Body Part Butoh-Fu (Upd: Mar 30, ’21)
These are qualia-based exercises interchangeably called qualia tattoos, qualia yoga, or qualia gong, which are all qualia-guided movement conditioning.
Using qualia/imagery for body work will often naturally let the central nervous system facilitate a more efficient series of muscles to perform whatever action there is to do. In this way, we can break old habits and possible inefficient movement. This is the idea behind ideokinesis, which is also a discipline of image-based body conditioning.¹
Within the history of various movement practices such as yoga and Qi gong, there are examples of ideokinesis, e.g. cat/cow or lifting the sky.
Any of these exercises can be edited, mad-libbed or deterritorialized. An action that happens in one body part can always be shifted to another. Also, when engaging in any of these exercises, let the rest of the body do what it needs to do.
The way to take these CUs (choreographic units) to the next level is through transition, connecting the qualias via story or scenery. For instance, the arcade game that is being played while engaging Joystick Eyes happens to be of an insect, and the insect’s antennas engage Insect Antenna Collar Bones.
Head
Hot Air Balloon — The head is a hot air balloon. The rest of the body follows naturally.
Face
Blowfish Face — Your face is a blowfish, and so it is both inflated, spikey, and floating in the water. The rest of the body moves accordingly to the floating fish head.
Black Hole Face — There is a black hole inside your mouth and it sucks your whole face into it.
Crazy-For-You Wolf Face — You are a cartoon character wolf and you go crazy over a diva lounge singer. Your eyes and tongue pop out of your head for her/him/them.
Crow Eyebrows — Your eyebrows are flying crows.
Eyes
Joystick Eyes — The eyes are the ball of a joystick and someone is playing a video game strategically.
Neck
Wet Rag Head Drying In the Sun — Your head is a wet rag drying in the sun. This exercise goes very well with second hand clock head.
Second Hand Clock Head — Your head is the second hand of a clock and rotates around your smoothly within one minute. This pairs well with Wet rag head drying in the sun.
Mask On/Mask Off — You begin with a neutral face. 3 inches in front of you is a grotesque mask. With only moving your neck (the rest of the body is frozen), put the mask. When you take it off, your face is neutral again. This allows for forward and back motions of the neck.
Shoulders
Maraca Shoulders — Your two shoulders are two maracas. Find various rhythms.
Insect Antenna Collar Bones — Your collar bones are two antennas from an insect.
Mosquito-Bitten Back — Mosquitoes have bitten your back so you try to reach behind you to scratch, but it’s very hard to reach, but that doesn’t stop you from reaching.
Shoulder DJ — On your stomach, your shoulders are the DJ manipulating the mixer. Make sure to rotate your arms internally and externally also. Let the floor massage the shoulder.
Arms
Balloon Floating Arms — Your arms float up as if they were a helium balloon. You reach the top (recommended: deep breath in and hold), and a needle pops the balloon (release breath).
Evangelical Preacher Arms — Reach your arms out with palms pulled back as far as possible (feeling that fascia stretch spanning the entire length of the arm) and try to heal everything.
Deranged Cupid Arms — You want everything and everybody to be overtaken by a manic love frenzy. You shoot arrows at all directions. Make sure to feel the stretch spanning both arms. It is recommended to pull the palms up or point both index fingers up at the maximum pulling of the bow.
Gifts to Sky and Earth — This exercise works much more than just arms. Rich deep down into earth and wait for Earth to give you a treasure/gift to give to sky/stars/sun/heaven. Slowly and with reverence, you raise this gift up to the sky/star/sun and feel the stretch with palms up. It is recommended to hold the breath. Wait for sky/star/sun to give you a gift back in return to give to earth.
Cow Tail Arms — Your arms are two cow tails. The tails whip around to deter any mosquitoes.
Torso
Torso Paint Roller — Your torso is a paint roller. Paint the floor. To paint well, you have to touch as much of the surface of the torso to the ground.
Banishing The Torso’s Demon — This is much more than a torso exercise. There is a demon that gets stuck in your torso. Your guardian angel rides your inhalation into the bottom of your torso (which has you arch back), grabs the demon, and violently pulls her/him/them out (your torso throws itself forward, feeling the stretch at the hamstrings). Relax in the torso down position, feeling exorcised.
Chest
Straight Jacket Chest — Your arms are wrapped around you since you are in a straight jacket. Try to get out of the straight jacket. Make both the jerky and wiggly movements to try to escape.
Solipsist Christ Chest — You feel you are the only one that exists. You created everything. You are God. Feel 100% ego resonance. Extend your chest to the maximum and also extend your arms.
