No Motion – Action at a simmer

The concept of No-Motion is a quiet holding onto a moment for as long as one can, before it becomes static. As you go into no-motion it is both a thing to do and a thing to hold (like a mantra). When in No-Motion you are the eye of the storm. Viola compared it to a quarterback running down a field with perfect awareness of the melee around him, but not panicked or urgent.

Now we are all familiar with language of film. It is used as a dramatic device: When you see someone in a peak moment of action on screen, the director will often cut the sound and slow the film, (other than breathing or some rhythmic beat) to show how focused the actor is within the raging action. You need a still mind and a way to rest within the beat of a scene. Thought must slow. If your mind races with ideas of what to do when you come out of “no-motion”, you were never in it.

It is not a FREEZE!

Freezing is not relaxing and does not quiet the head. It shuts you off; Isolates you and leaves each player in their head. “What can I do to come out of Freeze with a good idea or offer?” “If my idea is first, I will trust my fellow players to “Yes, and…” it. But you will have initiated something without the benefit of relation with your fellow players. If together you hold a moment, in no-motion it might transform, frame by frame and you’ll be ready with whatever is going on between you when called back into action.

It’s a pregnant pause. A shared knowing, A quiet connection. Follow the Follower!!

As a split focus, you can be in action (i.e. washing the dishes) and holding a wish, emotion, or some other dramatic thing in No-Motion, never bringing it into action and it will color all you do. (See “Hold It” and “What’s Beyond”)