Whole Bodied Performance Coaching and Alexander Technique

Happy holidays and creative cookies to all of you!

Very excited to announce that my first improv class of 2020 is in partnership with Cornerstone Improv! They're awesome, and totally dedicated to service and the community. SOLD OUT -- But I think you can still apply for the Inclusion Scholarship here! https://www.cornerstoneimprov.com/inclusion-scholarship... Don't Make a Scene: Group Mind and Spontaneous Group Games with Graeson Harris-Young Dates: Mondays January 6th, 13th, & 20th Time: 7-9PM Place: Liberty Station Training Center Cost: $60 Openings and group games are supposed to create organic connection and discovery, get groups on the same page, cleanse the palate, be weird and performance art-y and fun but let's be real. They can feel forced and arbitrary and hack, they can put us in our heads, make us question or even hate our longform, and often are either total clusterf&$#s or just indistinguishable from group scenes. It doesn’t have to be this way! Group work can be among the richest, most satisfying parts of performance. This class will teach you how to approach non-scenic group work differently so it serves you on stage and is also actually fun. Register here today: http://buytickets.at/cornerstoneimprov/323412

Wanna hear some big news? Whole Bodied Coaching is splitting into two different pages! Short version: Follow Graeson Harris-Young, Pain & Posture Coach if you want pain & posture info and #maxtheskeleton videos from here on out!... This page has become Whole Bodied Performance Coaching & Alexander Technique. It will be dedicated to serving performers, creators and artists with inspiring content, San Diego local events and classes, and soon a new group, Whole Bodied Artists, where we can all support one another. This will be my home for content related to performance plus San Diego based events such as monthly improv classes and Alexander Technique for Performance workshops. Keep following here if you’re interested in performance tips and creativity musings with an emphasis on mindfulness, embodiment, and experience, and if you don’t mind hearing about my (mostly local) events. Overall, this page will be more personal for me, a place for passion and passion projects, and I hope you'll stay with me here if that's interesting to you. And there’s now a new page! Graeson Harris-Young, Pain & Posture Coach This will be my home for all things pain, posture, and movement including #maxtheskeleton videos. Some of that will still show up here, of course, because being best friends with our bodies is so important to performance! But not every post about back or knee or whatever pain. So if you primarily follow this page for info about your posture and body, that’s the page to follow. You are of course invited to like both pages!

The best most genius presidential posture advice on the planet right here. Dot dot dot worth a watch. "If you're standing normal, it should hurt. That's my motto." I was working on an online pain and posture class but with this video out there I don't need to. (Big announcements coming in a few days anyway though...)

Wow! Marathon distance in under two hours by Eliud Kipchoge. One of the most impressive athletic feats ever performed, and with so much grace, at that. Just watch how beautifully and efficiently he moves (after running almost two hours at 13+mph!) compared to the pacers behind him. Just incredible. https://youtu.be/SvYlr76VmC8

Ruby Rose uses Alexander Technique to play Batwoman! Alexander Technique is a fantastic way to learn how to use your body, take control of your habits, and discover ways to move that work for you. That's why it works not just for everyday folks to stop chronic pain and tension, but also for top performers in the acting, music, dance, and even athletics! For actors, it's a powerful way to act NOT like yourself, by dropping your habits and picking up others' habits -- and in a ...way that doesn't cause you to strain yourself or go too "method" and take on those new habits permanently. And, above else, to let go of effort -- because as all performers know, energy is beautiful, but (extra) effort is ugly. Here's what our Batwoman has to say: She’s sort of no-nonsense, very stern. She’s cheeky but she doesn’t speak a ton, and when she does, she kind of does a lower voice, hiding her identity. When I do fight sequences and stunts as Batwoman, I do the Alexander Technique, where we study the bat and study the movement. Even the head movements are kind of batlike, so it feels like two different people. https://www.nytimes.com//television/ruby-rose-batwoman.html

Caught this lyric listening to my Spotify this morning: "We mortals are upside down Feet like dove wings, we flap around"... And I just rather like the idea of my feet being my wings that let me dance across the ground like birds or angels through the air.

Wow! So much to admire here...

Progress isn't linear; it's more like going up a spiral staircase. The challenges we face in ourselves and in our lives are repetitive, but each time we come around again we've elevated ourselves. We're stronger, wiser, more capable, and we learn more each time. That's this week's reminder and intention to myself and you. Because it can be frustrating to run into the same things over and over again, and tempting to ask despondently if any progress has been made at all!... It can feel hopeless if our model of progress is only forward and backward. But that's just not how it works. By the way, this is a metaphor I've relied on for years, and I decided this morning to see if I could find a source. The earliest I could find is from the poet William Butler Yeats, who wrote: "Life is a journey up a spiral staircase; as we grow older we cover the ground covered we have covered before, only higher up; as we look down the winding stair below us we measure our progress by the number of places where we were but no longer are. The journey is both repetitious and progressive; we go both round and upward." So, onward, upward and around again this week!

Hey, remember when I said you don't actually have to worry about growing horns by using your smartphone? You definitely don't. https://www.pbs.org//science-journal-walks-back-claim-that