“It’s a playful stage where we’re playing, we’re playing at life or death. We’re playing to learn to die. And it’s an incredibly powerful thing to learn to let go.“

– Ben Hemmer Liu

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It’s a rare opportunity to come across an individual that doesn’t shy away from talking about the hard stuff in life. ⁣

Ben Hemmer Liu is a powerhouse when it comes to the art of movement and martial arts. He is a drama movement instructor at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Implementing a somatic educational form of body learning called the Feldenkrais Method, this practice puts you into engaging in a series of slow, controlled movements to help aid in building your brain’s plasticity to improve the coordination of your arms, legs, and spine through a form of method methodology called your five lines.

From discussing what it’s growing up in different environments ridden with political turmoil, connecting the art of language to the art of movement, to how we can acknowledge play into our lives under the backdrop of our own inevitable mortality…this conversation provided the soul nourishment I didn’t know I needed.

Ben, I appreciate your humility, tenacity, and gift to speak with such poetic ease. It’s been wonderful having you on the show. ⁣

Shownotes:

[4:55] We discuss Ben’s multi-cultural upbringing being raised in a family constantly on the move due to his father’s profession as a war photographer.

[7:50] Learning multiple languages was a direct byproduct of being influenced through his parent’s roots and their eclectic way of life.

[10:53] Ben discusses his thoughts on how he views language learning in the classroom versus being in the environment that speaks the language.

[11:29] How does the art of language connect to the art of movement (Feldenkrais Method and martial arts)

[15:09] We uncover why Systema is a martial arts form that is vastly different from the other types of martial arts and fighting style.

[24:47] Ben goes into depth on how the Feldenkrais method helps beyond children with cerebral palsy as well as patients with schizophrenia.

[29:06] We discuss the four states of being: Survival, Contemplation. Playfulness, Celebration

[30:47] Why go into detail what it means to be a society afraid of touch and how removing physicality from schools harms more than benefits.

[39:03] Ben ruminates on why he and his role models are in survival state more often than not.

[40:09] Each of us attempts to make an understanding of what death means to us each personally while taking into the acknowledgment of the four states of being.

Links:

• More info about the Feldenkrais Method
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
• Where to find Ben: American Academy of Dramatic Arts & Fifth Ave Fitness Brooklyn and personal website
• Where to find Taylor: Instagram & Mast and Mezze