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"The great sea has sent me adrift; "Whenever we touch nature we get clean. People who have got dirty through too much civilization take a walk in the woods, or a bath in the sea. Entering the unconscious, entering yourself through dreams, is touching nature from the inside and this is the same thing, things are put right again." - CG Jung |
Somatic Expression in Nature:
April – September 2022 Free Q & A: March 6, 2022 10:30-11:30am Pacific time REGISTER FOR THE MARCH 6 Q&A HERE
“At a certain point, you say to the woods, to the sea, to the mountains, the world, Now I am ready. Now I will stop and be wholly attentive. You empty yourself and wait, listening.” - Annie Dillard “If you can walk, you can dance. And if you can talk, you can sing.” - Pygmy saying
For the past 30 years, I have been guiding weeklong group immersive retreats primarily on the Northern California coast, but also in the French and Swiss Alps, and the German and Oregon forests. These somatic-expressive journeys into self and place have been codified with students over time in the Embodying Nature/Somatic Expression protocol that has been developed through trial and error, witnessing and responding, recycling and clarifying. It is now time to spread this evolving work out into the world for more “homegrown” explorations and applications. Read an article about the methodology HERE Embodying Nature/Somatic Expression combines the fullness of sensorimotor engagement with aesthetic creativity in the natural environment – quite simply, we land in ourselves, open up our perceptual capacities, engage with the immediate natural environment mindfully and playfully through our bodies, and use the multiple channels of aesthetic creativity to cohere and integrate our experience in a tangible way. What makes this approach unique is the confluence of mindfulness, bodyfulness and playfulness as a pathway into a deep relationship with the larger body of the planet.
Sensorimotor engagement: A good part of readiness is clearing the mind by attuning to the body’s sensibilities through the five somatic technologies. Simple somatic practices create the transition from the ordinary body to the extraordinary one, shifting from repetitive/habitual ways of breathing, moving and thinking to varied ways of perceiving in present time. With this inner re-orientation comes more ease for attention to both focus and wander, and perceive the outer landscape in unaccustomed ways, creating an opening into substantive contact and connection. Sensorimotor engagement consists of The Five Somatic Technologies (Breath, Vocalization, Contact, Movement and Stillness) with the Five Phase Relational Map (Witness, Contact, Mirror, Respond and Rest). Aesthetic Channels of Creativity: Art is for all people. It is re-creation. It is inspiration. It is the multiple languages of the senses heightened, utilized and made visible. And the impulse to create is embedded in the human soul, just as it is embedded in the larger cosmology. We knew how to do this naturally as 5 year olds – to make up songs, spontaneously dance, sculpt our environments, and play with color and words. Art was fun and joyful, an effortless expression of our aliveness. Coming back into contact to place through sensorimotor engagement reveals the participatory art of nature as we become “part of” the creative act. Aesthetic Channels of Creativity: Writing, Spoken Word, Recorded Soundscapes, Images (Drawn and/or Photographed), Videos, and more…
MONTHLY STRUCTURE
WHO & HOW This laboratory is for all ages and types of people who want to commit to somatic-expressive engagement with the natural environment for 6 months – as a meditative experience; as a creative experience; as a spiritual experience; or as a social experience. It can be for continuing education and/or personal re-creation. The application of the model is as diverse as the individuals who use it - Embodying Nature has been used as a foundation for performance, creative writing, environmental education and ecopsychology. What is important to me is that you make space in your life to enter into an active relationship with your bioregion and learn from your own practice of exploration what nature has to offer to you – and what you have to offer to nature. $650-950 Sliding Scale - Fees are kept deliberately low to encourage inclusivity Submit an application to Jamie McHugh naturebeingart@gmail.com with a little information about yourself and your intention for being part of this group. Payment and technical information will then be sent.
YOUR GUIDE Jamie McHugh I have primarily lived in rural locations on the US West Coast for the past 20 years. While staying connected to the modern world virtually, the bulk of my time was in the vastness of the environment. I became a photographer of water in all of its many dimensions, particularly in the coastal ecosystem of waves and eddies, coves and tidal pools. The beach was my movement studio where I could lay down in the embrace of sand, breathe and move while listening to the ever-present drone of the ocean, and enter another frame of consciousness. Taking my camera on these excursions amplified this kinesthetic state of mind though focused attention on the visual domain. Where the confluence of breath, vocalization, movement and stillness enabled a wide-open fluid perception, the focus the lens enabled brought concise attention to detail, form, and color. Suspending time temporarily, momentarily holding my breath and pressing the button to embrace an ephemeral moment as a still image, and then viewing that image in the camera’s monitor became a repetitive practice of action-reflection, impression-expression, gather-hold…and then release, re-set, wiggle and glide. This rhythm of concentrated attention modulated by spacious breath and movement was a reward unto itself, deepening my relationship with place while altering my state of being. Having all these countless “souvenirs” (from French, memory) that I could share with others as prints and video montages was an extra bonus! Making art has potentiated and amplified my relationship to place just as place has potentiated and amplified my aesthetic sensibility. www.naturebeingart.org This mutually informing process is what I wish to share in this laboratory dedicated to Somatic Attunement, Relational Presence, and Creative Engagement – with ourselves, others and the environment. You can discover more about my teaching history HERE
GUEST ARTISTS Kate Cleary is a contemplativedancer, poet and photographer who moves her awareness in and through the living vibrational field of nature, moment by moment. She finds an urban environment just as rich and fruitful as a wild forest, river, ocean. There is beauty to be seen everywhere, and a voice waiting to be heard and expressed. (April 22) TBA (June 3) Stephanie Gottlob is a somatic movement improvisational artist. In 2019 I left the life I had been living to follow a calling of embody the various natural biomes of North America (boreal forest, tundra, lake, river, desert, rain forest, grasslands, swamp). I bought a truck camper and for the past 3 years I have been living and dancing in remote parts of nature exploring movement improvisation, creative process, and somatic experiences on and with landscape. (July 1) Ahjo is a somatic Earth artist: one who is in an apprenticeship with both the personal and earthly soma and expresses both the conflicts and the Eros of these relationships through multiple art mediums. Author of the memoir/artist journal, EarthBodyBoat: Queer Journey of A Somatic Earth Artist. (July 29) Isabelle Jubert is a French dancer, performer, teacher, somatic movement educator and Life/Art practitioner. I work with diverse groups of people from kids in schools to elderly people and interdisciplinary artists. Dance, Nature and Expressive Arts have always been a through line in my life: Movement is Change, Accepting change so that something new can happen. Becoming Earth so that seeds can grow. Becoming Sky so that our awareness and our gaze can widen. (September 2)
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