The Art of Authentic Movement

Authentic Movement is a precious mash-up of “Self Exploration ~ Creative Resource ~ Spiritual Practice.” In addition to an embodied exploration of one’s psyche and communal training in non-judgmental awareness & benevolent presence, I sometimes think of it as the most affordable & enjoyable therapy on the planet (outside of nature itself, though combining Authentic Movement with nature is my absolute favorite version of the form).

What does Authentic Movement look like in real time?

Well… it’s truly impossible to say. A human being’s authentic expression in any given moment (even within the established boundaries of the container) is spectacularly unique and infinitely diverse. To offer visual windows into a movement practice that is radically different not only each time you do it but each moment within it seems almost a fool’s errand! Any single image of movement –or even a series of images– limits the perception of what might actually arise in a session by an infinite degree. The “thousand words” we typically associate with photographic images inevitably renders a distorted and misleading representation (at best) of the complex intra- and inter- personal embodied exploration that takes place within a given session.

For this reason I have to date prefered to pair the marketing of class offerings not with images of movers & movement but of the creative expressions of what’s being moved. Somehow the “art” of authentic movement feels closer to sharing the essence of our aim. The “art” in this case is what we call “creative forming,” during which we dialogue with whatever moves through us –which in real time disappears as soon as it comes into being– by bringing it into a not-quite-so temporal form. Through writing, drawing, sculpting or painting, we allow the mess of our impressions and narratives, feelings and limitatons, insights and inspirations to organically emerge into two (or three) dimensional being.

With the intent of capturing essence, here’s a window into my own creative forming from the Fall/Winter 2025 sessions of Authentic Movement at Full Radiance Yoga in PVD.