this position for a while. (Fig.2) 14. When you feel tired, release tension from your shoulders and lower your elbows to the oor gradually. Feel how heavy your arms are while

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Practical Butoh Training Guide2009 Arm Standing Exercise

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/butoh/itto/method/arm_standing.htm

lowering your arms. 15. Rest your elbows on the oor. Then, release tension from your elbows, allowing your forearms to lower gradually. 16. Rest your arms on the oor. Feel that your body is more relaxed and tranquil. 17. Repeat the exercise a few times. Try to keep your arms up with as little muscle tension as possible.

If you have any interesting ndings or discoveries about the relationship between the weight of a body part and its movement patterns, you can proceed to at least one of the three courses: i. Keep enhancing your sensibility deeper and deeper by using much smaller movements. (toward the direction of Sensory Awareness, Alexander Technique, Feldenkrais Method,etc.) ii. Allow your arm(s) to dance by dropping or leaning/ twisting by using the arm weight. (toward the movements based on Noguchi Gymnastics' ideas) iii. Taste sentiments or emotions within a body part. (My elbows feel sad when extended...because of the accident and the operation... Toward psycho-somatically embedded emotions.) When I do Butoh dance, I feel that I am or my body is tossed about by those embodied emotions and/or unfamiliar feelings or impulses. Most of them are not so distinctly articulated, and I would shake or

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Practical Butoh Training Guide2009 Arm Standing Exercise

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/butoh/itto/method/arm_standing.htm

twitch my body impulsively as if pushing them out to my body surface, or they would endanger whole my existence. An authentic Butoh time...

* The contents will be edited now and then. Please check the uploaded time.
(C)All Rights Reserved, Toshiharu Kasai / Itto Morita 2009

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