Rosen Method in the Winter
I seem to be in hibernation.
November brought with it the family bugs and consequent inactivity that laid the house low for a month. December, the rush and scurry of Christmas and the house full to the brim with extended family, and pause button on my Rosen practice – apart from attending a wonderful anatomy module on the neck and face, and further exploration of times and ways people have had to put on their ‘mask’ to front the world for a multitude of reasons, many of them long forgotten.
Over Christmas and New Year my parents, who were over from France, had to extend their stay in England by a month. New Year’s Eve saw Mum taken to hospital with pericarditis and a multitude of other symptoms, all frighteningly serious. The January Rosen Method Intensive course was taking place in Belsize Park with Johan Siegnel from Sweden, from the 7th to 14th. In the event I was able to go in and out of the course and stay down in Margate near the hospital where Mum was staying as much as I wanted. It was a gift for me being able to put into practise Rosen in my life, just to be where I wanted to be, there with Mum and nothing else, no ought-tos or should-dos or schedules. Just sitting nearby wasn’t very active or useful, but it felt just exactly the right place to be, and very warming. Taking away from the Intensive the simple and probably trite sounding knowledge and ‘light bulb’ moment that just being me is enough, was more difficult than anything I’ve learnt before. I am starting to glimpse at the start of my Internship, that being a good practitioner requires simply to be there for the other person in whatever comes up for them, and just be.
A few of us new Interns are now geared up to do study days once a fortnight, and provide contact and support in between the supervisions. The next one will be here at home on Valentine’s Day! Next, supervisions are at the end of March, and until then I will be trying to practice on as many people as possible to build up client hours. It seems such a far cry from playing in the orchestra with a schedule and concrete repertoire to try and master. Internship feels a lot more alone, with not such an easy measurement of progress, and I still feel quite uncomfortable with that. It’s (still) a completely new thing for me to search out clients and find a way to sell myself as a Rosen Method Practitioner Intern, when most people have no idea what on earth it is. I still need to create fliers and cards, and round and round my head go the ideas, still formulating and then flitting into a new shape. So with February here, and spring approaching, I hope to have shoots of something to show for my next blog, but just for now I’m in the winter bare-and-muddy-garden phase . Here’s to Spring!
Posted by Damaris on February 12th, 2011.
Hi Damaris, long time no see! How amazing to chance upon your blog and to read how life has developed for you in this fascinating direction. Life has changed for me too in that I’m no longer playing with CBSO and am busy developing an associated interest. I’d love to catch up with you whenever you have time to drop a line with some contact details. Keep in touch when you can but meantime I hope your Mum is recovering ok. Best wishes to you and Adrian. Karen (O’Connor)