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WISDOM OF THE BODY- LA SAGESSE DU CORPS
Allen Pittman began the study of martial arts with Korean karate when he was twelve and of the Chinese internal arts (Nei Cha) when he was fifteen. Later he traveled to Taiwan to study Ba Gua, Hsing I and Tai Chi with highly skilled teachers such as Hung I-mien and the sons of Chen Pan Ling. He received the full transmission of these styles which he teaches in accordance with the ethic of respect for others that characterizes his style as a teacher. He then trained in a variety of other martial and body arts from the West as well as the East, such as celtic wrestling, fencing, yoga, as well as methods of healing taught alongside these different traditions. He studied history of combat and corresponding philosophical systems: shamanism, hoplite, chivalry, bodyguarding.. For more than 10 years he has also been teaching children and adolescents in Waldorf schools a curriculum based on the Greek Pentathlon.
Allen is a highly skilled teacher with more than thirty years of practice. He has created a synthesis of the methods he knows with the intent of helping modern day people access health, well-being and the natural strength of a happy body. This new system is called "La Sagesse du Corps". He is assisted by his French translator, Victoria Slakey, who is trained in Sophrology, NLP and Voice Dialogue and who has been studying Tai Chi since 1986.
This curriculum, which aims to give people from the age of 8 a complete experience of the movement scale of the human body, gathers the main features from a wide array of authentic traditions of both East and West. These traditions include the Chinese arts (Tai Chi, Ba Gua, Hsing I), the Indian arts (Hatha Yoga, Nidra Yoga), Fencing,Wrestling and other combat traditions (from a variety of ethnic sources), and the history of medicine including physical therapies ranging from massage, and first aid, to general energetic theories (the energetic theories are largely derived from both Greek and Asian traditions including Ayurvedic, Tibetan, Chinese, and Unani medical traditions).
"The Sagesse du Corps" is complementary to psychological systems which operate from an open and inclusive view, able to link with other schools to the common trunk of human development. This system is in resonance with the Perennial Philosophy, which is the common core of all the world's great spiritual traditions and which sees reality as being made up of different levels of development that span from matter to spirit. In La Sagesse we let the body feel it's shape and through that shape connect with the corresponding archetype : from birth through the developmental stages, and animal and human movements all the way to death and/or the final meditation in the exercise. The Sagesse can serve as a mild Rite of Passage for people who want a more physical life. For those who have enough physicality in their life, whatever yoga, martial art or form of conditioning they have is put into a complete physical and psychological perspective which also links the individual and the collective dimensions.
The pattern of the individual human life is woven in these essential movements and in the history of religion and medicine. From baby to adult, the stages of human life are in resonance with the development of human culture, a microcosm of the macrocosm.
These stages exemplify an evolution of consciousness which in history goes from shamanism (natural) through religions (devotional) to philosophies (rational) which bring us to the present time. These stages of consciousness coexisted with the most existential physical training found in both martial arts, dances and yoga. In all of these physical traditions life and death and altered mental states from physical challenge are subjects of inquiry. All of these traditions share a common base which is the physical body, in so doing they share common roots which we can call "Archetypal Movements".
By going through these "Archetypal Movements" a profound psycho-neuro-muscular integration is then accessible to participants because they can reconnect with the roots of their own personal physiological development, and those that they share with the human family. The exploration of links and meaning between individual gesture and culture is part of this. In other words the exercise of La Sagesse is a true return to the common denominators of Humanity and an examination into humanity's foundational components ( survival-life-death- beyond death).
Through the experience of this universal base, a vast birthright can be reclaimed, that of the past, of traditions and perennial philosophy, and of life in the large sense. In the exercise of these movements, when done with understanding, we resurrect our intimacy with nature and her animal and terrestrial kingdoms. The exercise reconnects one to one's instincts, to ones archaic brain, clearing the path to the cortex...by defining the separation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems of the body ( action and rest which can translate to immanence and transcendence). It combines a cognitive framework with physical experience. The body: the physiology and the nervous system are solicited in conjunction with historical understanding : the unconscious memory of the individual is engaged and integrated with social and cultural memory, it is a profound experience.
In conclusion, a chief feature of La Sagesse du Corps is that it provides a thorough background to understand where yoga, martial arts and all the physical activities of human life fall into a devotional context...that is The Body as a Path of Understanding----one could say "religion" which in actual meaning meant to "bind up the ligaments once again"...! "it is about self understanding through the body. La Sagesse is not designed to preserve any one tradition it is designed to give insight into all traditions and in doing that, help preserve them more clearly and in context. It confronts no tradition, it affirms all of them...
Here now is a glimpse into the exercises themselves :
Overview-
La Sagesse du Corps is a series or continuum of movements which can be adapted to the students. It can for example begin from stillness- from a standing position and go to the ground (for people over 40). Or begin from the ground in stillness and end up in the standing positions and movements (for people under 40).
Earliest Development of the Human Culture in the physical body-Ancient History, Ancient Yoga-Asia
In this series of movements we cover the evolution or development of the human body both in a human life and in broad based human history. From movements done in utero (in the womb), we relate them to Hatha Yoga postures and the history of prayer and prostrations in all religions. The original control of each nostril in breathing by reclining on the side is looked at. We go to the movements done by all children during their developmental stages particularly centering on the use of the lifted head directed by eyes, nose and mouth.
Human-Animal Relations-The Primate difference, the Human uniqueness
Emphasis here is on crawling in various ways, especially around the age of 2. This is cross referenced with observations of the animal kingdom. From here we look at standing in various ways and how that is done and the accompanying change of consciousness which occurs with the radical shift of becoming a biped or two legged being, rather than a four legged one!
Human Uniqueness; The Biped and The Renaissance-The Human Hand
At the point of standing we look at Hanish's Egyptian Yoga, the uniqueness of the human spine and it's relation to breathing. Both the martial and religious attitude is studied here as we prepare for actually walking. The arm positions of Agrippa and DaVinci are looked at with the expositions of Agrippa. The hands are exercised with the Egyptian and Chinese Hand exercises. We see the significance of practicing static standing postures in Egypt, India and China as well as in Greece and Russia.
Human Expression; Dance and Combat
Here we look at walking, skipping and stepping in various ways with and without a partner in a circle and on a line. The root of Feminine or Circle dances for community bonding and combat preparation is looked at. Then movements on a line, so called masculine dances are looked at. With and without a partner. Music is used, be it drum or guitar or flute or piano.
For the combat movements we look at certain archetypal positions shared by all martial arts and done with and without a partner. This aspect I call The Amazon Dance as it is the techniques specifically chosen for a woman to fight a man; a smaller person to fight a larger person... this allows the group to look at the most existential aspects of conflict and deal with the psychology of it -while looking at the most deadly physical issues.
Death and Stillness; seed of New Life
At the beginning or the end of the practice of the movements the participants attention is taken through their body with the guidance of the teacher in a basic form of Yoga Nidra or "Psychic Sleep"( or Sophrology). Our emphasis is on freedom. We invite the participants to use their own visualizations as well as ones we may provide, particularly in the beginning. Also each student is encouraged to create their own symbol system- eventually. We provide the basic tools and the place and time to practice. In the end the student evolves their own "nidra" or "psychic sleep" sequence, which will lead with their physical practice to their own further self discovery.
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