I've been reading Laban for all, which is a book that describes the dance techniques of Rudolf Laban. I was introduced to it by Bill Whitcomb. We both find the mapping of the movement of the body to be fascinating. Last night I decided to try out the basic steps for Laban. What stood out to me about the experience was how much attention I needed to pay to each of the steps I was doing. I know that as time goes on, muscle memory helps a person incorporate the movements so that s/he doesn't have to think about the movements, but I felt the experience was useful last night for helping me really sit in my body. I've been finding that incorporating more physical body awareness into my ritual work has been essential for the identity work I'm doing, and most importantly for getting past cultural memes that otherwise influence how the body is perceived and interacted with.
In complement of that I've also been working through some of the exercises in the Eight Circuit Brain. Last night, after doing the steps, I talk a salt water bath and then did a meditation visit with my concept of the Anima. I'm going to continue down that particular route because there's some work I wish to do with it. Meeting with the Anima proved useful because I was able to recognize that it is from my concept of her that in some ways I've based my understanding of the opposite sex. So how better to examine those beliefs than to do so with her? I've found myself dealing with a recurrent issue of idealization and according to Antero Alli, working with the anima directly is the best way to deal with such idealization. Last night's first visit did seem helpful for that purpose. I could place that idealization on the Anima, without having to bring it back with me.