For
an exploration of the emerging field of ecosomatics, & an investigation
on drawing boundaries with technology, please read the multimedia document
below.
A REQUEST: If you do read or download this document, can you give
me a jingle?I really like to know that these words aren't merely floating
in cyberspace, and that people really read them!
4.2.1
Chop Wood, Carry Water | VIDEO
4.2.2 Dwell | VIDEO
4.2.3 HueHueCoyotl | VIDEO
4.2.4 Improv(e): An Ecosomatic Handbook | DOWNLOAD
4.3 Along
the Boundaries of Art and Technology
4.3.1
Nest | VIDEO
4.3.2 Body and Technology Research
4.3.3 Trends
4.3.4 “I’ve Got It Under Control”:
Myths About Technology and Personal Responsibility
4.3.5 Unplugging: Strategies For
Drawing Boundaries with Computers
4.4 Conclusion
-- The Triple Body: Soma, Community, Earth
“Americans
around my age, baby boomers or older, enjoyed a kind
of free, natural play that seems, in the era of kid
pagers, instant messaging, and Nintendo, like a quaint
artifact.”
--Richard Louv, author of Last Child In the Woods: Saving Our Children From
Nature Deficit Disorder
4.1 ECOSOMATICS
: A WORKING (and playing!) DEFINITION
Ecosomatics
is an emerging interdisciplinary field which connects healing
arts, movement education, improvisation, psychology, performing
arts, and good old-fashioned play, with ecological consciousness.
The first time I encountered this term was in an article by my
teacher Susan Bauer in 2008 (see Resources), and I was excited
by the possibilities—at long last! A field of study which
could heal the separation between mind, body and Earth, a field
which encourages direct sensory perception of one’s body
both in the natural environment, and as the natural environment.
In the following multimedia document, I hope to shed some light
upon this growing field. This document will evolve as the ecosomatic
dialogue and experimentation continues, so please stay tuned for
subsequent versions.
4.1.1 WHAT IS SOMATICS?
In order to understand what ecosomatics
is, it will be helpful to begin with a definition of somatics.
If you were to pose the question, “What is somatics?”
to ten different somatic practitioners, you would get ten different
answers. I attempt my own version here.
When you look at me, you can objectively see that I have a body.
What you cannot see is my subjective experience, my proprioceptive,
or felt-sense, of my own body. In 1976, Thomas Hanna coined the
term somatics to distinguish this “inner body” from
the outer, or gross, body. He based this on the wholistic Greek
concept of soma, which means, “the living body in its wholeness.”
Thus, somatics refers to the art and practice of sensing the soma
or “the body as experienced from within.” The somatic
sense is a veritable “sixth” sense, as it cannot be
adequately explained by any of the other five categories: taste,
touch, hearing, sight, or smell.
In an age where experts and professionals in the health field
often give conflicting diagnoses and ineffective treatments, somatics
is an empowering concept that affirms our innate knowledge of
our own body, and encourages us to deeply participate in our own
healing.
By tuning into our direct sensory experience, we can learn to
release habitual tension and pain, instead optimizing for ease,
efficiency and enjoyment. Any movement—sacred or mundane—can
be re-patterned in this way, from dancing, to skiing, to simply
getting in and out of a chair or washing the dishes.
We can also apply these sensing-skills in service of restoring
a sustainable relationship to Earth, like planting trees, using
a shovel, or creating a community dance. For example, combining
the patterns we sense in nature and in our bodies can help us
understand efficient design in a garden project. When we do this,
we venture into the realm of ecosomatics.
4.1.2 ECOSOMATICS
e•co•so•ma•tics
1- The art of sensing the 'inner body' as a way to connect to
the greater social and planetary(Gaiac) bodies. 2- The view of
somatics as inseparable from ecological health and sustainability.
3- The practice of using somatic principles to facilitate and
enhance sustainable work in the landscape--i.e. gardens, farms,
village building.
In an ideal world, there is no separation between somatics and
ecosomatics. All of our activities are undertaken with the consciousness
that everything is connected. In the words of ecopsychologist
Theodore Roszak:
Once
upon a time, all psychology was “ecopsychology.”
