The Master of Movement: Terry Notary

I got to sit down with Terry Notary who talks about how he transitioned from gymnast to circus acrobat to actor, to Hollywood’s go-to for character and performance designer, to innovator of an exciting new exercise program called, QuadruFit.

Terry Notary began his journey as a four-time NCAA All American Gymnast at UCLA where he studied theater. His exceptional abilities as an actor and acrobat were instantly recognized by the creators of the world renown Cirque du Soleil. Here he was brought in as an original cast member, and creative collaborator for their signature show, ‘Mystere’. After a four-year stint starring as a lead acrobat, musician and character actor, Terry was invited to move to New York to perform at The Metropolitan Opera House.

At the Met Terry performed in eight different productions alongside artists such as Luciano Pavarotti, Renee Fleming and Placido Domingo. But it was Ron Howard who would bring Terry back to Los Angeles when he offered him the opportunity to showcase his diverse range of talents on a movie called, ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’. After watching Terry’s first rehearsal, Howard asked if he would design a movement and performance school in order to prepare his entire cast of characters for the film. Terry went straight to work and designed a six-week immersive workshop where he trained the actors in character creation and performance. Howard called it ‘Who School’, and it marked the beginning of Terry’s illustrious career in the film industry.

With Terry’s vast talent for movement now recognized in Hollywood, he was next asked to create an ‘Ape School’ for Tim Burton’s cast of the Planet of the Apes. To prepare for this, Terry underwent an extensive research and development process, that included working with four-year old twin chimpanzees, Jacob and Jonah. His time with these primates gave him an extraordinary perspective into the behavior of our closest animal relatives, and helped to shape the foundation of what would become his signature teaching method.

So Terry, you have now worked on four different Planet of the Apes films. In 2000, you actually got to work with real chimpanzees. What can you tell us about that?

“It was only my second film, and I quickly realized that I had been granted a rare opportunity to study ape behavior by getting to work with two chimpanzees, Jacob and Jonah. They taught me volumes about ape behavior, but more importantly they inspired me to look inside myself, and address some very profound questions about what it was that made us human. There was one moment that happened 21 years ago with Jacob, that literally changed my life. I came in to rehearse with him, for a fight sequence in the film. We had been working together for a while and were friends, so he ran across the room and jumped into my arms, as he would like to greet me. He grabbed my face and looked right into my eyes and was so open and present, that it felt like he looked right into my soul. A true connection happened between us where I felt like I had disappeared from myself for an instant. It was so powerful that it literally scared me, so I immediately drew back and threw up a ‘layer of protection’ so that I could collect myself and evaluate what had just happened. I watched his expression change as he saw me put up my guard, and what he did next was astounding. He placed his hands on my head and brought his eyes right into mine in an attempt to look back inside to find where I had gone. It was like he was trying to look through a keyhole to see where the real person was hiding. I realized what he was doing, so I tried to ‘open up’ again so that he could find me; but the harder I tried, the further I slipped away. I was unable to return to the place where I could be seen, and just stood there helpless, looking back at him, reflecting on what had just happened. As he continued to search into my eyes, I realized that I had succumbed to a debilitating power of something in which I had no control… that it was my own human conditioning that had crippled my ability to access enough vulnerability to simply be present. This intangible power had paralyzed me… stripped away my ability to allow a simple presence to unfold… the same presence that Jacob embodied with such ease and grace. Here I was, studying apes in an attempt to learn about their behavior, but really it was I who was being studied and the ape who was teaching me what it meant to be human. I had looked into a mirror, and the truth of my shortcomings had starred right back at me. For a brief moment, I had experienced an intense presence, and therefore knew that it was within me… but I did not have the skill set to access and maintain it at will. It was this experience that inspired my fascination with human behavior, and set me on a mission to find out how I could, not only help myself overcome these limitations, but develop a series of techniques and exercises that would enable my students to understand and reconnect with their own innate strength, grace and presence.”

So how did you start developing your techniques?

“In the beginning, I was obviously mesmerized by the apes abilities and found myself with more questions than answers. Not only were they able to perform these incredible acrobatic feats, but they were able to do so while remaining completely relaxed, and present. It was the first time that I’d ever witnessed a performance that displayed such clarity, and proficiency between thought and action. It was seamless… and this sent me on this mission to figure out if we as humans could possibly access this kind of potential in ourselves. After all, we were so similar in every other way, right? The real question became, ‘what was that thing that was getting in the way of reaching our fullest potential as humans’? At this point, I knew one thing for certain; that it wouldn’t be about putting more information on top of what we already thought we knew, but would be more about undoing the obstacles… and a lot of those were thoughts… that were diluting the clarity needed to perform at our highest potential. I knew it would be more about getting out of our own way and just getting back to the root of who we were. Sounds crazy, but that’s how it all started… just by watching apes.”

