A-Two Individuals, Two
Outcomes
Please imagine two different
people who have both lived through similar major traumatic experiences.
Then,
imagine that one of the individuals has done personal extensive work to heal
the ways in which their trauma was locked or frozen in the body (through their
own study, self-work, and receiving professional intervention), while the other
person has not had the privilege to have received much of any kind of help with
theirs.
1-Describe your sense of how each
individual would experience their physical body, their psyche, and their
general feeling of well-being.
2-Describe as well how they take
care of themselves and the degree to which they have control of their mental
faculties (affective states, feelings, cognition).
*****Cameo portraits of each
person that are filled with ‘thick description’ (richly told story) however
brief, are what we are seeking here.
B- On Grieving, Death, Death Awareness, and Restoring Embodiment
A key
assumption in existential psychology is that a major source of psychological
suffering and psychopathology is the denial of death. Stemming from this is the
idea that this could be a kind of ultimate answer as to the reason for
disembodiment: That disembodiment – numbness, not being “in one’s
body,” dissociation from the body – is in fact a survival mechanism, a
defense against the awareness that this very body of one’s own self, will
indeed die.
We might consider that those of us who
routinely see death in their work have an advantage here, as would be for those
of us who are over a certain chronological age where health issues are now more
prevalent – perhaps even routine – as the body grows older.
And then where does grieving come in? Well, in
this respect grieving would be the antidote to disembodiment; the assumption is
that those who can grieve the loss of others and their own eventual demise
become less and less avoidant of the fact that they, too, will die. This kind
of grieving can lead to persons becoming death
resilient.
1-Please offer your reflections on these ideas
relative to the question of disembodiment.
C- Embodiment, Presence, and Well-Being
As Wendy
Palmer writes in her article directly (Attached)
“Everyone
is a leader, everyone has an opportunity to inspire others and effect their
situation in a positive way. Wise leaders manifest three embodied leadership
competencies, they are: being inclusive, being able to listen for the whole,
and speaking up clearly without aggression or collapsing. The potential
contribution of Aikido and mindfulness Using principles from the traditions of
both Aikido, a non-aggressive martial art, and mindfulness practice, we can
find simple yet deep techniques that help leaders recognize how the mind and
body habitually react to pressure, and to access more skillful and unified
responses. The reason that this is so important is that the body always wins.
We know perfectly well that we should be calm and relaxed but often in
stressful situations our body constricts and instead of being calm we become
agitated.”
Consider that
the reference to “Leadership” can be considered from the point of
view of being present and being “large” in one’s presence and
clarity, both with one’s self and others.
1-Please offer your reflections on the major
points made, relative to the question of embodiment practices and well-being.
D- Reflexive Dialogue: On Being at Home in One’s Body
Please
engage in dialogic practice by developing a written dialogue between a specific
inner group of figures, or subjectivities, related to topical focus of Embodying.
Do this by working through the Seven Levels of Reflexive Participation
(Attached)
***This
dialogue will again take place
between you (as you see yourself currently), the you from
another time in your life where you were either less or more active,
intentional, and/or creative about the current week’s topical
focus, and the Friend (which you have likely now been introduced to in the
“Introduction to Transformative Learning” course).
****For
this week, have the dialogue be in Level Three of the Seven
Levels of Reflexive Participation relative to your own
embodiment. The practice of Level Three should be applied to the topic
of challenges you experience with embodiment and their relationship to
your own well-being.
1-As mentioned, the document you create will resemble a film
script or a play, and should be roughly one page (the lines of each figure are
single-spaced, and are separated via double spacing).
2-Once
you feel a natural pause in the dialogue, share a few sentences of reflection
on the process, i.e., what you are struck by, anything you learned about
yourself in the process, etc. Please make sure to end this and subsequent
dialogues (called “Reflexive Dialogue”) in the voice of the Friend.