No special word was needed. The oldest healers in the world…knew
no other way to heal than to work within the context of environmental
reciprocity…It is homely common-sense that human beings
must live in a state of respectful give-and-take with the flora
and fauna, the rivers and hills, the sky and the soil on which
we depend for physical sustenance and practical instruction.
---from the essay “Where Psyche Meets Gaia” in the
anthology Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind
However,
since we do not live in an ideal world, we use remedial words
such as ecosomatics, ecopsychology—even the ironic eco-economics!—to
draw attention to the pivotal work of our time: the evolutionary
shift to an integrated, just, and sustainable culture that acknowledges
and respects the ecology in which we are embedded.
The word ecosomatics has recently evolved to describe
a gateway to the natural world via our own bodies, owing to the
fluid nature of the Self. It expresses a world of boundaries which
are at once distinct, and permeable. And though the term comes
from a scientific language that the modern human—steeped
for generations in a rational worldview—can understand,
the concept is as old as humanity itself.
4.1.3 A WORDFLOW: ECOSOMATICS IS……
Ecosomatics is an integration of arts and ecology | Ecosomatics
is a gateway to connection with the Universal | Ecosomatics is
way to bring movement practice outdoors | Ecosomatics is a healing
of the perceptual split between mind, body, and Earth | Ecosomatics
is fun! | Ecosomatics is a soft technology | Ecosomatics is a
deep inquiry into the boundaries of the Self | Ecosomatics is
a refusal to cloister bodybased arts to the bamboo-floored studio
or velvet-cushioned theater | Ecosomatics turns the inside out,
and outside in | Ecosomatics is a blending of art and politics
| Ecosomatics is a challenge to the notion that the arts are a
luxury | Ecosomatics is a demonstration of the indispensability
of the moving arts to everyday life | Ecosomatics is a rejection
of classist stigmata assigned to Earthwork | Ecosomatics is a
merger of conventionally separate disciplines | Ecosomatics is
a demonstration of how the moving arts can facilitate a lasting
positive impact upon the natural, and the social, landscape |
Ecosomatics is a way of returning to balance | Ecosomatics is
at play in the landscape | Ecosomatics is an activist’s
tool | Ecosomatics is a way of life
4.1.4 ECOSOMATICS AT THE BCOLLECTIVE
Our philosophy at the Bcollective is that EARTHWORK IS A SACRED
ACTIVITY. Work in the landscape can help us make our bodies and
social skills strong where they were once atrophied, as we simultaneously
embody our ideals of health and abundance. We believe that the
tools of the embodied arts, which originated in the context of
the village, do not only belong in the halls of academia or among
“professionals” in theater or dance—they are
destined to return to the folk, where they can be put to use on
an everyday basis in service of massive, grassroots change in
our communities and gardens.
We believe that the bodybased arts are a highly evolved technology
to teach us how to best use our bodies in the landscape. For example,
yoga postures (asanas) have developed to tune our bodies to the
daily tasks of a building and running village—squatting
and reaching to harvest food, flexing arms and legs to carry water
or dig a foundation. To learn how best to push a heavy wheelbarrow
and build an earthen house without throwing out our backs, becoming
bored, or sunburned, all we need do is tune deeply into our bodies.
The Bcollective, through workshops, performances, and practice,
aims to facilitate a shift away from a paradigm of slavery where
we push our bodies beyond their capacity, and learn to honor our
need for proper alignment, rest, and social engagement. Our philosophy
encourages us to let go of outdated notions of manual labor as
a “chore” and learn to value earthwork as an enjoyable
and healing endeavor.
4.2 ECOSOMATICS APPLIED: PROJECT DEMONSTRATIONS
Over the last few years, I have been facilitating art projects
that aim to heal the split between mind and body, art and science,
work and play, theory and action. All of the projects involve
a reweaving of dance, film, and architecture with permaculture,
gardening, and ecology—fields which were all formerly separated,
sometimes by wide chasms. The aim is to use the arts to help achieve
our goals of repairing our landscapes and creating humane dwelling
systems. Below, I have included several descriptions along with
short videos to give you an idea of what these ecosomatic projects
involve.
