Some words from Mary Starks Whitehouse (the originator of Authentic Movement Practice):
"I began by asking them in what way they would practice or work alone, that is, without teaching or being taught."
"...open waiting, which is also a kind of listening to the body, an emptiness in which something can happen. You wait until you feel a change–As you feel it begin, you follow where it leads, like following a pathway that opens up before you as you step."
"The wonderful thing is that the body is not and never will be a machine, no matter how much we treat it as such, and therefore body movement is not and never will be mechanical – it is always and forever expressive, simply because it is human."
"The body is the physical aspect of the personality and movement is the personality made visible."
On Active Imagination:
“I mentioned Active Imagination. It is C.G. Jung’s term for a process in which, while consciousness looks on, participating but not directing, cooperating but not choosing, the unconscious is allowed to speak whatever and however it likes. Its language appears in the form of painted or verbal images that may change rapidly, biblical speech, poetry (even doggerel), sculpture and dance. There is no limit and no guarantee of consistency. Images, inner voices, move suddenly from one things to another. The levels they come from are not always personal levels; a universal human connection with something much deeper than the personal ego is represented.
Moments of insight, brought into focus by Active Imagination, have a natural effect on everyday life. They reveal a direction and show a development, acting as support and encouragement for what must be lived through, creating energy for a next step. The use of Active Imagination in movement is peculiarly valuable. Every possible way I could devise to involve people in their own fantasies and images, even moving out their dream, provide raw material for understanding themselves.” -Mary Starks Whitehouse