Developing a Movement Practice to discover the Self and transform as an individual
Full details of the Bray Movement School below…
The Bray Movement School In a Nutshell:
A school gives us the opportunity to come together as a collective with the dual objective of working on the material and working on ourselves. Through the group we give ourselves a chance to change, transform and most notably, provide a space to awaken and become conscious.
A movement practice will provide the platform and broad range of material to contend with. In taking part in a movement school like this I’ll aim to teach material that will help you foster a lifelong movement practice that is independent in its own way and truly unique to you as an individual. We come together as a group to share that unique perspective and elevate our own understanding of movement as part of a community.
The school will follow a curriculum based approach in exposing students to what I feel are fundamental practices (listed below) that relate to the field of movement. The teachings will be delivered in an organised, modular and process-based approach in order to present these various systems as a coherent body of knowledge.
The 3 Fundamental Layers of the Human to Harmonise in Order to Transform as an Individual
The Body (Soma)
We live in a miraculous structure, full of wonder and possibility. The potential it holds needs to be explored in order to live a full life.
With this focal point in our practice and curriculum we will dive into many areas with the ultimate goal of freedom of expression with the body. We will achieve this by opening up the spine, legs and arms to all their subtle yet vast movement capabilities. This base of freedom will allow us to explore the various qualities inherent within the body such as lightness, athleticism, grace, precision, rhythmicity, coordination, adroitness, dexterity, elasticity, speed, power, strength to name but a few. Fields of movement to explore
these qualities in application will range from the likes of acrobatics, dance, parkour, capoeira, kung fu, boxing, tai chi, yoga, resistance training and strength & conditioning. These fields offer us a chance to focus on strict parameters in order to develop specific skills. These skills are developed with unification in mind and have been selected for their range of application rather than their utility in one field alone.
Other notable features of this aspect of the school will be in how the material is taught and the tools we use. The environment around us offers various training platforms such as walls, stairs, poles, bars, rails and of course the ground itself. These environments can be explored in various ways with movement at the forefront of the mind which opens up realms of possibility. Just like the environment, various objects and such will be used to expose the body to its unique capacities.
Our relationship to others will also become a source of movement exploration. Another human and partner influences us in many ways and offers another nervous system to use as a sounding board to aid our movement exploration (more will be explained below…).
Altogether, these various tools and platforms help us during the practice to see qualities that are present across all fields of movement. We become less scattered in our mind and body. As we become more fluent in the language of movement we start to unveil parts of ourselves we didn’t know were there that were just waiting for the right stimulus to expose them.
The Mind (Psyche)
Another structure that is equally as miraculous as the body is the mind. But while the practical material for changing and shaping the body is vast, the same can’t be said about the mind.
There are of course many theoretical models of the mind and its inner workings. But rarely are they both understood and applied by an individual. This is the fundamental aim of this subdivision of the practice. We will explore theoretical models of the mind while also working on applying these concepts in order to fully integrate them into ourselves. We will analyse the physiological make-
up of this structure and how this relates to its function as well as psychological and philosophical models that further illuminate its inner workings.
The practical material we will explore in relation to the mind will give us an opportunity to observe and direct the change we want to see in ourselves. This aspect cannot be stressed enough as mere comprehension and knowledge of these models will not drive the desired adaptation. Effort and practice is required on our part if we want to fully understand these models of the mind.
The Spirit (Soul)
The body and mind give us an ability to navigate the world on a physical plane but they do not address the metaphysical. What lies beyond all of this is something vast and ineffable.
This aspect of the practice may seem the hardest to grasp and comprehend. My objective here is to present material from some of the various traditions that were concerned with the esoteric and spiritual aspect of life. A comprehensive and robust assessment of these traditions is what’s needed in my eyes to see both the positive and negative aspects of their doctrine. Only then can we put ourselves in a good position to extract the
wisdom inherent in their teachings while also avoiding dogmatic, zealous and narrow-minded thinking.
Once again a blend of theory and practical material will be used to explore this subdivision of the practice.
The Logistics of the School
Location
The classes will run in multiple locations, both indoors and outdoors, depending on the types of projects in which we will be involved as a group.
For the Summer period we will be organising a mix of indoor and outdoor sessions depending mainly on weather. Students will be given advanced notice of location changes to organise accordingly.
Indoor Location: The Perfect Theatre (just above Bray Bowl)
Outdoor Location: People’s Park
Amount and Duration
Each class will last 1 hour in length.
There will be two classes per week: Monday and Wednesday.
Friday-Saturday-Sunday will be left for independent development, events, and side projects in which active students will be invited to take part.
Summer Class Times
If we are indoors, classes have a more strict start and end time of 6-7pm.
If we are outdoors, we start at 6pm and may end around 7/7:10pm.
Conditions to Enter the Classes
There will be no initial requirements in terms of previous experience as the practice will be completely scalable.
The main thing to be aware of is that I’m looking for committed people willing to do work long-term. This material and the format in which it’s delivered is something to contend with on an ongoing basis. As a result, a drop-in style of classes would not suit.
Of course, holidays or planned periods of absence are fine and won’t exclude you from enrolling in the school.
Free Trial Classes
I’ll be offering Free Trial Classes to anyone interested in joining the movement school.
Simply fill in your information below and I’ll give you a call to have a brief chat about why you want to join the school before organising your Free Trial Class.
Pricing Options:
With there being a limited number of classes and depending on your availability, I’m offering various packages depending on whether students want to just attend in-person classes AND/OR organise private access with me where I assign personalised practice sessions to be completed in your own time.
This is something we can discuss in more detail to find the best option that suits you and your needs.
Packages start at just €20 per week!
Leave your details below 👇
Leave your details below 👇
If you want to get an idea of what the Bray Movement School is like before joining then I’d be delighted to offer you a Free Trial Class.
Simply leave your information below and I’ll be in touch to organise a phone call to discuss why you want to join before organising your Free Trial Class.