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My first experience of Gyrotonics was after watching my wife on the machine, which as an ex dancer to seemed to adapt very well to, it quickly became apparent something else was going on other then what I was seeing in front of me, her eyes were closed and the movements she had been instructed to do flowed in a wave like motion involving her entire body. Looking at her, it felt to me as if she was in the midst of something very special, focussed yet completely relaxed and natural for the body to do. It looked like an invitation to experience something so innate about our physical humanness, yet so removed from the day to day body that we haul around with us. It was my turn on the machine and Chris sat behind me on the bench. We were focussing on the rotation of the hips vertically rolling as if following an imaginary wheel in the central hip area moving vertically up over down and under, drawing forward with both arms following hands arching out on two separate and rotating axis along the horizontal plain. It seemed strange at first, Chris held and guided me through the cycle, on completing each cycle my body seemed to gain immediate understanding of what to do next and before long I was moving with greater freedom. Chris was supporting my arms by holding my shoulders and guiding me through each rotation. I experienced a sense of having to completely surrender, I experienced and sense of complete helplessness during the session which was linked with having to surrender to the posture, it brought back very early memories of learning to do things for the first time and wanting to get them right, like learning to balance on a bike. In this context there was no right way, other than the way my body moved within the frame work of the system, I caught/felt glimpses of something that I wanted to experience again. There is something very primal about these movements. Working with the deep movements from the base of the spine and the arms outstretched, it was as if my body was being given permission to do things that it hadn't experienced in a long while or maybe never before. I feel that this work has the capacity to work on many levels, levels that can't be prescribed by the instructor. Its almost as if whatever energy is blocked in the mind, body and spirit paradigm will be called into focus for movement and invigoration. The work felt completely safe and at the end of a session I stood up, Chris did a few light adjustments on my posture, my eyes were closed and I felt completely centred and fully in the moment. The only comparison I have, is that it felt like I feel after a 2 hour Tai Chi class, centred, still, focussed and deep peacefulness