Still Moving - Image and Imagination

Still Moving I M AG E A N D I M AG I N AT I O N

Photography by Karen Alexandre

Text by Jaimen McMillan

Copyright Š 2015 Published by Spacial Dynamics Institute Inc. 129 Hayes Road, Schuylerville, NY, 12871, USA www.spacialdynamics.com All rights reserved. This publication must not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission from the publisher except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Printed and bound in Canada author

Jaimen McMillan

photogr apher production

Karen Alexandre

Lisa Eng-Lodge, Electra Design Group

colour and prepress printing

Ernst Vegt, Coast Imaging Arts

Friesens Corporation

on FSC-Certified Paper using vegetable based inks ISBN 978-0-692-40525-3

With thanks for the many and diverse contributions made by Kate Frizzell, Dorothea McMillan and Eric Alexandre.

FOREWORD Almost fifty years ago, my father gave me a small book of haiku entitled Silent Flowers, which has accompanied me on my life’s journey. Each page presents the essence of haiku as defined by the 17th Century Japanese poet, Basho: “…simply what is happening in this place, at this moment.” Each page expressed this moment – opening the soul to experience beauty, emotion, tranquillity, through the three lines of word and original watercolor paintings.

It is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. When we create moments of inner and outer stillness, we place ourselves in an active state of attention, awareness and awakened listening – as the poets of the haiku so long ago. In silencing the thinking mind, our soul expands into true oneness with the Divine – a timeless depth, width, space where we receive and embrace the word … where it is then possible to experience wonder, beauty, mystery, communion, peace – the essence of true being.

In your hands, you hold an invitation to enter this world: “…simply what is happening in this place, at this moment…” Through Karen Alexandre’s exquisite, extraordinary and perceptive photography and Jaimen McMillan’s living essence in the word, this treasure beckons us to “…sit quietly in the timeless Present and Be.” As we continue to hurl ourselves on the path of technological explosion and advancement, could there be any greater gift than the opportunity this collection offers?

Rita Costanzi

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold In finity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake (Fragments from “Auguries of Innocence�)

INTRODUCTION Perception is movement at the most refined level. In order to perceive things in new ways, one must learn to move in new ways. This book will take you on a journey into the movements of nature, which are always in flux. Passive perception can offer no insight here. One can only perceive movement with movement.

The photos in this book are not static or still. In fact, if you slow down enough, you will notice that they are fluid, that they are still moving. Resist the temptation to quickly guess what the subject of the photo may be. Enjoy its beauty, but let this too wane. Now, soften your gaze and live into the photo until it seems to breathe. You will begin to see that each form has come about from sculpting movements that created the form, that they are still around the form, and that they are “still moving.”

The verses in this book are playful too. When you think you have understood a verse, stop.

Each verse can be re-versed. Turn each phrase around, up-side down, and inside out, and you will discover that the verses echo the movements in the photos. Your playful interaction with the images and the imaginations will help you to develop a new art of perception. You will witness the play and interplay in nature as the finite reveals itself as an expression of the infinite. There is nothing fixed or finished ...everything springs to life. Everything is indeed: “Still Moving.”

Jaimen McMillan

Nature’s forms spring from the sketchbook of God’s mind …

Nature’s rhythms from her playful heart.

6

Nature is in finity

8

turned inside out.

A gap is never empty‌

10

it reaches out wholly until its edges join.

Rhythm pulses life between two expressions of in finity: the point and the periphery.

12

�e point is to see �e whole in the parts.

14

In the midst of all movement

16

there is beauty, still.

Flow is the answer to a distant calling.

18

�e seed does not contain the tree… �e seed invites it.

20

Space provides the possibility to connect.

22

�ere is a place we can invite another to.

A place that does not belong to any of us alon� A place where there is always spac�

24

In finity is not unimaginably far away.

26

Imagine!

�e in finite is the finite

turned inside out.

Possibilities dream in space,

28

and awaken in form.

Change, move always.

30

Move all ways, change.

Form,

32

the silent language of spacďż˝

Eternity is still here.

