Recordings of André Bernard’s Berkeley, California Workshop June 18-27, 1986
These recordings were donated to the Thinking Body Institute Archive by Ruth Botchan, who sponsored André Bernard’s Berkeley, California workshops from the summer of 1971 through 2000. Two lessons were presented each day of the workshop, one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
Although the workshop took place over ten days, the morning and afternoon lessons on the first and last days were not included in the collection. The recordings began when Bernard’s teaching was well underway. Each tape ran no longer than 50 minutes and typically ran out before the lesson ended. In a few instances, another short recording “continued” the documentation of the content of a morning or afternoon lesson.
The original recordings of the workshop sessions were made on cassettes and later converted into compact discs. The CDs were converted to MP3 files for the Bernard collection of the TBI Archive. Throughout the updating process, the original content was not edited, and there was no attempt to improve the quality of the recordings. Brief descriptions of the content of each lesson were written, and the recordings were numbered Day 2 through Day 9. As explained in the Terms of Use of the Thinking Body Institute Archive, educational exploration of the material is heartily encouraged, but copying the recordings is strictly prohibited.
Berkeley Workshop Day 2
Morning of the second day of the workshop – 23 minutes.
Reviewed finding the thigh heads and the image of melting the greater trochanters. The “femur bounce” was explored in walking. Introduced imagery for stair climbing. Reviewed tenpin image in sitting. Short introduction to the imagery for constructive rest.
Afternoon of the second day of the workshop – 45 minutes.
Led students through a lengthy tactile aid. The blowing exhalation was practiced while imagining the suit collapsing. Partners used tactile aids to bring attention to the imagined movements of various parts of the suit. Described the epaulette image for work on the shoulders and anatomical imagery for the thigh joint and pelvis.
Berkeley Workshop Day 3
Morning of third day of the workshop – 47 minutes.
Began with sitting practice emphasizing the depth of the thigh crease. Added the image of the knee ends of the femur bones extending out into space. Worked with trunk flexion. Introduced the “forward rock,” which was practiced in sitting. Worked with the folding of the thigh, knee and ankle joints in sitting and gave imagery for the face, jaw and head. Worked with “folding” the thigh, knee and ankle joints in standing. After the practice of climbing the stairs was finished, the three body planes and the anatomical areas they pass through were introduced. Discussed the line of gravity and its use as an image. Led practice with walking with the imaginary center line.
Morning of third day of the workshop continued – 32 minutes.
Practice started with rotating around the central axis in the standing position. Reviewed spinal anatomy. Discussed the spinal curves, how the child develops them through the developmental movements and the goal of lengthening the spine. Introduced the image of growing the coccyx into a tail. Led practice with the tail imagery in standing and walking. Introduced the goal of releasing the spinous processes.
Afternoon of the third day of the workshop – 38 minutes.
Led students through the tactile aid and imagery for releasing the spinous processes.
Berkeley Workshop Day 4
Morning of the fourth day of the workshop – 49 minutes.
A discussion of “weight arm” and “power arm” was used to justify maintaining weight close to the central axis of the body. Introduced the image of a “rag doll” with its support being the central axis. Reviewed past imagery in sitting. Worked with image of the “heads of the femur bones extending into the thigh sockets and the knee ends of the femur bones extending out into space.” Attention in standing was focused on bringing the centers of the leg joints into the same sagittal plane. Added the awareness of the second toe as part of the leg joint line up. Introduced images of the inner ends of the arms resting on the thigh heads and the xiphoid process hanging over the pubic symphysis. Students practiced lifting objects in the room. Explained the “compression axis” behind the line of gravity and the “tensile axis” in front and explained the unifying “cycle” image. Introduced the “cycle” tactile aid.
Afternoon of the fourth day of the workshop – 48 minutes.
Audio began in the middle of practice session relating the xiphoid process to the pubic symphysis. Practiced the arms circling over head and the shoulder shrug. Constructive Rest practice included the image of the river flowing down the back and up the front. Explained the line up of the three joints of the leg with second toe. With the arms over head he suggested imagery of parts of the suit collapsing. Described procedure for returning arms to the sides of the body. Repeated the imagery of the river with emphasis on observing the areas where the river may not flow freely.
Berkeley Workshop Day 5
Morning of the 5th day of the workshop – 48 minutes.
Audio began as the students were practicing a “tapping” tactile aid. In sitting they folded into the thigh creases and unfolded “stacking” the vertebra. Described the atlanto-occipital joint and the procedure for locating its level. Explored melting of the mastoid processes to refine awareness of atlanto-occipital balance. Compared head balance to sit bone balance. Practiced nodding the head while lengthening the spine from below. Practiced flexion of head and flexion of thigh in a shoe tying movement – partners observed each other. Introduced the image of the two sides of the pubic symphysis resting against each other. Combined pubic symphysis narrowing with sacrum widening in the back of the pelvis. Described anatomy of thorax with emphasis on the spinal ends of the ribs and their vertebral articulations. Discussed tensile and compression support for the thorax. Introduced image of first rib becoming perpendicular to the floor.
Morning of the fifth day of the workshop continued – 12 minutes.
Discussed challenge of the image of the first rib achieving its perpendicularity to the floor. Introduced imagery of the ribs sinking into the spine as a way of helping the spine to be more erect. Described details of the tactile aid of the ribs centering in their vertebral sockets. Explained that the tactile aid will end in rolling with the image of the ribs thrusting into the spine.
Afternoon of the fifth day of the workshop – 48 minutes.
