If you look in nature, there are no straight lines. All of nature is comprised of a beautiful geometry of organic shapes, most often of spirals. The double helix, the shell of snail or a conch, the river water's flow, even the flow of blood in our veins is all in spirals, and what are spirals, but an (in)finite piecework of arcs and curves meeting for greater purpose?
When I was a kid at some random elementary school age, I remember having to sing at a recital, "The shortest distance between two people is a smile." I don't know who wrote that song nor do I remember the rest of the lyrics, but Gil Hedley's comment regarding the fibers and fascia of the body tissues reminded me of those young-sung words. And it's complete truth, right? If you want to increase distance between you and a quarreling partner, hold a straight face. But if you want to increase the warmth and decrease the proximity whether you're at opposite ends of a sofa or a table or a large room, a smile is enough to bridge that gap.
And speaking of gaps, what of curves of life? Who among us since birth has lived a straight life, walked linear path? No, those curved detours actually brought us closer to the destinations we sought. The truth is, those ultimate destinations would never have been actualized in all its glorious current fruition without those roundabout paths. Chances are the straight path is too easy, too boring, and we would have hitchhiked to more exciting terrain. It's in those straight line paths we experience the least amount of growth, the least amount of support and fruitful abundance, and find ourselves at odds with our purpose.
On of my Teachers, the body-insightful Lisa Ann, once said, "Adapting a pose is asking a person to move their limb to a different position." The key here is not in getting that person out of that pose, but in offering a different interaction of the pose. The pose itself, even the ideal of a pose, is not a flat, straight action made of perfect right angles. The arc and spiral of the radius and ulna in raising the arm, the curve of the thigh, the arced soles of the feet, nothing is ever straight, so why force an ironing out? The greatest expression of any pose is the personal ability to finesse the line of strength and testing of wills. This will vary from person to person and be made up of organic, dynamic shapes, stemming from (guess what?!) the spiral movement of the bodily breath.
Gil Hedley is showing much more than the curved grids of the body fascia. He is showing how micro and macro are in fact one, that our paths are organically attuned to where we need to be right now. Look to the inside of the body, the fascia, the helix, or even the minutiae of a shell and you'll find the signs all read the same thing: Curves Ahead.
Namaste.