4.2.1 CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER
date/time:
25 April 2009
location: Bcollective Homestead, WA, USA
The following
short video, filmed at the Bcollective Homestead, illustrates
our approach to some of the most basic skills in the landscape—chopping,
wood carrying water, and shoveling.
4.2.2 DWELL PROJECT
date/time:
9 August - 17 August 2008
location: Earthdance Retreat Center, Plainfield, MA, USA
An on-the-ground
example of applied ecosomatic philosophy was the project DWELL:
THE REWEAVING, for the 2008 S.E.E.D.S. festival (Somatic Experiments
in Earth, Dance and Science.) Artist Nala Walla of the Bcollective
collaborated with green architect Mark Lakeman of City Repair
(Portland, OR, USA) to create a week-long project where we brought
the body-centered skills of dancers onto a natural building jobsite.
Through communal construction of a nest-like dwelling, this project
explored the physical rules that apply to the building process,
the laws that apply our individual and social bodies, and the
laws that govern the larger body of the Earth. What are the rules
that apply to these macro and micro systems, and how are they
related to natural law, and to each other? If our bodies are indeed
our “dwellings” at the most basic levels, how can
honoring the needs and limitations of our bodies inform the creation
of sustainable community?
Through this project, several goals were achieved:
•The
intimate connection between art and activism was explored.
•Conventionally separate disciplines were merged.
•The moving arts demonstrated their practicality to village
building by applying ergonomic knowledge to the building site
in a pragmatic manner—i.e. how to best use a shovel or a
drill without injury to the body.
•Architecture took on a kinetic aspect, deeply rooted in
place-based ceremony instead of merely cold abstractions of straight-edges
and numbers.
•Both disciplines explored a rediscovery of their roots
in village life, where no lines between dance, song, storytelling
and the daily labors of shelter and sustenance were drawn.
•A Nest-Dwelling was built by a group of dancers, in a conscious
manner, incorporating bodybased practice and ritual.
Further research
and room for improvement: since dancers are certainly not immune
to the deeply ingrained patterns of the dominant culture which
separate dance and architecture, it was still a challenge to apply
somatic skills to a hands-on project, even with a group meeting
specifically for this purpose. We all found ourselves sliding
back into old habits. Finding ways for the group to self-organize,
gently nudging eachother back into alignment and consciousness
when we “slip,” is an area for further experimentation.
If you are interested in this research, I invite collaboration!
date/time:
7 March -16 March 2009
location: Huehuecoyotyl Ecovillage, Tepotzlan, Mexico
In March 2009, activists came from all over the globe to Huehuecoyotl
Ecovillage in Mexico to share strategies for creating change.
Creative ways to approach timelines, budgets, marketing and web-based
technologies were shared with the goal of making permaculture
and regenerative design available to a broad sector of the public.
In order to balance the “brainstorming” activities
with embodied practice, Nala Walla presented a daily ecosomatic
curriculum called “The Bodyversity.”
Bodybased games and exercises, offered in the mornings, evenings,
or during breaks, served several functions:
•to
help model cooperative behavior
•to help diagnose and identify areas for improvement
•to develop improvisation skills
•to contribute to the hands-on projects at the Ecovillage
•to help integrate this evolutionary material more deeply
•to help encourage an embodiment of ecoliteracy
•to help reaffirm our innate capacities to reconnect with
our own bodies--the social body, the body politic, and the greater
Gaiac body.
•to bring enjoyment and relaxation to the project
A highlight
of the week occurred when we moved a large pile of bricks up a
steep hill in matter of minutes, via a twenty person brick toss—singing
songs all the while. It was truly an application of the “many
hands make light work” principle, and people returned to
the think-tank refreshed and more connected to the land we were
visiting.
All the above functions were touched upon, though, it was clear
that the entire week could have been spent deepening into the
Bodyversity curriculum. I look forward to offering longer retreats
or entire semesters which plumb the depths of bodybased curriculum.
