Process Is Based On Relationship

"What we call 'weakness' is often not a lack of structure but a lack of process. When that process is actualized, we experience strength. Process is based on relationship." - Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

I came across this blog post on Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen's website (https://www.bodymindcentering.com/process-is-based-on-relationship/) and felt an urge to share my thoughts on this sentence/quote. For those who don't know who Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen is, she is a movement artist, researcher, educator and the founder of the Body-Mind Centering approach towards body, mind and consciousness. She has been a pioneer within the field of somatic therapy and other mind-body disciplines. A friend of mine, whom introduced me to an article titled 'Making Connections - Total Body Integration Through Bartineff Fundamentals', casually mentioned to me that she 'fell' into dance, that she wasn't actually much of a dancer herself. But she was interested in anatomy and working with the body that her practices and developments benefit the dance community, since these fields are all inter-connected anyways. Till this day, she educates both movers and non-movers in the deeper understanding of how movement is created through her movement practice and the different types of connections our bodies create in order to generate movement or understanding.

She is a very interesting woman with very enlightening insights and perspectives. I recommend checking her out: https://www.bodymindcentering.com/ Within the context of anatomy, muscles and movement, one of the questions she was asked was what that final sentence meant in relation to the other 2 sentences. So, what does "Process is based on relationship" mean in relation to the previous 2 sentences? Bonnie explained that that particular sentence can be interpreted in different ways, so "how can we bridge the spaces between the words?"

Embryologically, the skeleton (Bonnie refers to this as architecture) is created first before the muscles. The architecture that consists of ligaments, fascia (connective tissue), tendons and blood vessels forms before the muscles and nerves integrate themselves into the limbs. In conclusion, the architecture provides the structural elements whilst the muscles and nerves provides the movement.

If the skeletal elements are out of sync, the muscles then take over by compensating to keep the structure upright. People mistake strength as a static process, whereby flexing or contracting your muscles somehow equates strength. However, if the architectural elements, muscles and nerves work in sync cellularly, it directs the line of force on the muscles. That's when strength becomes dynamic. It is a dynamic process where it is a representation of the innate relationship between the bones and their related structures.

The above was informative, in terms of how everything needs to work connectively on a cellular level to achieve peak strength and physical excellence. However, this particular article peaked my interest precisely because of that sentence: Process is based on relationship.

It made me think about processes of working in the studios, whereby the relationship between the choreographer/director and their dancers are equivalent to a body. If the skeletal elements can't hold itself together, the other muscle groups has to work harder to keep it functioning and upright. I believe that true strength lies in how the vital elements can communicate effectively to its supporting members what it needs.

It takes a process to find common ground, the optimum to achieve peak performance. A process involves experimentation, falling, failing, getting back up on your feet, and it repeats as a cycle until something clicks, and everything finds its place. Without a relationship, there is no process. That's something I've come to learn in my own artistic practice. We work with the people that interests us because we feel a connection towards that particular entity and it enhances that process. At the end of the day, it is an undeniable cycle. One feeds into the other, and it is never stagnant. Effective communication and understanding.

Beautifully said, Bonnie. You got me thinking.