A Brief Description

The Discipline of Authentic Movement (also referred to simply as the discipline) is an embodied awareness practice with roots in dance, healing, and mystical tradition. Conceived and refined over five decades by Janet Adler, the discipline is also a contemporary mystical practice that is secular, open to anyone from any background who has an interest in human development and/or the evolution of human consciousness.

This practice supports the development of the inner witness, which is one way of describing the emergence of clear and compassionate consciousness.

Individual Work:  The Ground Form

In the individual work or ground form, a person with eyes closed – the mover – follows an inner impulse to move or be still, exploring inner worlds of sensation, imagery, emotion, and energetic phenomena. Another person – the witness – sits with eyes open, actively tracking the mover’s physical journey, while simultaneously studying their own inner experience. The witness commits to recognizing and containing their own projections, while intending towards clearer presence.

A speaking and listening ritual follows the moving and witnessing ritual. The mover speaks first, recalling and locating the contents of their experience within the passage of the body’s movement.

The witness responds without interpreting, carefully choosing which aspects of their own experience to speak, staying close to what was shared by the mover. Over time, as attention to the detail of embodied experience is cultivated, language becomes more precise, and the unique voice of the mover refines and strengthens.

The moving and witnessing ritual and the speaking and listening ritual support and balance each other within a practice where language serves as a bridge between body and consciousness.

Group Work: The Collective Body

As individuals feel seen enough, they naturally long to see others more clearly. This longing may manifest as movers becoming witnesses to other movers within dyads and triads, and an expanded circle of practice begins to form.

Teacher-guided groups sometimes evolve into peer groups, in which participants share roles and responsibilities, learning about egalitarian structures of collaboration.

At a pace appropriate to each individual, the practice of the discipline cultivates an intimate knowledge of ourselves in the presence of others. This tender relational awareness honors the mystery of being a singular person while illuminating our interdependence.

A deep honoring of the individual voice, inherent within the practice, continues to ground and infuse the collective body work. This important balance leads to the evolution of consciousness within groups.

Why Practice?

Within a sustained practice of discernment, we come to trust more fully what is directly known through the body. Patterns of personality may soften, transform, and integrate, opening potentials and empowering us as more conscious participants in our lives. Qualities of consciousness such as intuitive knowing and clear presence may emerge and refine.

This practice may open and enhance access to energetic phenomena, direct experience, and unitive consciousness. These embodied experiences may manifest in many ways, such as through light, vision, sound, vibration, silence, emptiness, infinite space, sacred geometry, devotion, love, or the unfolding of prayer. In moments of grace, we may enter the inherent order of ceremony, experiencing our bodies as vessels for luminosity, revelation, awe, and wonder. Such encounters help us locate the meaning of our individual lives within the mysteries of the universe.

The world is in great need of compassionate witnessing. Remaining rooted in embodied consciousness, we may develop our capacities for clear presence in times of confusion or conflict, and learn to cooperate more fully with other beings and the body of earth. The Discipline of Authentic Movement supports this daunting yet vital work.