I arrived early to the Lucid Body class at 34th and Lexington, about fifteen minutes before it ended. My rare underestimation of the MTA gave me a chance to observe the class and see the talented and passionate Kristin Fulton in action. She performed a solo movement piece devised by the class and everyone watched her intently. One student, in particular, her movement partner, was especially focused as after Kristin finished, it was his job to perform the sequence again with her precise movement style.
When Kristin finished and her movement partner took the space, it was even more clear how effortlessly she had inhabited the sequence. She had moved without tension but with great strength and balance, as a river flows through rapids. When working with Kristin’s partner, Fay encouraged him to move as a Goddess as Kristin had. No one in the room appeared surprised by the chosen archetype of a Goddess save Kristin, whose eyes widened at the word.
With the class completed, I asked Kristin to sit down with me for five minutes so I could learn something about her and how she found the Lucid Body.
You found Lucid Body through a drop in, right?
No, I knew about Lucid Body from my grad school program. One of the teachers did a workshop with us and now she teaches there on our staff so it’s part of our curriculum.
Which grad school is that?
Brooklyn College.
And how did you find Brooklyn College?
When I wanted to apply to grad school I wanted to look at schools I wouldn’t go into debt for so there were five schools that I applied to. I had three great experiences and then I went to Brooklyn College (laughs).
Is that when you moved to New York?
Yeah.
Where are you from originally?
New Jersey.
Not too far away.
Yup!
Which teacher gave the workshop at Brooklyn College?
It was Katie.
Katie! Katie was how I was introduced to it too at Stella Adler. We caught the bug!
Yeah!
This is class 3? 4? Of Lucid Body Basics?
Three.
How’s it been so far?
It’s great! I’m learning a lot. I’m actively throughout the week – cause it only meets once a week – I’m actively staying with the material. I’m constantly in the book just going over everything. Even though we’ve already introduced all the chakras I’m like “Let’s still read up on the chakras again!” And really trying to understand movement and body.
Did you get the book after the workshop?
I bought the book prior to the first class. And I asked Fay at the first class “How should I read it?” Cause I had read the first few chapters which are about the non-judgmental mind, neutrality and all of that and she said “Read through the chakras for next week”, so I’ve just been there.
Okay, so you asked her how best to read the book in companion with the class. In which order are you doing it now? Are you doing class first and then you read the chapter in the book? Or you read the chapter in the book and then –
I’ve read all the chapters on chakras – up to fourteen, I think.
So you’re saving the child-need, the shadow stuff, and –
Yeah. Cause we touched on it but we’re going to do more work on that next week.
Gotcha. Is there something from the book that’s really been sticking with you?
One of the biggest things I’ve taken away from the Lucid Body so far is non-judgmental mind, which I think is crucial to approaching any work. I think it deepens the work. I think you can’t really start any of the work without approaching it that way. Or, I mean, you can start it, but I don’t know how you – and this is just my own experience – I don’t know how deep I would be able to go if I were not always constantly reminding myself of having a non-judgmental mind. Not comparing myself. Even throughout the warmup.
Every time we warm up, I’m just in my mind going, “It’s just about you, Kristin, it’s about what you’re experiencing right now. It doesn’t matter what’s going on next to you or behind you or in front of you.” And that centers me and allows me to then approach the work with more – what is the word – fearlessly, I guess? Without the extra baggage.
Do you find yourself thinking about non-judgmental mind in your everyday too?
Yes, absolutely. And I’m on that journey, period, just overall. But it was totally – it all came together – it was just, timing.
Timing. Okay, what do you mean by that?
Well, interestingly enough – in my church on Sunday – we’re reading through the book of Romans and it’s just about judgment. And so, I was like, “It keeps coming up! Non-judgmental mind, non-judgmental mind and judgment.” So it’s reinforced everywhere in my life right now. I feel like it’s the thing I need to know, it’s the thing that’s being reinforced constantly, in my acting, in spirituality, it’s showing up in every aspect of my life.
Thank you so much, Kristin.
Sure!