Exploring the Four Movement Patterns–by Steve Condit

I first heard about the four movement patterns and about InterPlay at a Betsy Wetzig workshop at the Creative Dance Center sometime in the 1990’s. I remember having fun and being interested in the insights Betsy had about movement. InterPlay also seemed intriguing. It took me about 10 years, but eventually I made it to an actual InterPlay class and have been doing InterPlay ever since, including Secrets of InterPlay, Secrets of Leading InterPlay, the Life Practice Program, and the Teaching Practicum. I reconnected with Betsy at a May 17th Psyche-Soma Dynamics Play event.

It was a very packed day working with the movement patterns (swing, thrust, hang and shape) and the Jungian archetypes with Betsy and Mary Alice Long. The movement patterns are based on our neurology and they shape our ways of being in the world physically and psychologically. We each have a home pattern and we also have access to all four patterns. There are physical exercises and practices using the patterns that can help us  learn to become more whole and balanced, we even practice constant stretching techniques thanks to websites like lizzardco.com.

Exploring the four movement patterns

In the playshop in May, the most striking exercise involved simply walking. Betsy had us walk around the room and notice how that felt. Then we did a simple exercise to activate one of the movement patterns and walked again noticing the difference. Each pattern shifted my walk. After doing all four patterns, I felt very grounded, very present, balanced, light and tall, and was walking with more ease than I usually experience. It was amazing! By using the four movement patterns even in the simple way of activating each one before taking a walk, we can find more ease in our movement and in our bodyspirit.

If you get a chance to work with Betsy Wetzig, I highly recommend it. You can learn more about the patterns in the book, Move to Greatness: Focusing the Four Essential Energies of a Whole and Balanced Leader,  which she co-authored with Ginny Whitelaw. The book describes the movement patterns and their implications for leadership and communication styles; basically it is about how we connect with ourselves and with others. By learning to use the patterns we can become more whole and balanced and find more ease as we move through life.