INTELLIGENT MOVEMENT
About Intelligent Movement
Ishmech dance, whirling and the Gurdjieff system – are effective movement methods created for the modern human who moves too little, is overwhelmed with thinking too much, and is exposed to a large amount of information daily. The impacts of modern life today cause long-term stress with major consequences, the most significant of which is the loss of vitality. With HBI methods, you rejuvenate yourself externally and internally, becoming more mobile and creative.
These guided exercises allow you to step out of the matrix of automated functioning and enable you to become aware of the mechanical patterns of your movement, emotions and thinking as these exercises are pleasing to both your body and your mind. In doing so, you transcend limitations on all these levels and give yourself access to the great energy of life itself and revitalise your abilities.
The programmes are led by Kristina De Ventus, renowned international dance instructor. She has distilled the lessons of a successful and rich 32-year professional dance career – she was world champion and four-time national champion and performed with the prestigious Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre on the big stages of New York City. She has devoted years of exploration of human potential into methods that, through movement, relaxation and breathing techniques, lead to a state of presence, relaxation, awareness, creativity, balance, well-being, and joy of life.
EVENTS CALENDAR
TEACHER
Kristina De Ventus
Like Plato, Kristina De Ventus says that everything one learns is already within oneself. To truly become aware of this, one needs someone who has already walked this path. It is the path to the outer and inner self-knowledge, what the ancient Greeks called wisdom. Kristina De Ventus has reached this wisdom through a successful and rich professional dance career spanning over 30 years.
She was a world champion and four-time national champion, trained at the renowned Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre in New York City, and has held classes all over the world; in Italy and at the British Laban Dance Academy in London.
As a ballerina and dancer of various dance techniques, she has learnt about the body and movement to its maximum potential. She has also deepened her study of ancient methods and practices, including whirling, breathing techniques, and opening energy centres.
She is the developer the Ishmech dance method, and is an international trainer (UK, Scandinavia, Netherlands, Serbia) of the Gurdjieff movement – also known as Gurdjieff dances -, which is one of the best methods to revitalise the body and mind, helping one to free himself of the chaos of today’s fast-paced world and constant thinking.
MORE ABOUT HBI
Insights from neuroscience, epigenetics, and quantum physics
95% of who we are when we turn 35 is a memorised set of behaviours and emotional reactions, unconscious habits, ingrained attitudes, beliefs and perceptions that run like an automated computer programme.
We process 60 to 70 thousand thoughts every day.
How we think and how we feel creates the state in which we live.
Less than 5% of people are born with a genetic disease, the other 95% are caused by lifestyle and choices.
About stress
A life of stress is a life of fear of survival. All organisms in nature can tolerate short-term stress. However, when subjected to long-term stress, stress hormones damage the human genes and can cause disease. Most people spend 70% of their time in a state of alertness, worrying about survival, and thus are under the influence of stress. The fastest and most effective way to neutralise this state is through movement.
About the brain
The brain is divided into two halves, the left and right hemispheres. The left one is responsible for logical operations, the right one for emotions, intuition, and intelligence. In children, the two halves of the brain work in harmony until around the age of seven, when this harmony diverges. When we grow up, the two hemispheres of the brain need to be brought back into coherence for a harmonious life.
HBI METHODS
HBI methods are based on creative intelligent movement, affecting all five senses and therefore the brain. When the split halves of the brain (can – can’t, can – can’t, etc.) are reunited and balanced, we have the possibility to live in the moment, that is now.
We have managed to overcome the tendency of the body to want return to the familiar way of functioning of the past because it wants to go back to a predictable chemical state. If we overcome this our will becomes stronger than the program within us. We learn to co-operate with the ego so that it serves us, and we do not serve it.
When the body is stiff, energy does not flow. When the mind is overloaded with information and constantly working, it cannot be creative. And one is out of touch with oneself. But we humans have an extraordinary power within us. The power of mind and spirit. We must remember that for them to be vital, we need to have a body that is moving and flowing with energy.
HBI methods are thoughtfully chosen and effective tools leading towards these results::
- the body becomes more flexible, we become lighter inside
- we become more energised, more aware of our thoughts, words, and actions
- the mind becomes calmer and quieter
- we become more and more free inside and we find again in ourselves the contact with that primordial joy, which is given to every human being at birth, but which is too often overwhelmed by thoughts, worries, stress, regrets and what not, due to life’s circumstances
- we learn through our own experience to slow down the brain waves. When we do it right, we have the basis for really important changes to take their course.
In HBI workshops, we open perception and feeling, our consciousness becomes clearer. The more conscious we are, the more present we are.
Through guided exercises, we become aware of our unconscious beliefs and how we live – how and why we move, how and why we speak, why we are restless, what throws us off track, etc. All this is experientially realised and, with the help of the teacher, understood.
And when we understand, our view of the world immediately changes and our action in it becomes both relaxed and conscious. That is why everyone, even within group work, is given a specific instruction or method.
The key is to experience, see and understand. Only then we can act in the moment because every moment is new, and when we are present – that is, not in the past or the future with our thoughts or emotions – we act consciously, not automatically. This may seem very esoteric, but in reality, is part of our everyday life.
In practice, this means being aware of ourselves (the state of our body, emotions, and mind) and what is around us, being calm and relaxed so that all interactions can be heard, felt, and understood. This allows us to (consciously) respond or not respond, whatever is appropriate in the moment. All the while, we feel a burning passion for life. We are not numb, we are alive!
We become efficient, decisive in our work, clear and understandable in our communication. We understand the cause and can see the effect in advance and act accordingly. We find our inner peace.
We do this primarily for ourselves. Because only when we do something for ourselves, can we do something for others. This is how it is.
The basis of HBI methods is movement.
The ISHMECH dance-movement method is a programme for regenerating the body.
WHIRLING is a physical activity that activates the whole brain very quickly. For this to happen, it is important to rotate properly.
GURDJIEFF MOVEMENTS are a complex system for harmonising and de-automatising the human being, achieving stability and developing higher states of intelligence.
The INTENSIVE includes content for calming, relaxation, opening energy centres, developing sensation and perception, better concentration, and correct body alignment. The programmes last from 3 to 6 hours, all day or over several days.
The groups are welcoming, varied and diverse, both in age, education, and life experience. People attend several workshops and say that they leave each one with a substantial piece in the work towards understanding themselves.
Groups, individuals, and companies can upgrade the content of their existing programme, or we can create the entire programme for you. Another existing option is that we join in with your existing training.