CLMA & Cesar Millan: I See Moving People

For years I have watched The Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan on the National Geographic Channel. I never really could articulate why the show was so fascinating and enjoyable to watch, especially since I don't own nor have I ever owned a dog or even a cat for that matter. His way of observing, listening, and problem-solving in a fully physical way for both dogs and their owners was such a fulfilling process to watch.

Then half-way through my Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies program, I realized what it was that attracted me to this show. With the intensive submersion into all things movement in the Utah Summer program structure of the program I was attending, I began to feel a bit like the famed character in The Sixth Sense, only instead of seeing dead people I was seeing moving people everywhere. With language to now understand the nuance and patterns of human movement I began to see interesting examples of ways people move, ways people talk about moving, and ways people approach or value movement. For me Cesar Millan's process of rehabilitation very much resonates for me with the type of work we do in the Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst certification program. So for those who find what CLMA's do so enigmatic, I offer up The Dog Whisperer as a similar example of what we do, only he does it with both dogs and people. Sound a bit wild? Well let me explain.

The language Cesar uses to explain or demonstrate in his process may be different, but the process is a kindred cousin to what CLMA's do with people. Cesar understands that movement is meaningful, that movement communicates emotions, relationships, values, and past history.
When Cesar is speaking about "energy" I argue he is speaking about what we call in the Laban world Effort. He is speaking about the dog or person's inner intent being manifested in their physical display of movement or posture. What the body is doing, how it forms itself into and out of various stances, and how bodies relate to and within their environment are all part of what Cesar looks for in his observation process. Cesar watches for markers in the dogs' movements and posture that express the dogs' inner intentions. He also does the same as owners begin to apply his methods in working with their dogs.

As with CLMA's he is intuitive, succinct, and clear about pointing out and describing what he is seeing in both man and dog that leads him to the conclusions he reaches. He is able to communicate what he is seeing in a way that his clients are able to understand the details he is seeing in the movement. His way of communicating his observation not only helps others understand what he is seeing but also helps them look for the same type of expressive markers in the future. He brings awareness to his clients about how to see expression in movement, how to analyze movement to glean meaning from it. Again this is what CLMA's can do for their clients.

Also like CLMA's he is able to sit down and really listen not only to the issues that people are having with their pets, but also listen to how they are talking about those issues. He understands that there is just as much to learn about what language people use in speaking about an issue as there is to learn in understanding what the actual issue is. The same happens in sessions with CLMA's. We listen to the issues that are going on with each client (ex. I have an old injury. /Somehow I give off the wrong message about myself in social settings. / I need help with learning how to do a better job at speaking in public. / My back hurts when I. . . etc.) But we also listen to how that client perceives or understands the issue within their personal system of beliefs and values.

And finally, like CLMA's, Cesar moves into action orchestrating a strategy or plan of action that greatly values physical action and awareness of movement. He is consistent in his philosophy during the process of devising strategies and yet improvisational and creative remaining open to whatever potential learning opportunities come up in the moment. Again the process of working with a CLMA is very much the same. We provide physical exercises, guidance on how those exercises are done, and still remain open to any improvisational openings in the process.

While Cesar works with the relationships people have with their dogs, we CLMA's work with the relationships we have to our bodies, others, and our environment. Cesar works within the world of how to be more clear in how we express ourselves to our pets, while CLMA's work on how to become more efficient and functional as well as more clear in our expression. I now understand my affinity for The Dog Whisperer and why so many of his lessons become a larger metaphor for life lessons. The same happens in my work as a performer, choreographer, educator, and now movement analyst.

Whew! I'm glad I sorted that out. I almost thought I needed to get a dog.

Laban Movement Analysis: Caution - May Do Exactly What It's Supposed To Do

While there were a lot of things that took place over the course of the past year of the certification process in Laban Movement Analysis, I have to say that most of it has been sucked back into the recesses of my mind and body only to resurface quite frankly when it's good and ready. I feel like I haven't had a generative innovative interesting idea about the system since I left Utah this past summer. But one thing I am certain of is that the system will be an integral part of the rest of my life.

A couple of major discoveries and experiences that came out of the work for me were of both a personal and a professional nature. I went into this program hoping to get some further clarity and focus on where the next part of my life would lead me. I was in a major transition moving out of the hustle and bustle of New York City and into a slower more personally meaningful life reconnecting to the things that are really important to me (i.e. family, husband, baby, stable career.)

I found the program required me to return to the old saying, "Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it." One of the many experiences that occurred I'm still processing. It concerns my experience learning to soften the area of my chest and ribcage. Sounds pretty simple right? I mean I have some tension and a holding pattern where I don't move my upper chest very much. So I change it, do the re-patterning work to gain more access to softening and malleability in my chest. But what was so profound for me was the connection to my emotional state, my values, and my psyche. Some might say . . . "Okay wait. What is she talking about? How did we get here? I thought we were just talking about some minor physical adjustments." Gaining access to more movement in my chest meant more for me and did more for me than just giving me more access to mobility. My emotional state shifted. Let me explain.

I grew up with my mother ushering me off to every possible class and event she felt a "cultured," well-preened young lady would need to have. By the age of two years old I had won my first beauty pageant. I continued on the beauty pageant circuit while also taking ballet and other dance classes, modeling, you get the drift. Now in understanding the verticality of the torso that so much of the modeling, ballet, and pageants require I realized I still had a lot of values in and around the idea of maintaining a vertical, presentational, held torso. For me I realized this torso represented control, grace, poise, intelligence, and a general holding in of emotions. It was important to me to present myself less as a passionate feeling being and more important to present myself as a poised, graceful, intelligent woman who had been exposed to enough in life to know how to behave in an appropriate manner in public.

I know. That's a lot. But it wasn't until I began to soften my chest that I really felt what releasing that tension meant for me. Softening in my chest felt for me like I was being lazy and apathetic. I felt like I was sinking down into my emotions and not covering up all the stuff I sensor when navigating social situations. I didn't feel long, lean, and graceful. I felt like a sloppy water bag of emotions. In this process I had difficulty getting motivated to accomplish the daily administrative business of the day. All I could do was sit around slouching into my feelings that I normally just push to the side so that I can focus on getting my work done.

It wasn't really until I attempted to explain the experience to others that I really realized the value of the work. I would explain to people how so much of our identity and how we think of ourselves in the world is expressed in how we carry ourselves through the world. If you could think about a politician that would begin to slouch, or maybe a military person who decides to move in a very floaty Indirect way that mimicked daydreaming these would be huge shifts to how the person carried themselves in the world. So much of how we think of ourselves is represented in how we move our bodies, how we walk, how we sit, etc. It's important to note that even some slight adjustments to how we move our bodies have the potential to open up difficult or even invigorating discoveries about why we move the way we do in the first place. Laban Movement Analysis is a powerful way in which to get to know more about who we are and why we are the way we are, both in terms of our physical way of moving through the world and the way we think of ourselves in the world.