Second in a series of achieving a better lifestyle

My positive life experience is through an exercise and dance programme that is a fusion of movement and breathing at a level of discipline that feels comfortable for ongoing mental and physical fitness.

This discipline is over 100 years old.

It is called MMM (Margaret Morris Method).

I started with posture and now I am moving on to balance. Balance is achieved by strength and focus. MMM balance exercises are delightful to do because they are aesthetically pleasing and graceful. They benefit the body through coordination of parts. A body learns and remembers where all the parts are in relation to the body core and appendages.

Margaret Morris developed MMM as a fusion of movements influenced by her times. Orientalism was popular then and some brave souls were experimenting with the likes of hatha yoga. Continue reading BALANCE →

POSTURE

First in a series of achieving a better lifestyle

My positive life experience is through an exercise and dance programme that is a fusion of movement and breathing at a level of discipline that feels comfortable for ongoing mental and physical fitness.

This discipline is over 100 years old.

It is called MMM (Margaret Morris Method).

I’m starting with posture. Posture is achieved by correct alignment. Keeping the body parts in alignment begins with correct walking and progresses to more advanced movements. The parts that give the body core strength are the big muscles and joints that are aligned from the top of the head to the tip of the toes.

A youtube video from the past shows MMM leading the way in correct posture and movement.

Margaret Morris 1938

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZPFifDkQFI

I came to MMM after a few years of learning hatha yoga in the early 1970s. This yoga focuses on breathing, stretching, strengthening and balancing. I took these skills from yoga to the first MMM class I attended Continue reading POSTURE →

Check out the Asahi Network

Buds burst on branches

A snail clings to the warm earth

England’s early spring

website www.wordonthehills.com

Small town radio in Northumberland County, Ontario, at 89.7 fm

Run by volunteers who serve the community.

Two SOH members, Felicity Sidnell Reid and Gwynne Scheltema host the Word On The Hills program that airs on Sundays at 1 pm.

HOW I BECAME INSPIRED TO WRITE THE NOVEL ISADORA & LUCIA

When I decided in my retirement to offer MMM classes they did not go well. It was hard to attract participants to something that was not understood. There was much competition in the small town where I now live. Many activities were offered to the public that are well known. By the time I arrived at summer school in 2010 at Chichester I felt defeated. That was my state when I came across a book on Lucia Joyce, daughter of James Joyce. It was a hard cover book with wonderful pictures including some lovely ones of Margaret Morris. I learned she had taught Lucia Joyce at one point in her thwarted career. That’s what I discovered reading the book. Instead of pursuing her muse she was compromised for the sake of her father’s writing career. My heart went out to her. I felt great empathy. I emailed the professor who had written the book saying I thought if Lucia had been allowed to continue with Margaret Morris, who served as a den mother to the young woman, she would not have ended up in an asylum for most of her adult life. Lucia could have been successful as a teacher of little children. My imagination filled in an alternative life for her.

So being a writer as well as an amateur dancer, I started to construct a novel. For years I wrote and had my work edited but failed to find a publisher. Then I learned that the professor whose book had inspired me had been sued by the grandson of James Joyce because he didn’t like how she had portrayed his family. Yikes! Had I wasted my time? I felt like that young woman with a thwarted career in dance and writing. Fortunately things have changed. The estate can no longer sue because the works are now in the public domain.

My decision to publish my novel as an ebook was based on my thwarted career as a dance teacher and novelist. We are all products of our time. Ebook publication is a cheaper route than print. It is available worldwide so can reach dancers who are also readers everywhere.