4.2.4 IMPROV(e): A HANDBOOK FOR ECOSOMATIC CHANGE
For anyone interested in trying out some of these games with in
a group or community setting, I have created an ECOSOMATIC HANDBOOK
as a starter-kit. Please download the PDF, print (preferably on
the back of junk mail!), and link to the video below, which will
show you how to fold your own 8-page mini zine. Click here to download
PDF Click
here for instructional video on how to fold
As a practitioner of ecosomatics, not a day goes by when I am
not confronted with the irony of using such hard technologies*
as computers, video cameras, and websites to facilitate embodied
practices. The preparation of this document is a case in point,
as it required many disembodied hours in front of a computer,
writing essays and editing videos about embodied practices. Because
of this paradox, I have been deeply involved in research about
human relationships to technology, and how we create boundaries
with it.
*To clarify: because I consider many of the artistic, cultural
and social systems developed by humans to be highly evolved technologies,
I will often use the terms “social technology,” “embodied
technology,” and “Soft Technology” (STs) to
refer to these. I do this in order to differentiate them from
“disembodied technologies,” or “Hard Technologies”
(HTs), which refer to any technologies which utilize machines
external to our bodies, i.e. computers, cellular phones, autos,
airplanes, etc.
Soft technologies like dance, ritual, storytelling, and song (the
original software!) have always served as communication devices,
information transmission systems, knowledge banks, and efficient
energy utilization strategies. And as evidence continues to mount
about the utter unsustainability of our hard technologies, an
ecosomatic approach to life offers a shift in focus upon STs.
Imagine if we collectively turned off the computer one day per
week, investing that time instead upon honing the more subtle
arts of the body, and social body? Imagine a culture practicing
somatic techniques, improvisation games, storytelling on a mass-scale?
This is an exciting, and timely possibility, one for which our
own bodies are advocating, when we take the time to listen.
4.3.1 NEST: AN EXPERIMENTAL SHORT FILM
date/time:
20 April, 2009
location: Bcollective Homestead, WA, USA
In this quirky
short film, a computer-weary woman seeks solace in a bed made
of sticks and branches, while several activists describe their
relationships with hard technologies.
4.3.2 BODY AND TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH
In modern Western countries, even as we sit squarely in the center
of the digital revolution, many of us can still remember a time,
not all that long ago, when our livelihoods, our communication,
and our recreation did not depend on digital technologies.
Both the pace and scope of change in our lives brought about by
these disembodied technologies are unprecedented in human history.
While it is clear that millions of people, businesses, and institutions
all over the world use and enjoy HTs, many are unsure about how
to create useful and healthy boundaries with this exciting and
fast-moving world.
While we are often well-informed about the benefits technology
has to offer, an adequate assessment of the negative effects (both
potential and real) upon our bodies and health at several levels—individual,
social, planetary—has yet to be made.
•OUR
INDIVIDUAL BODIES
eyestrain | back pain | racing heart | headaches | exposure to
Electromagnetic Fields | advertising pollution | workplace monotony
•THE SOCIAL BODY (BODY POLITIC)
slave labor conditions in building, maintaining, and disassembling
technology | cultural cloning—the homogenizing effect of
technologies upon indigenous cultures | alienation from body,
family, traditional skills, and the natural world
•THE GAIAC BODY (PLANET EARTH)
computer manufacturing byproducts polluting rivers, oceans, and
even outer “space” | massive piles of cell phones
and computers awaiting “recycling” | computerized
weaponry, industrial and hospital waste | massive landscaping
to make way for technology: roads, power lines, cell phone towers,
nuclear plants, etc | technology’s effects on creatures
i.e. bees, whales, frogs, etc
As I practice
the embodied arts, the significant impact that DTs have upon my
personal health is highlighted. This impact naturally extends
to the health of the natural world around me--the health of my
garden is neglected when I am on the computer all day—as
well as the people around me. I have therefore found myself interested
in feedback about how technology affects people’s lives.
Recent research demonstrates that the central practices of ecosomatics--using
our bodies in the natural landscape—have profound healing
effects upon many of today’s rampant psychological disorders,
from ADD, to schizophrenia and depression. Richard Louv’s
The Last Child In the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature Deficit
Disorder, can direct you to more information (see Resources section
below.)