34

A labyrinth is a path

36

to one’s self.

In finity is not far away.

In finity wakes at your fingertips.

38

Nature never stops‌

40

she moves still.

Form is de fined by what something is, as well as by what it is not.

42

�ere is no obstacle,

44

�ere is only respons�

Borders are not boundaries to enclose, they are thresholds to traversďż˝

46

Rhythm, the not yet manifest,

48

calling matter into play.

Nature never gives in‌

50

She always invites you out.

Form is the longing of space to take placďż˝

52

Space is not a void.

54

Space is alivďż˝

To meet

is to be changed by the other.

56

Reflecting, re-imagining the wholďż˝

58

Nature dances,

60

keeping time in spacďż˝

�e greatest closeness is being far and feeling near. �e greatest distance is being near

62

and feeling far.

Dividing does more than split in two.

It creates a whole held together by a middlďż˝

64

Nature needs form,

forming all that matters.

66

To be apart,

68

yet be a part of the wholďż˝

Nothing stands in isolation. �ere is no separation, only space in between.

70

A spiral‌ two expressions of infinity at play.

72

Nature’s beauty draws us from solitude and gives us the space to relat�

74

Dream.

76

But stay awake in the dream.

�e periphery has changed.

78

�e invitation is now infinit�

MEE T THE PHOTOGR APHER & AUTHOR Karen Alexandre’s love of photography began years ago with the acquisition of an SLR film camera and later a macro lens. Together these enabled her to see the beauty in ordinary things, to reveal the usual in unusual ways.

Jaimen McMillan has dedicated his life to studying and teaching human movement. For him movement is alive, a constant companion. He has introduced tens of thousands of people of all ages, from every walk of life, and from all over the world, to his best friend, Movement.

In Still Moving, Karen’s photographs slow down movement long enough for the viewer to see it, to move into it. Inviting the viewer to join her in seeing through curious eyes, the stillness and the movement in the photos blend, bringing about a quieting, almost meditative effect.

A student of Spacial Dynamics, Karen’s images are found in private collections throughout North America and in other parts of the world. She lives with her husband on Vancouver Island, on Canada’s beautiful west coast.

An author, wordsmith, and professional contributor to the fields of movement education and movement therapy for over 40 years, Jaimen is a co-founder of the Graf Bothmer Schule für Gymnastik Stuttgart e.V. (1980) and the founder of Spacial Dynamics.® He has directed the Spacial Dynamics Institute for the past 30 years. Jaimen lives with his wife and two of his six children in upstate New York.

Karen Alexandre

Jaimen McMillan

DSSD

Spacial Dynamics®

Jaimen developed the discipline of Spacial Dynamics® out of his study of ability.

Distilling principles of movement by witnessing countless moments of mastery, he saw that expertise does not live inside the body, but pulses in the fluid continuum between the body and the surrounding space.

Since 1985 his Spacial Dynamics Institute in upstate New York has trained professionals in this body-space continuum method to help anyone master anything. Spacial Dynamics is taught all over the world and applied to fields such as movement therapy, movement education, injury prevention, performance enhancement, business leadership and world-peace. Central to his teaching technique is the interplay of demonstrating movement and formulating words that inspire and in-form, echoing the essence of the movement.

Pick up this book from time to time.

When you feel you have been moved, set it down. Give yourself a few moments of quiet and you may well find that you will be Still Moving.

Still Moving I M AG E A N D I M AG I N AT I O N

“As an editor I looked for the right photos. The photos in this book look right back at me. As an editor I sought words that captured a thought. The words in this book will set your thoughts free.”

Jason Schneider, Former Editor in Chief of Popular Photography Magazine

“A magical book! Words and images weave wonder in this inspired and inspiring book, inviting us to rediscover time and space and the mysteries of our world.”

Elaine Mackee, Artist and Educator

“This gem of a book is a treasury of visual poetry. The words and photos meld so that the book-lover discovers new ways of seeing that transform into new ways of being.”

Ashley Ramsden, Author of The Storyteller’s Way and Body Eloquence