ibalu sp en
[Q] What’s your name? My name is Ibalu.
[Q] And what’s your profession? What do you do? Well, I’m an anthropologist and psychotherapist. I work in a wellness center and I dedicate myself to accompanying different people on their inner journey.
[Q] You came to the workshop last week and the conferences too or not? I was in the workshop only.
[Q] How was your experience with Baseworks movement? Well, for me Baseworks was and is at this moment an experience of awareness of my body. When I arrived I didn’t know very well what I was going to receive. What I had thought or heard was that there was a practice of neuroscience, neuroeducation applied to proprioception and interoception. So that’s what attracted me.
I arrived with that expectation and when I started doing the exercises it seemed strange to me that there wasn’t an objective like “Ah, this is going to offer you the happiness, peace, tranquility you’re seeking so much.” That there wasn’t in itself a final expectation, but a presence. And that allowed my practice to develop with attention to the present moment and from beginning to end I started to experience a different sensation of my body.
When one of the companions talked about having felt her blood, I also felt it. I experienced my body from the inside. I’ve perceived this in meditation moments. Sometimes in some other practices too with psychotropic plants, with medicinal plants. But this practice was like that. As if feeling the immensity of my body. I felt bigger, more present and Baseworks for me is a living practice of body awareness.
[Q] Patrick told me that in your family there’s connection with ayahuasca ceremonies. And he told me that you told him that the experience in Baseworks was a bit similar. Can you compare? Can you talk about this? It’s very interesting. In my family there has always been the practice of mystery and science at the same time. They’re not separated. Science and mystery have been in a union, an integration. And my father has accompanied me during many processes to observe that life has different levels of consciousness, of energy.
And when I finished Baseworks practice that day, I started to experience the same thing I’ve felt in ayahuasca or psilocybin ceremonies. Which as I was telling you is a practice that’s done with absolute respect. It’s a family tradition. It’s not a sale of things, sale of trips, of marketing. No. It’s inner work. The ayahuasca ceremonies I’ve been in.
And this has generated for me a process of transformation of perception. When I did Baseworks practice, it was the same! And I said “I haven’t taken anything!” [laughs] I haven’t taken anything and I feel my body different! And at the same time, that day my mind was concentrated on the present moment. I felt happy, naturally happy to be where I was. With my daughter, my husband, cooking…
My body was more present. When bending down I remembered Asia, you, when you said the square, the line in the moment of movements… And really for me this is living work. It’s like a gift of life, to be able to receive in my body and in my consciousness this practice.
It’s very interesting. And it’s true we haven’t taken anything. [laughs] Just the movements.
[Q] And we did many different things. What aspects of the practice do you think were connected to this experience you’re talking about? I think that the automatics make us conceive the world in a way, well, as we’re seeing it. And in my personal experience, which is what I realize, in Baseworks is fundamental. Like yourself, like you live it, not how it should be, but how I experience it.
What I perceived was really a connection with my possibility and my next level of consciousness. When I started doing different movements, it’s as if something of my self, of my perception was no longer there, the known self, and another door opened. I still can’t say it with exactness of words.
What I can tell you is that I think if I transform my movements and the awareness of my automatics I can enter another level of consciousness. And that’s just beginning!
[Q] Even though it was only two days of practice, after the workshop did you notice any change in perception or quality of movement or sensitivity or something like that? Yes, in sensitivity. I’ve slept very well, earlier. I don’t have sleep problems. However I go to bed at 9, 10 at night. And now at 8 I’m already very sleepy. And I wake up very early without problem. I mean these days like yes “ay, I have to wake up.” No. It’s like “I’m going to wake up.”
A capacity for greater connection in my body and my physical states. I’ve also seen that I’ve had less hunger. I mean like I’m going to eat, I don’t need to, not now. And it’s also a moment when I’m constantly thinking about my square and my line. Because it wasn’t, that geometry wasn’t in me. It wasn’t here. And now I feel that it’s just thinking “how is my square?” even if I’m like this or like this. But thinking it already takes me to being different. It’s not a self that does things, but a self that self-observes.
[Q] And can you explain the connection between the square and wellbeing or feeling good? I feel that this moment is starting to recognize my body although I’m not my body. I’m in my body. [there’s a difference in Spanish]. And being in my body means making awareness of my wellbeing.
So if I’m not my body but I’m in it, how am I carrying it, what am I choosing, what movements am I making. These days I feel more like a dancer. I’m not a dancer by profession, yes by taste, by attraction to dance. And I’ve been more conscious of my movements, like more grace. And that allows me to be more present.
I feel that if there’s greater presence, my wellbeing increases.
[Q] Among the ideas and concepts, and also the techniques, the things we were talking about, is there something that’s relevant for your professional activity or daily life? A few days ago I started doing more yoga exercise, like the yoga system. I’m starting to study it and I’m doing yoga practice. And at this moment in the practices I’ve done there’s effectively a transformation in movements.
It’s like I didn’t know I had this [the square]. Now I know. And so I have the possibility to move it differently. If I’m loose [shows movement], it’s like there’s someone holding me, not that a hard force holds me, but a distributed force. And making awareness of the distribution of my force is another way to perceive myself.
At the daily level, I effectively see my changes when I cook, when I hug my daughter, when we play, when we throw ourselves on the floor. I’ve already noticed some changes in awareness in my physical state.
And in my practice now, even though I’m not in demanding body work like sports or dance, yes, it’s also different. Because I already start to have moments of “I haven’t been in this position for a long time,” “I’m going to go there”… and I’m already practicing it, I mean I’m already taking it to my daily life.
I really find it fundamental! When I started to perceive the benefits I said: “Everyone should know Baseworks!” So that’s heritage of humanity. [laughs] Because it’s a base for movement, eh, free of life.
[Q] And do you think these principles or ideas are easy to transfer from two days of a workshop to other activities and daily life? I think it’s easy. The important thing is that we’re prepared. That each person’s field is disposed to realize that all their wellbeing is inside. I think at this moment we’re in an evolutionary space as a planet, and that we already need these bases to be able to reconnect with our body, reconnect with our inner knowing, inner sovereignty.
And it seems very simple to me that we can all learn Baseworks. Everyone! Because whether a person is in an office occupation, or a person who is constantly in their body movements, they need the square and the line, they need to distribute forces, they need to recognize where supports are coming from, they need to recognize their claws.
This for me was fundamental, when I saw you being like this with those big eyes [laughs] and with that spatiality. Wow, I have this space! I didn’t think, I hadn’t conceived that I had this space. I was like this and now I’m like this. I feel bigger. And I think that’s good for the whole world.
[Q] Is there anything else you want to add? I have the idea, the sensation also that here Baseworks, although at this moment it wasn’t given to us as a spiritual tool, I feel it’s a spiritual path. I feel there’s a lot here to practice in me. And that the body has so many possibilities that it’s necessary to run the automatisms we have to explore other dimensions, sensory and extrasensory. And I feel intuitively that here there’s a path to discover and I want to live it.