Simply Somatic

In this episode Sherry and Julia continue to discuss curiosity, commitment, and naming as all help us become more sophisticated movers and more aware of our being.

In this episode Julia and Sherry continue to explore the importance of naming feelings, sensations, and movements for the sake of recognizing the aliveness of the self in ourselves and in the world.

Welcome to our relaunching! After taking nearly two years away from creating podcasts, Sheryl Saterstrom and Julia Moser-Hardy return to Mindful Moving and recorded reflection. What happens to our experience of the practice and to us in renewing dedication to it?

Aleks Weaver unpacks the concept " to Be Here Now" in the sound-score for her senior capstone choreography project. She addresses the audience and invites them to participate in the performance with content that is reflective of her own personal discoveries. Aleks would like to thank Maddi Frick as the music editor and Brian Eno for the piano accompaniment.

If technology one day becomes part of us, what will it mean to be a physical, embodied being? Already we have many metaphors for the body as object, as machine, as technology, while the idea of body as self is critical to understanding Somatics.

With advancements in technology ownership and sharing of material is understood differently. How has this permeated the dance world?

In response to a morning radio show about the possibility of installing technology into human lives in a more literal way, Sherry and Julia discuss how technology has advanced the music and dance industry and the perception of the body as object versus as self.

With the torso, front is front and back is back. Through spiraling actions the front can be turned toward the back, but the front-body of the torso is rarely ever perceived as anything other than front, because the body is the point of relativity., yet when this concept reaches out to the peripheral limbs that enjoy rotation ore freely, this concept of front and back becomes a bit contorted...

Allowing life to happen through engaged choice instead of distantly forcing it to proceed is one simple strategy toward living easefully. How is this reflected in the four basic actions of human existence; yield, push, reach, and pull?

Human beings often think of themselves as separate from the environment, but we are still only substance brushing up against and moving through and over other matter. We are part of the hetergeneous ether of Earth. Breath is one literal way we take in our environment, but how else does this happen through our nervous system?

The Somatic Foundations in Higher Education project returns with new podcasts from this summer's research! In this podcast from June 28th 2012 St. Olaf College student researcher Julia Moser-Hardy '14 and Professor Sheryl Saterstrom discuss the effort cycle, taking in one's environment through breath and acquisition of sensory information, and how the simple concept of front-body/back-body becomes contorted with rotation.

Animals don't need to be aware of the inner workings of their body because their self-agency is an inherent part of their embodied beings. St. Olaf student researcher Julia Moser-Hardy '14 and Professor Sheryl Saterstrom discuss how the development of modern technology that promotes "efficient" or "easeful" living allows automaticity to take over this part of lived experience.

St. Olaf student researcher Julia Moser-Hardy '14 and Professor Sheryl Saterstrom discuss what it is to live with a powerful sense of self.

St. Olaf student researcher Julia Moser-Hardy '14 and Professor Sheryl Saterstrom discuss the importance of BEing HERE, NOW in the present moments of daily life and ways to accomplish that exercise.

St. Olaf College student researcher Julia Moser-Hardy '14 and Professor Sheryl Saterstrom discuss discovering the three dimensional body in exercising the capacity for rotation.

In this podcast from July 12th 2012 St. Olaf College student researcher Julia Moser-Hardy '14 and Professor Sheryl Saterstrom discuss the importance of being powerfully present in the self here and now, and the modern technology that allows human beings to reduce existing with powerful self-agency in daily life.

The Somatic Foundations in Higher Education project returns with new podcasts revolving around this summer's research inquiry, "What is the future of Somatics?"

Imagery is one education tool that can be used to convey knowledge or meaning in colorful or simple ways. This poem is called White Flowers by Mary Oliver.

Although a typical structure for simple Mindful Moving is 10 minutes moving, 10 minutes focusing on alignment, and 10 minutes focusing on breath, the 10 minutes can be devoted to other structures as well. This is one example.

Sherry, Aleks, and Betsy Reflect on a morning Mindful Moving session.

Aleks, Kathleen, and Betsy reflect after Mindful Moving, 7/8/11. Meditation structure broken into three sections of ten minutes each: Section 1 ('movement') guided by the words "underlying resonance" Section 2 ('alignment/balance') guided by a quote by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen: "The mind is like the wind, and the body is like the sand; If you want to know how the wind is blowing, take a look at the sand" Section 3 ('breath') guided by the idea of interdependent rhythms

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