16th september 2011

16^th September 2011-09-27

We started our class with listing our privileges and talents. We directly did not discuss what privileges and talents we had listed for ourselves. We again talked about our consensus and non consensus reality which opened our discussion to RANKS. What is rank? We had many opinions over the same. Some said that it is in relation to someone else; some said it relates to power. This led to jotting down the various roles we play in our daily lives and tried giving them ranks. We realized that some ranks are earned while some are unearned. The best example which was discussed was that of a girl becoming eligible for getting married. The roles she needs to play for fitting into that particular role. Earned ranks & Unearned ranks--Earned ranks were education, domestic activities etc., while some unearned ranks were astrology, genes etc. Some were very subjective which were earned or unearned depending upon the circumstance. Through this exercise we also realized how we ‘objectify’ ourselves. How we mould ourselves according to the needs of others. Objectification- looking at our nature, personality, values etc.

               We objectified ourselves under various categories like social, economic, physical, educational, psychological, and spiritual. We were then asked to revisit our talents and privileges we listed and classify them according to the above mentioned ranks. When we did that we saw a common pattern. Most of the things we listed were very much related to our personality, nature and psychological side of us. We also discussed how a person is larger than the role. Sometimes people are unconscious of the ranks which irritates others. The example was, a person is not fluent in speaking, in spite of knowing the fact, people are ignoring it and forcing the person to speak.

               All the different roles we play also suggest how many different perceptions we have. How things cannot be looked from one point of view every single time. What is right in one country might not be appropriate in another. The best example is the clothes we wear in India and anywhere abroad; people have different opinions about it. The idea of this exercise was that we should not be rigid and should not come to a conclusion because what might seem right today might not be the case tomorrow. It also told us that our work should always have different perceptions which could always add layers to our work and make it interesting. In every class we are asked to speak for ourselves, in a louder voice and connecting to our body which we always tend to forget.

We ended the class by watching a Ted Talk by Raghava.

9th September, 2011

On Friday, the 9^th of September 2011, the first “task” we were given was to spend some time running around in the studio space in N3. Needless to say, we didn’t treat it like a jogging exercise, but converted into a full-blown game of Lock-and-Key (which I think most of us hadn’t played since school). The yawns and drowsy eyes disappeared after that and we began class.

The first exercise felt like part 2 of standing-on-the-table-and-repeatedly-shouting-our-names. We had to use our name and add a tune to it. We were given ten minutes to figure it out and then sing it in front of the class. Each person sang her song alone once and everyone else started singing it too after that. It made us feel really good (like rockstars) and most of us had a huge grin on our faces. There was a lot of variety in the tunes that were created. Some people used their full names, some used only their first name. Some used fragments of their name in different combinations and others repeated their name over and over again, in tune. Classical twists, cheerleading chants, slightly haunting tunes were some of the themes for the day. A few were quite catchy and played in my head long after class was over.

After sharing our songs with the class, we had to create a dance to our song (or create another tune) as well. It was fun to see what everyone came up with and each was different from the other. While some were slow steps, others were really fast and difficult to follow. For some you had to jump to your feet, for a few you had to lie on your back. Some were carefully choreographed and others were quite random. Some seemed to finish almost when it started and others seemed to go on and on. And then there were those in the middle.

The last exercise before we broke for lunch was to think of 3 distinct character traits in ourselves and enact it, making everyone else guess. We were supposed to act out things that others didn’t know about us, but that didn’t work out too well. While each of us displayed our three traits, there were a few people who were familiar with atleast a few, if not all, of them and other who didn’t know any. That varied from person to person.

After lunch, Kalpana suggested the running-around exercise, which we enjoyed so much in the morning. But after lunch everyone was too full and lazy to move so we moved on to the next exercise that she had planned. We had to think of a time that we surprised ourselves, and how we felt before, during and after that moment. We spent about twenty minutes thinking and then opened the discussion. It appeared that there were different emotions that were involved in surprising oneself- for some it was an outburst of anger, for others it was when they burst into tears. The exercise was interesting, as we ended up finding something new about ourselves as well as those around us.

To follow that, we paired ourselves and told the other person something that we thought that they wouldn’t know about themselves. While most of us deviated from the actual topic after a while and generally started chatting, there were some really serious and intense conversations going on. We were required to close our eyes after hearing what the other person said about us and feel what our body was feeling. Usually one never really follows what their body is thinking or what it goes through so it took a lot of effort and concentration. Listening to what each person experienced was really interesting because all the reactions were so varied. While some people felt really happy, and felt it in their knees, other felt suffocated and the feeling was there in their throat. Each person’s body language displayed what she felt- while some looked down and smiled, others maintained eye contact and frowned. While some accepted what they were told, others denied it. It was nice that through the conversations, most people opened up to the possibility that maybe the other person was right, whether it was positive or negative.

We ended the class by having an overall discussion on what we felt about the class that day. Everyone seemed satisfied and was happy to have found something new about themselves and about those around them. I think everyone is looking forward to next week’s class :)

19th August

19 August

We started our class by warming up. We walked in a room with our own speed. Then we played a game “wiggling warms”. In this in a circle we were suppose to hold opposite person’s hand. Our hands were tangled and we had to untangle them and form a circle.

Then we did meditation where we scanned our body from head to toe. In this we concentrated on each and every part of the body and tried to feel that part. Then we concentrated on only one part of the body and we tried to understand what it is trying to tell us.

Then we came up with a dream that we can recall. We tried to find the relation between the body part and the dream. We called it ‘free associations’. Surprisingly they had some things in common.

The theory of consensus and non consensus reality-

Everyone has his or her own identity. This identity is the consensus reality. That is the primary process.

The unknown reality is non consensus reality. That is the secondary process.

These realities are constantly changing. There is a dividing line between these two realities. That is called the ‘edge’. It is the inner critic. The edge protects from the unknown reality. We need the permission to go beyond the edge.

Our creativity comes from our dreaming reality. Our dreams are unacceptable part of our self.

Everything in this world has a structure. We can’t stay in a structure. We need a box to get out from the box. So get out of your strong primary identity. And start dreaming!