#8: BodySongs: a framework
NB: If you are a Subscriber, you will already have received this Post via email. Apologies for any cross-postings.]
Hello and welcome to the BodyEcology Stack! Thank you for being a Follower or Subscriber.
Whether you’ve found me via this platform, or via recommendation of another Subscriber or friend, I’m excited to have this opportunity to begin our conversation.
I publish weekly essays/newsletters that arrive Thursdays/Fridays (according to your time zone). Paid Subscribers will also receive mid-week audio recordings and written transcriptions of meditation and/or embodiment practices, with an invitation to prompt me to create ‘on demand’. From mid-year, I will also offer online workshop series focused on creativity and deep listening.
The Stack so far is fully free-access til the end of January, and consists of the following:
Stack #1: Learning how to listen.
An introduction to my embodiment practice, my ethics and intentions. 40 years of work as an artist, including working in the environment, contributing to discussions and publications on values, care ethics, organisational, community and personal change. Currently extending my work into the areas of facilitating and supporting midwives, Death Celebrancy, Creative ageing, helping artists sustain Creative Source, and ongoing collaborations with artists.
Stack #2: Indra’s net is broken (Or Is it?): a discussion on living with doubt; turning doubt into a positive dynamic. Finding fortitude and resilience despite the dark and light, the contradictions and traumas, that we witness daily in our world(s).
Stack #3*The Heart-Pulse Technique: a simple, non-denominational (and hence ‘equal justice’) practice that aims to develop and sustain stability and resilience. Also available as an MP3 (audio download).
*This Stack will remain accessible to all readers; you are welcome to practice and share it with your friends.
Stack #4: Image essay. How has the body, and its functions, been conceived, in different cultures and times? This ongoing picture-essay format will grow over the weeks, intending to prompt a re-thinking of the capabilities of, and how we relate to, our embodiments and presence.
Stack # 5: On Sensory Democracy: a short essay on the marvelous way our body knows itself (and also forgets; or at times disconnects; or doesn’t’ know. An excursion into listening to the deep symphonies of our bodies. How can we learn to hear?
Stack #6: Complex Listening (poem, and photo essay): a reverie.
Stack #7: But how do you know? Reflections on sensory awareness, sitting with one’s self and others. The relationship of sensation to language. (My first targeted Stack on techniques that inform BodyEcology as a Clinical Practice.)
Next weeks’ stacks:
#8: ‘On Joy’: the gap between what we might hope for, and what might be. Becoming centred in our complex desires, sensations, and needs. An extension of the ideas of the philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
#9: A Melancholy Joy. Yes, we sit in uncertainties, contradictions, and a sense of failure (against our ideals) every day. An essay on staying hopeful in a complex world.
From the end of January, I will begin a drive to invite readers who like what they read to become Paid Subscribers, and help support my inputs via this feed. I will also set up a ‘pay it forward’ system, so that supporters with-means can help those with-out to subscribe.
You are always welcome to reach out to me to discuss subscription plans.
Paid subscribers will be granted access to a library of beautifully-produced, online modules, created during Covid lockdowns, that remain invaluable for times of deep transition, to help clarify purpose, unlock creativity and sustain stable, embodied practices.
I look forward to being on the journey with you.
I live and write on the ancient lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples. I honour the Elders, the wisdom-holders, and the lands on which I have lived, learnt and listened around the world.