Sunday, August 23, 2009

#96 The Body of Wisdom, Part 1 - Basics & Groundwork

We are starting a major series of podcasts dedicated to the exploration of the body, the somatic disciplines and the underlying principles. The first two episodes are the introductory talks, laying out the context, the definitions, and some of the foundations of the main body of the series.

  • Introductions & overarching structure
    • Principles, how they show in various somatic disciplines, and how we apply them in personal growth, relationships, and leadership / organizations.
  • Definitions
    • What is somatic
    • Distinctions of body, mind, spirit
    • Impulses
    • Somatic syntax
    • Center
    • Pre-verbal
    • Direct experience, embodiment
    • Propioception – sense of orienting yourself
    • Flow – saying “yes” to life, going with what is
    • Paradox, tension of the opposites
    • Presence – where my attention flows, and how I am held as an entity proper. “I am here”.
    • Basics – foundational elements, the alphabets, the grammar
  • Why study somatics?
    • All changes start with the body
    • It all comes to emotions, which starts in the body. So, feeling our body is our basic need.
    • The myth of our life resides in our body
    • Being mindful and “bodyful” – paying attention not only to what you are paying attention, but also with what part of your body
    • Changes in the body as a way to heal, to release tentions
    • Focusing on the body leads to wholeness
    • In modern society, especially western, body is considered a shadow (sinful, shameful) compared to the mind. Mythologically though, the shadow often has the greatest potential and energy, and needs to be integrated in order to do any serious work.
  • Somatic disciplines covered
    • Dance (ballroom, 5Rhythms, contact improv)
    • Meditation
    • Martial arts
    • Rituals (Paratheatre, mythological work with Paul Rebillot)
    • Tantra
    • Anthropology
    • NLP
    • Spiral Dynamics
  • Applications:
    • Personal growth
    • Relationships
    • Leading change at the level of a unit (organization, society)

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