4.3.3 TRENDS
For the last six months, I have been informally researching people’s
relationships with technology by sending survey questionnaires,
interviewing, and initiating conversations with friends and colleagues
all over the country.
**click
here to view questionnaire**
My intention is mostly to create dialogue and community support
for boundary setting with HTs, as well as to gather personal stories
for creating performance on this subject (see above for resulting
short film “Nest”) It is clear that this is a subject
which deserves a great deal more research.
Several trends were evident among the people I surveyed:
1-
INCREASING COMPUTER USE
Overwhelmingly, time spent on computers has increased over the
last generation. Thirty to forty hours or more weekly computer
use is now quite common. In the few cases in my survey where people
cited a leveling-off, or decrease in computer use in recent years,
in all cases this was accomplished intentionally, i.e. after completing
a university degree-program or by leaving a computer-intensive
job.
2- CONTINUOUS COMPUTER USE
Very few people reported going more than one week without using
a computer, and most use them daily for months and years on end.
A couple were able to schedule computer “fasts” lasting
anywhere from two to four weeks. Several people reported lifestyle
choices in which they mostly stopped using computers for a time,
for example, while traveling. In these cases, “unplugging”
was often one of the goals of their trip.
3- DESIRE TO USE COMPUTERS LESS
Almost unanimously, people expressed their desire to spend less
time on computers. Though, many noted that computers play a central
role in how they earn money, and that renegotiating a relationship
with computers may require a fundamental restructuring of their
personal economy.
4- NEGATIVE HEALTH AFFECTS ASSOCIATED WITH COMPUTER USE
Most people associated some sort of pain and negative health effects
with their computer use. One person referred to computers as “an
ergonomic disaster.” Many expressed concerns that computer
use--the internet in particular—has addictive properties.
5—AWARENESS OF NEGATIVE SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
Most people reported awareness of the ethical, social and environmental
impacts of their computer use, though most stated they did not
know how to address their concerns about this.
6—INDIVIDUAL METHODS FOR COPING WITH COMPUTER USE
Strategies for limiting their computer use were improvised on
an individual basis. People used embodied practices such as tai
chi, yoga, gardening, hiking, etc. to “unwind” after
using the computer. Many felt that these physical activities “keep
them sane” and are necessary in order to spend hours at
the computer for work.
4.3.4 “I’VE
GOT IT UNDER CONTROL!”:MYTHS
ABOUT
TECHNOLOGY AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
“If I wanted to live without digital
technologies
directly in my life, I could live that way. However, the entire
global life system is now affected by digital technologies
and their fallout, so no matter where I go, or what I do,
I will be affected in some way by digital technologies.”
--Survey Respondant
The last trend (#6) is of particular interest to me. When we purchase
a computer, or sign up for an internet service, they come with
no tools, warnings, or disclaimers:
THANK
YOU FOR PURCHASING THIS E-GADGET
In order to help avoid undesirable side-effects such as:
*eyestrain
*head, jaw, neck, back, hip, leg
and wrist pain
*social alienation
*addiction
*boundary collapse
*out-of-body travel
we are happy to provide you with the following, government-sponsored
and clinically-researched support methods for avoiding these
negative phenomena.
As the flood of hard technology over the last generation continues
unabated, people are left to their own devices to invent strategies
for coping with enormous changes. Many—including well-informed
artists and activists participating in my own research—have
never even considered that society, manufacturers, or governments
can or should bear any of the responsibility to look for solutions.
Q:
Do you think that technologies should be subject to accurate
assessment and public vote before adoption?
•“Can't fathom such an option…[Can’t fathom]
our culture choosing to wanting to be informed or inform…"
Q: Please share any methods you
may have for creating boundaries.
•“Will power. Only use them when needed.”
In our culture, creating boundaries with technology is widely
considered a personal responsibility. No one is forcing us to
use a computer: it is our own ‘choice.’ But, in a
society in which systematically stigmatizes blue-collar work and
exports these job overseas, does this notion of choice ignore
institutionalized bias towards white-collar work?
