Body|Mass
Body|Mass
A Liturgical Experience of Embodiment and Celebration of the Flesh
We are gathered here today to honor the body Your body
My body
Our bodies
The vessel that comprises the whole of ourselves and our experiences
Our vehicle for navigating the world
We gather to celebrate the Flesh
We will be exploring embodiment through the language of touch utilizing texts and sensate focused exercises.
I stand before you as a body, as living flesh, sharing this experience with you. Feel free to watch me as I explore touch with gold dust or close your eyes and follow the sound of my voice.
We will be going through movements together, both mental and physical, to be more present in our skin, culminating with a moment to share that presence with another body and see the evidence of that connection
Let’s begin with our eyes closed, starting to think about your body. Feel your feet rooted in the floor. The weight of your legs on the chair. How your shirt feels on your chest as it rises and falls with your breath.
As quoted in ‘Introduction to Curriculum and the Cultural Body’ French philosopher Maurice “Merlueau-Ponty designated the term Flesh to support his idea that the body is neither material substance nor the container in which the mind is stored and hence separated from the world. Rather, Flesh is the intertwining of the material body and the world in mutual relation. Flesh denotes a body that is integrated with the mind, and enmeshed within experience. Flesh, or the metaphor of the mobius [strip] is often conceptualized as in-between, where beings constitute themselves not as objects, but as meaning, an embodied existence. Embodiment captures a sense of the body’s immersion in places, spaces, and environments in which it encounters the world.”...
Promotional image from PortFringe 2018