Place, Press, Push

Another exercise we carried out in class was 'Place, Press, Push'. This involved in pairing up with another person and then in pairs, one person lies on the floor in supine position with their arms resting above their head. The other person chooses different points on their partners body, avoiding areas such as joints, and placing their hands onto that point and just letting them rest there without placing any pressure. If you are the person doing the movement, once you feel you are ready to progress further, you have to start pressing slightly down onto you partner's body part so a slight pressure is felt by your partner. In the final stage, you use your whole weight to push down onto the point on your partner's body. You then explore different parts of your partner's body, getting comfortable with each other - going through the exercise in a cycle of three stages; placing your hands onto your partner's body, pressing down slightly, then pushing down completely. You then switch with your partner so they are able to place, press and push down onto your body.

Benefits of this exercise is that it really helps you connect and interact with your partner in a comfortable environment, you gain a deeper and detailed understanding on how much your body can take as the pressure placed on your by your partner doesn't feel as strong as it may seem. You and your partner learn each others bodies and become comfortable working so closely together. Learning and becoming comfortable with each others bodies is extremely important as you develop a deeper understanding of how your body works and how much your can physically achieve with your body when you put as much effort as you can into it. You learn to place your faith in another person as you trust them not to hurt you throughout the exercise. It needs to be completely clear at the beginning of the exercise that if either member feels any form of discomfort throughout, they can just say 'stop' to completely end the exercise. Trust and being comfortable around on another are both extremely important components of partner work as your piece can't properly flow or work successfully if you don't trust and feel completely comfortable around one another.

I personally found this exercise quite relaxing when I was the one lying on the floor, I felt comfortable with my partner and trusted them not to hurt me or make me feel uncomfortable. I found doing the exercise on my partner slightly more daunting as I didn't want to hurt or make my partner uncomfortable in any way possible. However, I feel that both me and my partner carried out the exercise successfully and we worked well and efficiently with one another to achieve the best possible outcome.