Sergey said that he wanted to get more respect from his manager and that he felt that the key would be showing greater calm and self-control.  He told me this at the beginning of the workshop when asked – as we normally do – what each person wanted to explore during our time together.

Watching Sergey during the program, I could see his complex dilemma.  He was lively, funny, intelligent and rarely still.  When it was time to work with him individually – in the front of room – I had an inspiration.  First I spoke a bit about the way humans and animals were oriented in space and then demonstrated this.

Standing in my human (two-legged) orientation, the top of my head points upward and my feet point down; my face, chest and belly are facing front and my back faces back.  And my hands hang relaxed at my sides.

Standing four-legged (the animal orientation), my face faces front and my tail faces back.  From the top of my head, all the way down my spine, I am facing up and my soft underbelly faces down.  And my hands act like feet to hold me up.

Before going further, I invite you to explore this so that the ideas of directionality (vectors) and orientation become less abstract and more palpable.

Sergey stepped right into the animal orientation, so well in fact, that within a few seconds he was moving around the room on all fours as a curious type of creature. 

No wonder he had such difficulties “containing himself.”  No amount of human oriented control could keep him still for long.  As soon as his attention wandered, he was ready to move out and about in his four-legged animal fashion.

Instead of trying to fight against this tendency, I asked him to first acknowledge his head-tail (front-back) orientation and then to simply remember the human orientation pattern (head up and feet down).

Instantly, as his head pointed up and feet pointed down, his whole demeanor shifted.  Without any additional effort, he became calm and his natural power and authority shined through. 

Everyone who knew him was stunned. 

Next, I asked him to shift back to his normal habit of orienting toward the animal vectors and instantly he reverted to his normal playfully annoying style. 

When I asked him to once again remember the human orientation, it was like a switch was triggered and all you saw was a calm and powerful leader.

 The Human - Animal Stance

 

Begin by standing with the human orientation: head – up and feet - down; face, chest, belly – front and back of head, neck, upper back and lower back - back.

Now, let your face move a bit more forward as your hips and buttocks move back.  In this dynamic state, step forward with one foot, letting your arms rise so as to be ready to support your weight, if necessary.

One of our names for this is, the stalking stance, for how it reminds us of both a predator stalking its food and how a hunter in tune with nature moves through the forest. 

Notice what it is like to be in the world oriented like this.  Is this familiar or strange?

Maintaining this orientation/state, move your limbs and torso until you are standing upright in an animal version of the human stance. 

Notice what it is like to be in the world oriented like this.  Is this familiar or strange?

Still in the animal orientation, return to the stalking stance.

Now, remember again your human orientation, with your head and spine aligned with the vertical.  Moving in this state, return to standing.

Do you notice any differences in the two ways of returning to standing?

If not, then you might want to practice this. 

If so, then you might want to contemplate the implications, especially for issues of attention and self-control.