Sometimes it seems to me that, in the end, the only thing that people have got going for them is imagination. At times of great darkness, everything around us becomes symbolic, poetic, archetypal. Perhaps that is what dreaming, and art, are for. Helen Garner: “The darkness in everyone of us” https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2015/july/1435672800/helen-garner/darkness-every-one-us
When I teach I often speak of cultivating our imaginations through somatic engagement. We are an intelligent body and it is with imagination that we find creative ways to live. We move in and through the world. Our footfalls leave an impression. Our touch leaves a memory. Our heartbeats sync with those we love. A somatic moving practice engages our imagination as we listen, respond and become ‘at home’ in our bodies and in the world. Developing embodied consciousness expands our sensitivity and resilience.
How might we bring the intelligent body into our concern for the living world? What kinds of conversations can we cultivate that don’t lead to despair or create false hope but offer us means to take action? World events escalate our need to attend to how we are living and ways in which we can renew rather than consume. What narratives drive us and keep us paralyzed or opens our hearts to change? How do we live embodied and embedded lives? I feel that expanding our imagination is critical to this venture. Living in our complex dynamic bodymind is a practice and requires deep attention and reverence for the gift of life. Perhaps it is a form of prayer that extends beyond religion to the fragility of life itself? Shall we begin together?