Sharing to Heal: Connecting with Kinesensics

By Melissa Hurt, Ph.D,
In collaboration with Monica Angrand

Near the end of a Town Hall meeting on the Black Lives Matter movement and how the LTRI trainers will change their pedagogy to be more inclusive, diverse, and equitable, Monica Angrand stopped my breath for a moment. She shared in her US Southern dialect how the Lessac work was healing her from trauma she experienced as a biracial person living in the American South. Moreover, she continues to heal her trauma now that she lives in South Africa.

Being from the American South myself, I felt a strong urge to meet her and learn her story. I moved to Richmond, Virginia when I was ten years old and saw firsthand how African Americans and biracial people were discriminated against in town and in my classrooms. I saw teachers degrade African American classmates in front of their peers and how powerless and misunderstood they felt. As a young child in Central and Southern Florida, I witnessed Othering of my Puerto Rican and Cuban classmates through separate programs in school assemblies in which they were clustered into one group dancing to Gloria Estefan & The Miami Sound Machine and denied presence on stage with the activities of their white peers. Later, I witnessed countless acts of racism against my African American friends, classmates, and community in Richmond. My peers were ridiculed for hairstyles, large earrings, and speaking in African-American Vernacular English. I wondered if Monica experienced events similar to what I witnessed and was fascinated with how the Lessac work contributed to her healing process. I asked her if we could meet over Zoom so she could share her story with me and we could get to know each other. I am so thankful she agreed.[1]

“It’s time to talk about these things. I’m definitely outside of the outside. There’s gotta be someone else who might benefit from [our conversation] as well.”

Monica grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas from the ages 5-20. She was in a school system in which she experienced racism from her peers and her teachers: “When I would get bullied a lot of teachers would let it happen and say it was my fault...these were white and Black teachers.” Monica attended a Montessori school for her early education then transferred to public school in the third grade. She was advanced in her learning and denied an opportunity to answer questions in class because her teachers felt she was seeking attention over other students. In truth, she was an eager learner. However, as a result of her teachers telling her to stop raising her hand, she established a mistrust of teachers. Monica was bullied in school for not being Black enough or not being white enough. None of her teachers protected her. She did not feel she fit in anywhere.

Monica felt she stood out of whatever group she was in. The Black Lives Matter movement was nowhere close to existing. This powerful movement is a call to action to recognize anti-Black racism in communities and by the police. It has been raising social consciousness since its inception in 2016. “In America, the mixed-race person is still the Other. You’ve got the Black Lives Matter and then there’s everybody else. Everyone has their place in society. The mixed-race people have no place and no one wants to deal with us unless we are a token friend. You’re either not white enough or you’re not really Black enough so step back because we’re going to have a real discussion now and you can’t be here.”

She moved to Los Angeles to be an actress, decided to go back to college, and studied at Santa Monica College. Her first impression of the Lessac work came from her teacher, a Lessac certified trainer, who shared genuine warmth, care, and thorough knowledge of her teaching practices. Her teacher taught from a lived state of Buoyancy energy and incorporated the Personal Uniqueness Principle, which recognizes the individual as ever-changing throughout the bodymind and voice. This caring teacher applied this principle with all of her students whether the student naturally adapted to the voice and movement work or struggled with it. Monica felt she could trust this teacher and what she taught fully because she did not Other her or make her feel incompetent as she learned. She shares, “We bonded instantly. I think a lot of that bonding helped to validate the work because coming from a place personally where I don’t trust a lot of teachers...because she was so kind and non-judgmental...it made me trust the work because I trusted her. It’s her that made me trust the work was positive.”

Monica first explored Lessac kinesensic body work in a one-week intensive in Indiana, where she experienced much of the voice and movement work, including those a teacher may not have time to include in a college curriculum over the course of one semester, such as “small ball rolling” or “shoulder rolls”. The intensive gave Monica the focused time and space to realize the synergy of the voice and movement work. It wasn’t until later that parts of the Lessac work helped Monica begin to heal her trauma.

Monica moved to South Africa in August 2019 with a work Visa for acting. She makes breathing consciously a regular practice as she re-builds her life in South Africa, which she calls “paradise”. Exhaling via Lessac’s Pleasure Sighing in a moment of a traumatic memory based on racial Othering helps ground her in her present experience in South Africa. Sighing rebalances the neurological state by releasing fear. Monica consciously sighs whenever she feels the muscular and emotional tension that arises in a triggering moment to neurologically balance her bodymind and connect with the actual moment.

The inherent nature of Buoyancy energy is that of sighing through the whole body, fueled by the breath, and sustaining senses of floating and grounding at once. Buoyancy energy made an impression on Monica because of its qualities of weightlessness and ease, which are feelings she rarely feels in her daily life with the exception of swimming. Buoyancy energy makes Monica recall the feeling of being in a swimming pool, which is a wonderful sensation because she has been a swimmer her entire life. As a swimmer myself, I instantly knew what she meant. There is a feeling of relief when a swimmer enters the water and starts moving in the rhythmic pattern of a swim stroke with the breath. This feeling of home in the water affects the body with ease, calm, and focus. These sensations become familiar events for feeling Buoyancy energy out of the water to consciously initiate feelings of wellness in any situation. The Buoyancy sensation is often associated with feelings of relaxation, centeredness, hope, calm, peace, serenity, total awareness and connection with the inner world (Lessac and Kinghorn 2014: 39). Monica wants to inhabit Buoyancy energy more fully in her daily life to counter the tension lodged in her body based on the traumas she encountered daily in the United States. Monica feels Buoyancy is the most beautiful sensation.

Monica continues to explore Lessac Kinesensics to aid in her healing of racial Othering. It is a daily process that will take patience and time to navigate. The combination of Lessac work with making South Africa her new home has given her foundational tools she needs to feel well and remain present in her daily interactions with people from all backgrounds. Monica and I both hope that sharing our experiences with Lessac Kinesensics shows its value not only as a tool for personal expression and actor training, but also as key in emotional healing and well-being. The takeaway for Lessac certified trainers is to truly, whole-heartedly model the foundational principles of the work as we work with all students honoring their Personal Uniqueness.

Melissa Hurt is a Lessac Certified Trainer and author of Arthur Lessac’s Embodied Actor Training. She teaches voice, yoga and movement and is the owner of Integrative Studio

Works Cited

Angrand, Monica. Interview on Zoom. July 10, 2020.

--- ---. Interview on Zoom. July 14, 2020.

Lessac, Arthur and Deborah Kinghorn. Essential Lessac: Honoring the Familiar in Body, Mind, Spirit. Barrington, NH: RMJ Donald, 2014.

Munro, Marth. “Mapping Lessac Kinesensics” in Play with Purpose: Lessac Kinesensics in Action, eds. Marth Munro, Sean Turner, and Allan Munro. New York: LTRI, 2017.