Improving Alignment & Receiving this Instruction

Responding from an article "Improving Alignment" by Peter Brandenhoff from Dance Magazine, I get reminded once more how much alignment is important in dance. I am quite sure that the techniques mentioned there will be experimented by me in class, if not consciously, then subconsciously. Sometimes the metaphors used via dance instructors don't quite click to students (immediately), so it is quite important to use various types of explanations. Personally, I respond better with physical locations than metaphor. So, instruction such as keeping the 5th metatarsal contacting the floor is generally something more I am accustomed to fine tuning into. Though, that changes when the activity is switched to more of a "fun" mode than a super serious "practice" mode, not to say I do not view Ballet class as "fun" because I certainly do. (Though, I will not even go into what in the world "fun" is to begin with).

Being naturally an independent learner, there is a natural inclination to come up with my very own metaphor after I "feel" what it is I'm supposed to "feel". I honestly struggle sometimes to pay attention (though I've been getting better and better at this, especially after tweaking and tweaking specific food intake, herbs, and adding more meditation). The "being present" truly is important. We've possibly heard it all before--that what is, is, or, what is, is the present alone, and all else is illusion. That is something I am always working to better in this game of life we play.

As for great techniques that work for me, I find that the instructor physically positioning does wonders. For me, way more than even a picture, physical intervention and guiding me into the "correct" position, speaks a thousand words. I imagine this to be the case for most if not all of the students actually. The thing is that there is only one instructor and that instructor doesn't have 100 hands!

I also learn alignment by being aware of the alignment of somebody more upper level, or from the instructor his/herself. In Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP for short), there is a technique on mimicking. I am a mimicker. First, I'll mimic and possibly even become that "image", and if it "feels" natural, I won't stop there, but I will build from there. NLP uses the example of a public speaker. To be a public speaker, it's a great practice to go up and believe yourself to be a powerful public speaker, not the "you" that you feel "you" usually are.

Speaking of disassociation in general, As I view myself in the third person, my alignment seems to get drastically better. I unicycle personally, and that is nothing but alignment! Riding around before starting my day in class appears to better my alignment in class. Some focuses in unicycle that I use to keep me in balance involve engaging my hearing sense and blocking out everything else, focusing on one area on the road, or seeing myself in third person. Balance is everything it seems from the deepest aspects to the most superficial. Dance is intriguing in that we get ourselves in the strangest of positions and find ways in which to have proper alignment with these strange positions. When one knows the body, and develop that amazing feeling of balancing the unbalanceable, opposition, and center of gravity come natural. That is kinesthetic intelligence. That is something I am always attracted to getting better at.