Terry, I counted 48 Blockbuster films on your resume including films Avatar, Avengers: Endgame and Lion King. That’s quite impressive.

“Thank you. I’ve been very fortunate.”

You are regularly called upon from directors like Peter Jackson, James Cameroon and Steven Spielberg, (among others), and have brought countless iconic characters to life. What is it like to be the most in demand performance coach in Hollywood, and get to work with so many A-list actors? What is your process when you work with them?

Well after 25 years of teaching, I have to say that I’ve been very blessed to have been given so many opportunities to work with such a diverse range of talented people. I actually think I learn just as much, if not more from them than they do from me. I actually like to refer to myself as more of a guide than a teacher. I really just help guide them into discovering what’s already inside them, and then help understand how to recognize things. And it’s funny how even though each of them come from such different backgrounds or schools of thought, I find that there is a common denominator where everyone needs to first drop away the unnecessary noise of the mind in order to gain access to their original, or what I like to call ‘unconditional’ potential. Once the noise subsides, I then start to introduce them to the ‘soft connection’ between the mind and body, as well as what it means to be open, which I like to call ‘peripheral widening’. We then begin to work on the transfer of energy, and then fluidity and integrity, where thoughts do not disrupt the physicality…. but instead, guide and flow in soft unison with one another. And then there are the next steps in the presence work, which they begin to find when they develop the ability to undo effort and then allow the economy of thought and movement to unfold in time…. And then, this all leads to fleeting moments of spaciousnesses, or what I like to call ‘transcendence’, or ‘dropping in’. It’s like what some people might call ‘flow state’…. That space that finally reveals itself when the body and mind learn to stop defining and identifying… when they learn to stop holding on and trying… which then enables the ‘allowance’, if you may, for optimal performance to happen in an effortless state. All of this is then softly contained within this shroud of deep, intrinsic strength that enables them to maintain this powerful presence and ultimately be able to guide its direction so that they can function and operate like this in everyday settings. After all the whole point of this is to enable them to function in their optimal state, in real life scenarios, right?”

You talk about ‘optimal state of performance’. What do you mean by that?

“In order to drop in to one’s optimal state, one must first come to understand their own mind-body relationship. Everyone brings with them their own unique set of experiences, a blueprint of their life. This blueprint is a reflection of those very chapters that have brought you to this point and directly influence to how your mind and body communicate with one another. Everyone is unique, and through the awareness of your own individual blueprint, you can undo the limiting patterns of ‘engrained’ behavior and reshape or ‘restructure’ these patterns and allow you to function at a high level.” So how does all of this translate into QuadruFit, your fitness program that you’ve developed?

“Yes, QuadruFit is really the culmination of all of the experiences and knowledge that I’ve gathered over the past thirty years working with actors and athletes. All this time I had been witnessing the success of what I was teaching, and everyone was telling me that I needed to create some sort of program that was not just exclusive to Hollywood productions. So I am really happy to announce that it’s finally here. It’s something I’m very excited to share with everyone. To your question, I had been seeing so many exercise fads that felt very one-dimensional and counterintuitive to increasing one’s level of performance… it was all about cosmetics. So it was really important to me to incorporate everything that I had learned about the body’s anatomy, movement, coordination and proprioception as well as how our mind can be exercised and stimulated in ways that increase it’s ability to process information and increase it’s ability to coordinate with the body. I feel that it is also extremely important to address the awareness of energy and how we can regulate, process and economize it’s flow. It really wanted to incorporate everything I was teaching to develop a very different, 3-dimensional approach to fitness… one that, yes, gets your body incredibly fit, but also a system that had benefits beyond the obvious cosmetic improvements.”

Arm Blades. What are they and how do you incorporate them into QuadruFit?

