The Christmas season ushers in performances of all sorts: piano recitals, grade school dramas, choral and orchestral events, (Handel’s Messiah), ballet (Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker), community choirs, church plays, festivals of carols, and much more. I invite you to consider two key vantage points of performance: being a witness, being witnessed.	How do you 

? This word, of Old English origin, means ‘

’. How do we see or know? Imagine yourself at a young child’s first piano recital; then imagine yourself at Celtic Thunder’s Christmas Special. Do you witness these from the same perspective? What influences your process of witnessing? What expectations do you have? How do your expectations affect your witnessing of an event…and even your enjoyment thereof? Can you see/know from an unbiased perspective?Now consider what it is to 

. Say you are with your long-time singing group, offering a show at a local club where you regularly perform. Compare that with performing at a university stage with a musical theatre group you recently joined. In both you are being vulnerable in offering yourself, and they are different…. in many ways.	Being a witness and being witnessed happen in all aspects of our lives, not just in performance.

: Here is a practice for you to explore with a friend: 

 is the mover/the person being witnessed. 

: Choose an activity in which you would like to be witnessed for about 10-15 minutes such as knitting, skating, playing piano, reading aloud, walking… . BEFORE ‘doing’ your chosen activity, take a few moments to breathe deeply and slowly, letting your body settle and allow your body weight to yield to the support of the earth. Then bring your awareness inward to sense into the nuances of your inner state: how you are feeling, what you are sensing, and so on. Feel the support of your friend who witnesses you with loving kindness. Follow your inner impulses of movement and allow this to take you into your chosen activity. Try to balance your inner awareness with your outer awareness of your activity.

: sit comfortably, feeling your pelvis rooted into the chair, feet resting on the earth. Let your whole body breathe deeply. Let your mind rest, quieting mental chatter. Attune all your senses so that you can 

 the experience fully. Let this experience be new/fresh in this time and place. From where in your body-mind are you witnessing? 

 from a place of non-judgment. Witness with 

, the mover, the one who was witnessed, share for 2 minutes from a first person perspective using sentences starting with “

” . Report on your movement and experience and AVOID judgment statements.	Then B, the witness, shares for 2 minutes on his/her observations, using “

” statements. AVOID judgments and interpretations.

Pause for a few minutes to absorb this experience, then change roles.

Witness—Witnessed

Autumn welcomes us with golden aspen poplars and larches amongst deep pine and spruce greens with the background of a cerulean blue Alberta sky. The season’s cheerful palette encourages me to consider upcoming 

: colourful root veggies and squashes, layered clothing for cooler outdoor adventures, truncated daylight offering time for inward journeys and reading. As I watch the busy-ness of squirrels, birds, deer, and elk, I reflect how nature is preparing itself for the incubation of winter, and how I too can make mindful choices regarding my wellness. According to the Global Wellness Institute, 

 pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that lead to a state of 

 health’. This whole-person pursuit includes aspects of our physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, and environmental life. One could include other (and more) aspects, of course, and what resonates with me is that wellness is 

. Process-oriented practice. Wellness, for me, is a 

, an action to which we return day by day, moment by moment. It requires a 

 in our choices, no matter how mundane or marvellous. It’s an ongoing process in that as we change and grow, so can our wellness practice.​​ How does this relate to 

? Just as nature has a unique rhythm and manifestation in each season, so can we allow ourselves the freedom to make new mindful choices to support our wellness. ​

 this: mindfully commit to one process-oriented practice per month, not as a ‘task’ but as a loving invitation to yourself. Notice what you sense in yourself; notice how you feel. Test it out if it’s a practice that works for you. Here are a few ideas:

• Include two colourful veggies on your dinner plate

• Attentively listen to and absorb your favourite uplifting music

• Practice being fully present with your significant other

• Read holy literature with an open and discerning heart

• Look and genuinely see the beauty of unfamiliar things in nature

• At bedtime, sense the settling of your bodymind

Enjoy your process-oriented wellness practice!

Seasons of Wellness​

Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder of Body-Mind Centering ®, speaks of two ‘patterns’ (or phrasings) which underlie all of the vertebral developmental movement patterns. Yield-Push patterns relate to a sense of self and grounded-ness. Reach-Pull patterns facilitate a moving beyond your own kinesphere into relationship with others and the world. 

ield: relax deeply so that you can sense your body weight descending into the earth via gravity. Then try to open your perception to feel the support of the earth buoying you up. Note that relaxing into gravity is NOT about collapsing. Yielding is the primary relationship of bonding between you and the earth, out of which movement arises.

ush: out of yielding, generate a force (via your muscles) to meet the task at hand. A Push is a compressive movement that generates strength. Make sure that under your Push you are still yielding so that you do not get unnecessary tension.

each: notice something around you that draws your attention. Your desire to approach something beyond your kinesphere will bring qualities of lightness and elongation into your movement. Your movement will begin to be more goal-oriented. Make sure that Yield-Push supports the Reach so that you do not strain.

ull: as you begin to Reach beyond yourself, feel the beckoning of your ‘goal’ as the impetus to travel into space. Enjoy the feeling of lengthening and moving toward your desire.

Ideally Yield-Push precedes Reach-Pull for movement to be fluid and effective. A lovely example of YP-RP phrasing is an Olympic diver. Watch the diver YP from the lower body into the diving board as support for the RP through the head and arms as he/she arcs beautifully into the pool! What examples can you find in your life? 

Yield-Push-Reach-Pull

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Witness—Witnessed

Seasons of Wellness

Yield-Push-Reach-Pull

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Witness—Witnessed

Seasons of Wellness​

Seasons of Wellness