Technology critic Jerry Mander points out the prevailing cultural
misconceptions that hard technology is inherently apolitical,
and that its value can be evaluated on a personal level:
The airplane shrinks the globe; we can be anywhere
on Earth in hours… The computer permits us to ‘publish’
our viewpoints to a potentially vast audience…The rifle
brings down the animal at 300 feet.
In fact, all technology is useful or entertaining, or else
we’d have no interest in it in the first place. But
to base our ultimate conclusions about technology mainly on
our personal experience leaves out the social, political and
ecological dimensions…What else do guns do? Is a smaller
world better? Who else benefits from global computer networks?
In our individualistic society, we are not practiced in making
judgments beyond our personal experience, but seeking the
systemic or holistic effects…may be one of the most
important survival skills of our times.
--from the essay “Technologies of Globalization”
in the anthology The Case Against the Global Economy and
For A Turn To the Local.
Today, we live in an era where boundary difficulties are present
in every relationship at every level of society, between nations
and between people. Tricky boundary and addiction relationships
with our computers are part of this meta -pattern, and they merit
a meta-response. It is not sufficient to simply assume that individuals
alone can negotiate such a vast and unknown territory as cyberspace,
for example.
And since we cannot currently rely upon government or industry
to take the lead on this matter, I write to encourage us to take
grassroots action in sharing the strategies we have developed
for coping with hard technology. Collectively, we can begin to
educate each other about the embodied practices we use to achieve
balance, create support networks for exploring boundary skills
in every area in our lives.
Below, I will share a list of tools and strategies which can help
us to draw boundaries with technology. Much of this list was assembled
through the survey and interview process. You will notice a lot
of emphasis upon working in groups, as this is essential to counterbalance
the notion that our relationship with technology is a private
matter.
4.3.5 UNPLUGGING: STRATEGIES FOR DRAWING
BOUNDARIES WITH COMPUTERS
PHILOSOPHICAL
•Set a bed time and stick to it.
•Refuse to use digital technologies while eating, and
refuse to eat
with people who use digital technologies while eating.
•Blur the lines between work and play.
•If you have difficulties negotiating your relationship
to technology,
understand that you are NOT alone. There are many others like
you.
•Make peace with that fact that we cannot know everything.
•Set aside one or more days per week where you don’t
use your
computer, car, cell phone, etc.
•Imagine yourself powerfully creating exactly the life
you want.
TECHNOLOGICAL
•Program a timed, pop-up to appear on your screen, reminding
you
to take a break, i.e. every 45 minutes. (Free ware available.)
•Before getting online, create a “priority”
list to guide you in email and
web research. Do everything on your list before following tangents.
• If you are prone to “getting lost” in the
web, have several websites bookmarked that are “on your
life path,” so you can transition back into meaningful
work when needed.
•Program your computer to limit your web use. (Freeware
available.)
•Keep track of how much time you spend with hard technologies.
(Freeware available which tracks the time you
spend on each program)
•Regularly turn your cellphone off when sleeping, eating,
reading, etc.
so it cannot disturb you.
•Use an internet service provider that reduces bandwidth
(say by 98% for 24 hours) when a bandwidth limit is reached.
•**Click
here to link to free tools mentioned above at Spark Social Media**
ENVIRONMENTAL/EMBODIED
•Rise with the sun.
•Keep a yoga mat, hula hoop, roller skates, etc. where
you can
see them from your desk. Use them.
•Take a break when you are hungry.
•Take a break when you need to use the bathroom.
•Take naps.
•Use an outdoor toilet whenever possible (will keep you
in touch
with what’s going on outside.)
•Live off the grid (you will become much more aware of
how much
electricity hard technologies consume.)
•Try living in a small house (you will go outside more
often.)
•Spend time in a remote village.
•Share your concerns with others about computer addiction,
EMFs, back pain, etc. Create a support group.
•Join a dance, tai chi, improvisation or other embodied
arts group.
•Join a hiking, fishing, bird watching, wetlands remediation,
surfing,
or other group that will get you out in nature.