“It was sparked when I was asked to develop the movement and train the cast for the film Rise of the Planet of the Apes. I had six weeks to prepare everyone for what would undoubtedly be the most physically challenging film that they had ever worked on, so I knew, that in order to get them into ‘peak’ shape, that they would have to be as fit mentally as they were physically. We were playing apes, and as we all know, they are quadrupedal… so I designed a special apparatus, that when put on your arms, enabled us humans to replicate the proper anatomical proportions to that of an ape. Back then, I called them arm extensions, but after fifteen years and dozens of design modifications, we now call them Arm Blades.. And wow, the Arm Blades… What an incredible discovery! In the beginning, I had no idea how much they were going to offer… the benefits were beyond anything I could have imagined. They have been refined over the last fifteen years and are now finally ready to launch onto the market for everyone to use. They’re pretty awesome, I have to say. Completely adjustable, with anatomically correct positions of all of the components… they are made to last out of light weight super strong carbon compsite materials and a patented propulsion blade. Built to last, and they really perform. I love seeing how people react when they get on them for the first time. Most people say, ‘Wow, I thought this was going to be weird, but it feels so natural!’ And it really does. Actually our bodies are anatomically designed to be quadrupedal. That is how our spine was designed, and how our brains were designed to benefit from exercise the most… through synchronized movements, where all of the limbs of body work in unison, and in opposition. It’s incredible for your brain’s balance and coordination with the body. A lot of people say that is feels like they are swimming on land, and that is because of the fact that there is no jarring movements like running that impact your body. Instead, it’s a full body, low impact workout that anyone can do. There are obviously advanced movements and exercises where we push the body to it’s limits, but the beauty of QuadruFit is that everyone, young and old, and in any fitness level can put on the Arm Blades and start benefitting, right from day one.”

I have seen some of the videos that you have posted of large groups of people working out on the beach and trails. Do you have to be outside to do QuadruFit?

“One of the beautiful things about QuadruFit is that you can use the arms anywhere. I love working out on the beach because we have access to some of the most beautiful stretches of sand in the world here in California. And the mountain trails are another way to emerce yourself in nature while your getting an amazing workout. But we also bring the arms into the gym setting… there are numerous versions of what I call the stationary floor workouts, where we go through a series of exercises that flow from one to another, like a yoga class setting… only better. We also use the Arm Blades to help maximize the stretching exercises that we go through as they enable you to spot yourself and ease you into positions that you would not normally be able to hold without them… It’s pretty awesome how well they help you to support yourself so that you hold stretches, safely. I have had a lot of people tell me that they were getting amazing workouts in their hotel rooms with their Arm Blades… so I actually came up with a whole series exercises and stretches that can be accomplished in really small spaces, like a hotel room. Yea, so basically the Arm Blades are like having access to a full gym wherever you go.”

How did everyone respond to the Arm Blades on Rise of the Planet of the Apes?

Not only were everyone’s bodies getting incredibly fit, there was a unanimous praise from everyone about how clear and balanced they felt. At that point, in time we didn’t really know why we were all experiencing such amazing benefits. But since then we’ve put in fifteen years of research and development, and now we know why. We were actually ahead of the science at that time, that has only, up until now, proven the profound benefits of quadrupedal movement. I call it ‘nature’s perfect fitness regime’ as it has actually been proven by science to be natures perfect design for balancing the coordination of the mind and body. There has recently been an incredible discovery that if a baby stops crawling and starts walking at too early of an age, that later in life, they are most likely going to develop some sort of disability either in learning, language, or coordination. Quadrupedal movement happens to be a crucial ingredient in the development of our brains, especially in the early stages of development. And this is all due to the cross-lateral nature of the exercises that are perfectly designed to balance the left and right hemispheres of our brain.

Wait, so how do quadrupedal movements actually work to balance your brain?

When we quadruped, it requires a lot of coordination and communication of the brain. Since all four limbs are working in synchronous opposition there is a dramatic increase in communication between the left and right hemispheres. This targets all four lobes, including the cerebellum that is in charge of coordination and balance. This all happens through a band of neurons that connect the left and right called the corpus callosum. There is a vast amount of stimulation required to communicate the complex movement patterns of quadruppeding through the corpus callosum which then creates new connections and strengthens those that already exist. It literally improves the performance of your brain. And one of the most recent and exciting discoveries in the world of neurology, is that, even in our later years, our brains still have the plasticity needed to correct, rebuild and strengthen dormant or atrophied pathways. We are actually exercising our brains as well as our bodies. For this reason, I have developed the entire QuadruFit Training Program around the foundation of natures perfect, quadrupedal design.