Constellations, culture and the body
An embodiment process practice
This last week there have been several things on my mind - in order:
Family constellations
Cultural embodiment
Psilocybin
Inner dance
And the 5th would be something like this:
I attended my first Family constellations workshop last week - I’ve been wanting to do it for about a decade I think, and finally last week things constellated right. If inner dance is feminine, with more wild sounds, more music, more untethered movement and visions, like being with the grandmother - Family constellations felt to me like being with the grandfather. More ordered, more words, structure and directed movement, but ultimately still somatic processing in communion with others.
Schuyler Brown on cultural embodiment. I heard her talk about “Processing the culture through the body”. Taking a piece of media and using it to move with, as a way to avoid avoiding culture. The media we’re creating is a reflection of where we’re at, and so turning to face it and process whats there through the body, to work directly with the feelings as a way to gauge how we’re doing in an embodied way, where we’re at, and what might need to be done next - outside of talking, opinions and judgements
Psilocybin - A ceremony in the week in a stone circle in Cornwall amongst the spirits of the druids and the bards. Felt like a reunion with the idea of order, that there is one, and to stray too far away from it feels bad. The importance of discipline as an antidote to a chaotic nervous system. A fatherly kind of love.
But also an awareness of the power of some substances to help dismantle certain orders of mind that have become oppressive. And from the ensuing chaos emerges a new order, that can better support what wants to live.
A synthesis between psychoactive substances embodiment, somatics and energy psychology has long been something of interest to me.
Inner dance - Something where all those other things cross over together. A way to constellate with other beings for somatic processing, of personal and cultural relevance, perhaps further opened and enlivened by controlled doses of medicine.
And thinking about all this, while on this ride, however far you stray and wherever you end up, there’s always the breath…
Happy weekend 👽