Reverse Solipsist Chest — This is the opposite of Solipsist Chest. You have a ghost complex, or the conviction that you are the only one that does not exist. Cave the chest in. You are a non-being.
Stomach
Bouncy Castle Stomach — Miniature children are bouncing on your stomach that is a bouncy castle, those inflatable special event castles.
Thirsty Stomach Tongue — There is a thirsty tongue on your stomach and you eagerly lick up a puddle of water up like a dog. Feel the water refresh your body.
Ocean Stomach — The belly is an ocean. Is it calm? Is it stormy? Does a whale jump out?
Back
Genie Lamp Kidneys — You are in a desperate need of a wish and your kidneys are genie lamps. Rub your kidneys to try to awaken the genie. You find your rubbing is not working, so you try to rub harder or in different ways to try to awaken the genie. Also rub with the knuckles. Also rub while bending the lower back maximum to the front, back, and sides.
Centaur — The bottom legs are that of a horse. Take a low horse riding position. This horse wishes to go deeper into earth. The top half is a man who wishes to fly up to the sky. From your horse position, twist the legs and continue twisting all the way up to the head in a spiral upward. When you reach the maximum back stretch, take a deep breath and hold.
Ass Cheek Security Officer — This is both a lower back and glute exercise. You are a security officer, but your eyes are your ass cheeks. The knees should not go over the feet. Lock the back. Hips and feet move freely. Survey the area for any suspicious activity.
Spine
Wrung Rag Spine — Your spine is a wet rag. Wring it by turning left followed by right. When reaching the maximum wring, it is recommended to take a deep breath in and hold your breath, then release.
Sad Spine Droop — It is a nice sunny day and you are upright and happy, but then some stranger tells you that you smell. This is a shock to your self-esteem, so from the top of your head, you gradually begin drooping sadly down vertebra by vertebra until you are completely hunched over. Then reverse this, as you do not wish to stay hurt by this.
Steel Pole Spine — You had to get surgery where they placed a pole along the entire length of your spine. Your spine is in the neutral position but stuck there, so your tailbone/butt sticks out slightly (J-spine). Engage core. Your chin is tucked. With this position, you bend down from your hips, going down into a flat back (your body will make an L-shape or obtuse angle).
Sticky Tape Spine — Legs are extended in front of you while in a sitting position. Legs are turned out and knees are slightly bent and relaxed. Your back is a very sticky tape. Vertebra by vertebra, you go down, and each of the surfaces sticks hard onto the floor. When you’ve gone through the entire vertebra, un-stick yourself back up.
Pelvis/Hips
Hip Abducted by Aliens — Your hip gradually floats up to a space ship. Once in the spaceship, the aliens instal an implant, then release the hip back to where it came.
India Toilet Walk — You are squatting on an Indian toilet, but suddenly, the toilet runs away and you try to catch it while still squatting.
Baby Leg — The baby’s head is your knee that goes into your elbow and the baby’s feet is your foot that goes into your other elbow. Rock the baby to sleep. Feel the hip release/relax.
Water Bowl Pelvis — Your pelvis is a bowl filled to the brim with water. You walk but cannot make any of the water pour out. Then you gradually and slightly tilt different parts of the bowl and feel the water dripping down the legs. Then you can increase the pouring amount, but there will always be an unlimited supply of water in the bowl.
Shovel Grave Pelvis — Your pelvis is a shovel and you are digging your own grave.
Washing Machine — Your pelvis is the agitator part of other washing machine (the part that turns left and right to move the clothes around). Feel the water slosh. Be in various inclined positions of the spine, or even better, go through the entire roll down from top of the spine to the bottom.
Gold Panning Dish — The following was inspired bv Özerk Sonat Pamir. Your pelvis is a gold panning dish. Shake the watery sand to find the gold in your pelvis.
Legs
Scissor Legs — Your legs are scissors and you drag your butt because you are cutting a piece of paper across a space.
Knees
Draw Bridge Knee — Your legs lift up like a draw bridge to allow for a ship to come through.
Ankles
Wheelbarrow Feet — Your feet are wheelbarrows holding manure. You roll the wheelbarrow and eventually dump this manure onto a path of farm by bending onto your toes. Repeat.
Spotlight Feet — Your feet are city spotlights. Sitting down and with legs extended, rotate them around freely, shooting that light high up into the night sky.
Feet
Paint Brush Toes — Your toes are a paint brush. Paint the floor gracefully, using both sides of the paint brush.
¹ Bernard, Andre. Steinmuller, Wolfgang. Stricker, Ursula. Ideokinesis: A Creative Approach to Human Movement & Body Alignment. Berkely, California. 2003. Page 14, 23.