Detailed description of the tactile aid and imagery for the ribs sinking into the spine. Ended with image of the see-saw action of the first rib.
Berkeley Workshop Day 6
Morning of the 6th day of the workshop – 48 minutes.
Reviewed counterthrust imagery while practicing moving from sitting to standing and climbing the stairs. In sitting practiced shrugging shoulders and rotations of the body while picturing the ribs sinking into the spine. Introduced the image of the back half of the head sliding upward. Introduced the anatomy of the shoulder girdle and the image of the shoulder girdle as a “mobile.” Led class through several awareness exercises for the shoulders in standing, including arm swing after lateral bending of the trunk. Introduced the image of placing a soft medium between the shoulder blades and ribs or the “sponge” image which will be practiced in the afternoon.
Afternoon of the sixth day of the workshop – 33 minutes.
Introduced the image of the shoulder blades as barges floating down the back toward the sit bone level, then to the knee level and then to the heels. Explained why this is a sophisticated image. In Constructive Rest, the tactile aid for the sponge image was described in detail and then the students practiced the tactile aid for the shoulder blades as barges. Reviewed the imagery of the epaulettes, the collar, the puppeteer suspending the manubrium and the ribs sinking into the spine.
Afternoon of the 6th day of the workshop continued – 32 minutes.
Directions for the sponge image between the inside of the shoulder blade and the back of the thorax were repeated. Also worked with the image of the shoulder blades as barges flowing down the back. Reviewed the epaulette imagery and the collar smoothing up the back of the neck.
Berkeley Workshop Day 7
Morning of the seventh day of the workshop – 48 minutes.
Applied images explored previously in the more challenging movement of transitioning from creeping to walking. In sitting, rib and shoulder centering were reviewed. Introduced new imagery for the backward curve of the collarbone and the shoulder tips floating apart as well as thinking of space between the bottom of the collar bone and the top of the arm joint. Breathing movements and anatomy of the diaphragm were explained in preparation for working on prolonging exhalation.
Morning of seventh day of the workshop continued – 15 minutes.
Described the imagery of the rib case as an umbrella and the piston image. Explained that the images won’t work if the abdominal muscles are tight. Described the steps in the tactile aid.
Afternoon of the seventh day of the workshop – 34 minutes.
Led the students through all the imagery suggested in the previous lesson, including the pelvic balloon, the suit of clothes collapsing, the image of pelvic balloon in hissing, the lower ribs as an umbrella moving toward the central axis and away from the shoulder girdle in hissing, the armpits softening, a mercury column on the central axis moving downward and upward on the breath as well as imagery for opening the shoulder girdle. Several previous images were suggested as the students moved from Constructive Rest to standing.
Berkeley Workshop Day 8
Morning of the eighth day of the workshop – 48 minutes.
Gave guidelines for sleeping positions. Explained tactile aid that will take place in sitting with groups of 3. Worked with centering thighs in sockets, sacrum widening, forward rock and nodding head as the back of the head slides up. Reviewed imagery of the ribs hanging down like the branches of a tree, the arm pits softening. Talked about tension and compression forces in the rib case. Gave the tactile aid of softening the arm pits as sternum rises. Introduced the hyoid bone on the skeleton.
Morning of the eighth day of the workshop continued – 21 minutes.
Helped students locate the hyoid bone and explained that tongue tension is related to shoulder tension. Provided the direction of its release and a tactile aid for the “neck pit.” Then switched to an explanation of the anatomy of the fibula and introduced the image of the festoon. Indicted that allowing the festoon to slacken will help us to center the weight on the tibia more ideally. Can also think of the fibula detached and swinging like a pendulum. For constructive rest, he introduced the image of a line between the 12th thoracic and the pubic symphysis and beads from each landmark coming together.
Afternoon of the eighth day of the workshop – 30 minutes.
Led students through practice in Constructive Rest with the imagery of the body as a water lily resting on a pond. Reviewed several tactile aids with hissing. Tactile aid was then oriented to awareness of the hyoid bone. Taught the tactile aid in the neck pit and arm pits. Suggested images for freeing the tongue and seeing the breath flowing into the pelvic balloon. Described imagery of the festoon between the sit bone and the head of the fibula. Then reviewed the imagery of the beads moving toward each other from the pubic symphysis and the 12th thoracic vertebra. Combined image of the hyoid slanting upward with sternum sliding upward using diagonals on the same plane. Worked with reviewing the imagery as the students transitioned to standing.
Berkeley Workshop Day 9
Morning of the ninth day of the workshop – 46 minutes.
Reviewed tactile aids for many images from the last few lessons relating to the upper rib case and shoulder structure in standing and sitting. Focus on imagery for breathing. Introduced imagery for the roof of the mouth and the associated tactile aid. Goes over the bony anatomy of the foot using the division of the bones into the heel foot and ankle foot to organize the study. Introduced the “foot peel” procedure. Used a tactile aid for the center of the hand to introduce the feeling of “grasping” through the center of the foot.
Afternoon of the ninth day of the workshop – 28 minutes.
After a period of silence at the start of the tape of approximately one and one-half minutes, the “zipper image” for the front of the pelvis was introduced for a practice session with the lower legs supported by a bench in the back lying position. There were instructions for kneading the foot; the imagery of the three toes of the ankle foot being “pinned” at the center was described. Worked with the zipper image as the companion to loosening the fabric in the back of the seat of the pants. Described the procedure for removing the lower legs from the support of the bench. Many of the images from the previous lessons were reviewed while moving from the floor to standing.