VITALITY Cincinnati

sounds that mean something

Ever wonder how babies learn to make sense of sounds and then sound them out themselves?

It’s fascinating, isn’t it?

Those first drooling ‘gahs’ and ‘bahs’ come to mean something to family members who listen, who take time to try to understand.

And a child who is heard delights in such power to express what they want, what they take pleasure in.

Do you know your own languages?

Sure, you might speak English, maybe another language like French or Chinese or Arabic or whatever.

And they do communicate. Those languages and their own ways of organizing sounds have meaning to those who know those languages. Even if we don’t know those languages, if we took time to listen deeply, tried to understand what those speakers meant through the contexts of their speaking, their gestures and facial expressions, their tones of voice, we’d come to understand. We’d learn a new language.

Through such deep listening to and with one another, we create bridges. We reach out. We realize our Oneness.

Maybe you and your beloved family member or friend have a special language that wouldn’t make sense to anyone else. Your own ‘gahs’ and ‘bahs’ that have meaning just for you. Your own idioms.

Again, though, do you know your own languages? Within yourself.

Movement is a language, a way of communicating with yourself, especially with what senses within you, your nervous system. Often at a very deep level.

How does that work?

Well, the language of your nervous system has to do with noticing differences, with noticing your unique reaction to those differences, and then realizing you can choose, that you always have choices.

Move in any way you’d like that feels good and you can sense for yourself that it is delightful. Move in some other way and you can sense for yourself whatever you feel, that this new movement is different from the first. Of course you’ll need to move slowly, even gently, to be able to catch the differences — your own ‘gahs’ and ‘bahs’ of your own inner movement languages. And then you can choose for yourself if you’d like to continue with one of these movements, or choose something else.

Why not choose delight?

The trouble with many of us — certainly my own self for YEARS — is we haven’t explored many options. We haven’t provided enough options that are gentle, delightful.

Tonia Smith and I are launching some new opportunities this Fall to invite some new options, new discoveries for oneself and for our world.

It’s listed as an ‘Advanced Yoga Training’ though really it’s for everyone, including some new immersions in Movement Intelligence — people in our June and July and August immersions are raving about them. An 80-year-old friend recently reported that her doctor told her she had grown an inch through the experience. A 30-year-old friend reported that a shoulder which had troubled her since her teenage, competitive sports years finally feels pain-free and useable again.

These people learned their own inner language, their own ways of moving that responded to what limited them in the past. And such learning was pain-free.

And the languages we speak with one another — English, etc — are based on very ancient roots. And the roots of these languages might surprise you. Greatly.

Tonia and I are considering offering this ‘Advanced Yoga Training’ as a 300-hour whole experience — and à la carte. You could jump on board for all of it — or simply the Movement Intelligence portion or the conversations about ancient texts like the sayings of Jesus, the sayings of Gautama / Buddha. Both of these great ones are, perhaps, completely misunderstood today.

And the wisdom they offer and that so many ancient teachers offer just might be the ‘language’ that our world needs now.

I think you’ll be quite delightfully surprised.

Come and see. Click here for details.

Much love to you, friend, on the wonderful journey, across bridges into a larger world!
Brian Shircliff
program director
513.300.5174

PS…Filming for our 10th Anniversary Documentary has begun and gets spiced up tomorrow at our tai chi class in Green Man Park and then afterwards at the Glean & Share Garden! Save an hour on Saturday, Nov 7 to see the documentary via Zoom and at pop-up, covid-safe, in-person showings around town!