How does movement meditation differ from traditional meditation?
Movement meditation has basically the same goal as traditional meditation. Both of them seek to set you free so that you can see yourself and the world around you clearly without clutter or delusion. There are, however, some major differences in the process of reaching this goal.
There are basically two kinds of traditional meditation: focused attention and open monitoring.
Focused attention meditation
is a technique where the mind concentrates on a single object like your breathing or a candle or a mantra phrase. The goal here is to allow you to let go of all distracting thoughts, emotions, memories, etc. and focus on this one thing. This training or exercising eventually allows you to let go of unimportant distractions so that you can reach down into your essential self. In fact, the goal is to go beyond your conscious mind which is cluttered with unnecessary and passing distractions and reach another state of mind that allows you to see what is at your core. In the process of finding your core self you will encounter the world around you in an altered way with less stress and worry and more focus and compassion for what really counts.
Open monitoring meditation
is the opposite of focused attention. Instead of concentrating on something, your attention is open and remains aware of everything that is happening. All experiences are perceived as they happen, with a goal of remaining non-judgmental toward oneself. Some of the things that are watched in this meditation are thoughts, feelings, memories, sounds, smells, and bodily sensations. There are two types of open monitoring: internal and external. An internal open monitoring meditation will focus on thoughts, emotions, memories, and visualizations, while an external meditation is centered around the sounds, smells, colors and other perceptions of one’s immediate environment. Instead of getting caught up in a thought or feeling, the practitioner is encouraged to simply witness everything and be present to whatever is happening. Again the goal is to get past your conscious mind into an altered state of mind that allows you to see more clearly.
ShapeShifting focuses on movement meditation.
It has the same goal as traditional meditation which is to get beyond the clutter of your conscious mind and allow your true self to come through. In practice, it is probably closer to the open monitoring meditative process. When your body expresses itself through movement, it is performing the meditative process of awareness, of being completely present in the moment, but it differs from traditional meditation in a number of ways.
Unlike traditional meditation movement meditation involves movement.
Most meditative forms involve stillness and a quiet place. Movement is central to the kind of meditation that ShapeShifting practice. And intentional sound or silence and external stimuli are essential to its environment. This kind of meditation can happen any place on earth. In fact, the practitioner is encouraged to do this meditation in places no one would ever expect it to take place. The point is to allow your body to tell its story within ever new and unfamiliar environments on a regular basis. The more unexpected places are the better places. Your body can use the energy from any environment to help create its movement story. Because your body uses its own internal energy flow and all surrounding energy webs, it is always at home no matter where you are. Energy loves energy and it is glad to use your body to incarnate itself and your story at the same time. It is good to do your movement in a quiet and safe space but every now and then explore. If you live in NYC, for example, try doing your spontaneous movement meditations on subway grates (they respond to the weight of your body) on the sidewalk. Allow the surrounding environment to energize your movement story. Bring your own music and/or respond to what you see, hear, touch, and smell.
Unlike traditional meditation which seeks detachment from trauma ShapeShifting allows you to embrace your autobiographical memory.
The goal of most meditative forms is to detach yourself from your thoughts, feelings, and memories that have clouded your judgment. The purpose of movement meditation is rather to relive it all through the bodily reactions that were originally present. Its point is to re-immerse yourself into those thoughts, feelings, and events so that you can express them and embrace them as part of the story of who you are. Your story gains more depth and breadth because your body remembers what your cm cannot and will not remember. When we allow our bodies to relive these things, we go through them, we embrace them, we become present with them, we become aware, and we are healed.
Unlike traditional meditation the altered state that you reach in movement meditation is your preconscious mind.
Traditional meditation seeks to remove us from the physical world. This is another level of detachment. Movement meditation, conversely, seeks to immerse us more deeply into our physical selves. The goal is to be totally present in the story that our body is telling through movement as it responds to the energy flow both within our bodies and the environment around it. The place where this happens is in our preconscious mind. This altered state of mind is where we connect most completely with our bodies. We leave our cm behind so that we can be completely present with our bodies.