guillermo sp en

Guillermo

[Q] What’s your name? Guillermo. Guillermo Nino.

[Q] And you’re a music student? Yes. I’m a music student at UNAB.

[Q] And what do you play? I’m a guitarist.

[Q] And you came to our Baseworks workshop this past week? Yes.

[Q] Can you describe how the experience was moving with Baseworks principles in the workshop? Well, at first I didn’t understand what, I mean what the movements were for. I was a bit lost. But when I became aware of what it was for through the body, I started to understand that it helped a lot to have awareness about myself and about the actions I do daily. It was very interesting to discover it through the movement itself.

[Q] And what was the most interesting? The most interesting thing was discovering that you’re not really conscious sometimes of the movements and that it’s also not so difficult to achieve that awareness. But you don’t imagine that it’s through those movements that, well, they don’t seem simple but they are.

[Q] And we talked about this as an idea, as the concept, that we’re not completely conscious about our actions. But when you were moving and doing the exercises, could you feel it? That we’re not completely conscious? Yes, yes, I could feel it. Especially in the very small and very precise moments it was very difficult to achieve that precision. And there I’d say “I can’t.” It’s something I wasn’t conscious of before doing that movement.

[Q] Could you feel that when we change a bit the intention of the movement or how we think about the movement, we can change the way of moving? Totally. It’s that by having awareness of how I move and of those small movements, the body feels the balance that we talked about with symmetry. It’s something very natural and you don’t realize it before.

[Q] And even though it was only two days, did you notice any change in your perception or sensitivity or posture, or the way of playing or something? Yes, totally. Already in these movements when playing, or not only when playing but doing any physical activity that involves body movement, I started to be conscious of that symmetry to execute myself with the exercises. Especially when, let’s say the instrument, when I took the guitar I looked for that symmetry when putting on the instrument. I used to lean a bit to the side. And now when I sit I say, well I’m going to look, be more meticulous in how I express myself through the body.

[Q] Even though it was only two days of practice, do you think some ideas or types of movement that we practiced are relevant for your music, your professional activity and for daily life? Totally, totally. Because the musician has to be executing many movements for a long time. And having good posture and good body awareness helps us first not to hurt ourselves and second to achieve correct execution of the instrument. And daily life, not to mention, just the fact of being seated with good posture helps us.

[Q] Before this workshop, had you heard of the concept, the word body awareness? Did you know this concept? I had heard it but not in such depth with those scientific bases. I hadn’t heard it and I hadn’t had that information.

[Q] Among the ideas we were discussing, what was interesting? Or approach, or concepts… How everything that happens in our mind for a single movement to be executed, that seemed fascinating to me. You’re really not conscious of everything that happens at the brain level to take a glass of water. And it’s very interesting to have awareness of everything that occurs within us to seek a better quality of life, of movement, of our body, understanding of our body.

[Q] Is there anything else you want to add about your experience with Baseworks? Yes. I find it very useful to take the practice depending on how you are that day. If there are days where my body doesn’t respond to the movements or I don’t feel the best disposition, the fact that there’s adaptation of each exercise for that is very useful. It’s very useful because I don’t stop doing the practice even though I’m not in the best disposition, and I can continue my progressive advance. And I don’t see that in other practices, in the gym or in conditioning. Adapting things is very interesting and it’s something that most caught my attention about Baseworks.

[Q] And as a music student at the university, do you think it would be useful to have classes like Baseworks for music students? It would be very useful. It would be very useful because it’s very curious that a musician who works with the body really doesn’t have body awareness. Many don’t have body awareness. And there’s a lot of tendency to have injuries in the music career. And having this type of practice, this type of awareness would help us avoid those injuries and have correct use of our instrument.

[Q] You’re a student at Mukti. What do you think about the importance of a project like Mukti in the city of Bucaramanga? Above all, for me it’s very important that these spaces exist for development of culture, of art, of dance and of movement awareness. Because there aren’t many. They’re lacking in the city. That this initiative emerged is very important so this culture continues, continues developing in the city.

[Q] Can you compare Mukti with other sites? What’s different when you come to Mukti? I think the approach. The approach, taking different types of yoga, having various options, and seeing dance and the development of yoga in the same space is very interesting. Because it complements very well. And that’s a very complete studio.