•Join a gardening group, neighborhood pea patch, or farm
volunteer program. Make a pact to at least grow some of your
own food.
•Throw “unplugged” parties where people share
homemade food, drink,
stories music, and games not dependent upon technology.
•Play with children outdoors. See the websites below for
information on
how to organize a group in your area to do this. www.childrenandnature.org
and www.freerangekids.org
Let's keep
this list going! Please
feel free to email me at the address at the bottom of this page
with more strategies and ideas.
4.4 CONCLUSION: THE TRIPLE BODY: SOMA, COMMUNITY, EARTH
“Okanagans
teach that the body is Earth itself. Our flesh, blood and
bones are Earth-body; in all cycles in which Earth moves,
so does our body. As Okanagans we say the body is sacred.
It is the core of our being, which permits the rest of the
self to be. Our word for body literally means “the
land-dreaming capacity.”
--Jeanette Armstrong, Okanagan Teacher,
Activist, Traditional
Council
Every time we breathe in, a billion electrochemical reactions
occur in our bodies, and a billion cells are born. Every time
we breathe out, a billion more electrochemical reactions occur,
and a billion cells die. If we are looking for evidence of cosmic
patterns at work, there is no need to ascend to a fleshless cyberheaven.
Our objective sciences have now provided evidence that universal
patterns are right here, beneath our skin, and beneath the soil-skin
of the Earth. These patterns can be experienced and perceived
directly through somatic practices.
Many native cultures, like the Okanagan culture mentioned above,
have perceived this miracle of body-mind-land connection for generations,
and preserved this knowledge in their language, philosophy, stories,
and their everyday lives. Yet, whether you are the child of Okanagan,
or new-age parents, life centered around land-body has become
more and more rare, and arguably more difficult, as the “technological
age” paves and pollutes the land.
I believe it is imperative at this time to preserve the “soft
technologies”: the skills, stories, arts which derive from
Earth and body centered cultures, both ancient and modern. As
they have always done, the soft technologies are helping us to
create the respectful, sustainable cultures of the future, and
thus ought to be widely adopted as best-practices, especially
among activists. And as a pleasant side effect, our lives will
include more play, and more fun.
Ecosomatic practice affirms the natural joys (indeed, the basic
human right!) of experiencing our own bodies—on the personal
level (soma), the social level (community), and the planetary
level (Earth.) Respecting our bodies as we would a fine instrument,
practicing daily, and keeping them tuned, has become today more
essential than ever before, as our embodied senses just may hold
the key to the next phase of our evolutionary journey as human
beings.
4.4.1 RESOURCES
BOOKS and ARTICLES
•The
Last Child In the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit
Disorder, by Richard Louv
•In The Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology,
and the Survival of the Indian Nations, by Jerry Mander
•The Case Against the Global Economy, and For a Turn
Toward the Local
eds. Jerry Mander, and Edward Goldsmith
•Ecopsychology:
Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind
eds. Theodore Roszak, Mary Gomes and and Allen Kanner
•Article:
"Body and Earth as One: Strengthening our connection
to the Natural Source with Ecosomatics" by Susan Bauer,
Conscious Dancer Magazine, Spring 2008
•Article:
"How Technomania Is Overtaking the Millenia"
by Langdon Winner
•Article:
"Children and Nature Network Report" by Richard
Louv
WEBSITES
•Spark
Social Media www.sparksocialmedia.com
Offering workshops in "unplugging" in Seattle, WA, USA,
and links to digital tools for making boundaries with HTs.
•Applied Improvisation Network www.appliedimprov.ning.com
Information on how improvisation tools are being applied everywhere
from schools, to corporations and nonprofits.
•The Berkana Institute www.berkana.org
A worldwide network for grassroots and activist organizations.
•SEEDS Festival (Somatic Experiments in Earth, Dance and
Science) www.SEEDSfestival.ning.com
Social networking site for the SEEDS festival. Explores the intersections
of permaculture, urban sustainability, architecture, dance, performance,
somatics, and more.
•The Children and Nature Network www.childrenandnature.org
Resources for reversing the current trend where children spend
most of their time indoors. How to form local action groups for
getting kids back into nature.