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Sorry its in picture form - tumblr is being glitchy. Jess

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Body Journal #3

For my third activity I went a little out there. I decided to take acid to see how my body would feel and react. I haven’t experimented much with drugs like acid so I thought it would make an interesting body experiment and experience. I took it around 2:00 pm on a warm sunny Sunday. My main environment goal for the experience was to be outside.                                                                                                                              When it started to kick in around 2:30 my body felt nauseous. Maybe I was nervous or it was the acid, but it did not feel good. Shortly after, my body began to feel lighter and tingly. Every position I placed my body in, felt comfortable and relaxed. I layed in the grass, in a hammock, walked around a field, went bare foot, and played frisbee.  Overall, I felt it was a great experience for my body and spirituality. It felt good to be in my own skin and feel so free and lifted. After the drug wore off, some sort of confidence of myself and my body washed over me. There was no other feeling like it.

-Cassidy DeBlois 

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Body Journal #2

For my second activity I decided to take a yoga class at the REC center. My body has been so tense this term because of a lot of stress, so I thought that stretching, focused breathing, and relaxing would feel good. At the start of class I felt very uncomfortable placing my body in weird positions. The experience felt unnatural to my body because it had not been stretched in a very long time. Towards the middle of class my body slowly started to feel comfortable and started to relax. I focused on my breathing and how my body felt in every stretch. It felt good to give my body some love in a different way. So many muscles I didn’t know I had came out to play and they felt like they got to breath for the first time. After class the experience was an overall positive one for my body. I felt every part of my body and I felt in control . I would definitely like to do more yoga to give my body that experience again.

-Cassidy DeBlois 

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Body Journal #1

For my first body activity I took a spin class. My spin class was a hour long cycling class at the REC center that involved loud music, someone yelling at me the whole time, and pushing my body to its physical limit. When I was in high school I was very athletic and did some sort of physical activity every day. When I got into college balancing sustaining myself, working, and being a full time student working out was at the bottom of the list. So, taking a spin class made me very nervous and interested on how painful it would be for my body. The experience was actually an eye opener. At first, my body was in constant struggle. My body hurt and felt exhausted in only the first fifteen minutes. I felt like my body was going to reject this much activity and vomit. On top of that, the environment of a gym and not being in one for so long made my body already feel uncomfortable. As time went on with non-stop fast, slow, challenging, cycling, my body didn’t stop. Mentally, I wanted to push my body as far as it would go and I did. After the class I felt lifted, I felt strong, I felt excited that my body didn’t give out on me. Overall, it was a very good experience for my body.

-Cassidy DeBlois 

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A trip with your body

By Cassidy DeBlois

Inspired By:

Black Skin, White Masks - Frantz Fanon

“This lack of self-esteem as an object worthy of love has serious consequence. For one thing, it keeps the individual in a state of profound inner insecurity, as a result of which it inhibits and distorts every relation with others. It is an object capable of arousing a friendship or love that the individual is unsure of himself. The lack of affective self-esteem is to be found only in persons who in their early childhood suffered from a lack of love and understanding”.

Materials:

Pen 

Paper

Acid 

Directions:

Pick a day where you have no worries, or they are to a minimal. Plan your day out so you can take your time throughout the day and really grasp the activity you are about to partake in. 

Pick an environment where you can linger outside comfortably. It could be a park, hiking trail, your backyard, or even a bench on the sidewalk. Tune in with the weather and sounds around you only thinking about how you feel in that moment.

First, think about how your body truly feels and how you feel inside of it

Read Fanon’s excerpt at the top once you feel your body has been influenced by whatever substance you have ingested.

After reading, be aware of what thoughts had popped in your mind.

Write some notes of any feelings that come to mind:

Could you relate? What is something that is in your inner insecurity?

Is there anything that is keeping you from letting go of insecurities, blocking out friendships or love?

How did it make your self-esteem relating to your body feel?

After the subsistence has warn off, sit/lay somewhere quite. Close your eyes and take five deep breaths in and out, not letting your mind wander by only focusing on your breath and body. Try to feel the energy your body is projecting.  

Open your eyes...

How does your body feel? 

How do you feel? 

Think about what are the consequences of not loving your body?How are you lacking love and understanding of your body?

Now think about what you gain when you do love your body? 

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This is the drawing that I did for my creative project. While I was drawing it I was thinking about how the body is flexible and can be changed. I was also thinking about how this model does not specifically represent a male or female body. This reminded me of the analysis and readings we have done in this class of different images of bodies.

-Mikayla Ngo

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Study Your Blood (Body Prompt)

By Megan Parrish

Inspired by: Cathy Hannabach’s Blood Cultures: Medicine, Media, and Militarisms

“Blood’s circulation between bodies and communities carries with it other identity markers including race, sexuality, citizenship, class, and gender. Over the course of the twentieth century, different activist groups sought to ameliorate, highlight, and critique the cultural anxiety this movement engenders. In doing so, they simultaneously configure national belonging and unbelonging.”

Materials:

Your body

An understanding of your blood

The internet

Pen/paper or another way to take notes

Directions:

Are you eligible to give blood? If you have donated blood before, the answer may seem like an obvious yes, but there are many criteria for blood donation eligibility that are not often known. 

Find the full list of the American Red Cross’ Blood Donor Eligibility Criteria at:

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements/eligibility-criteria-alphabetical-listing

As you view this list, make a note of every criteria that could possibly disqualify you from blood donation. Include criteria that may only disqualify you if you are experiencing symptoms; ie. asthma is acceptable, but you may be disqualified if you are having difficulty breathing at time of donation.

After you complete your list, reflect upon it:

Do you feel that the traits that disqualify you from American Red Cross blood donation are reflective of your identity?

Do you feel more or less inclined to donate blood?

How does this list of traits reflect your national identity?

How does examining the list of Eligibility Criteria make you feel about the system of blood donation?

Reflect upon these questions, Cathy Hannabach’s quote above, and any other feelings that may come up while doing this activity.

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Hold Your Breath (Body Prompt)

By Zachery Wright

Inspired by: Franz Fanon, ​White Skin, Black Masks​, Grove Press; Revised edition (September 10, 2008)

“Man is not merely a possibility of recapture or of negation. If it is true that consciousness is a process of transcendence, we have to see too that this transcendence is haunted by the problems of love and understanding. Man is a yes that vibrates to cosmic harmonies. Uprooted, pursued, baffled, doomed to watch the dissolution of the truths that he has worked out for himself one after another, he has to give up projecting onto the world an antinomy that coexists with him.” (Fanon, 2)

Materials: Your body, time, and attention

Directions:

First exhale all of your breath. Make sure to focus on the air leaving your body, and how your lungs lose their volume.

Next, inhale deeply, imagining your lungs are balloons being filled from the bottom up.

Now hold your breath for as long as you can for up to a minute.

Pay particular attention during this process on where your mind naturally takes you. Do you feel an urge to breath? What is your body asking for or doing in response? How do you perceive time during this minute?

After you are done, completely exhale all of your air slowly, and take a deep, slow breath afterwards, focusing on the air entering your lungs.

Some questions to ask yourself afterwards:

·         What emotions did you feel as your body craved oxygen?

·         How does your bodies overriding need for air make you feel in regards to your control over your body?

·         How conscious were of your breath before doing this exercise?

·         Were you able/did you think about anything other than your breath during this time?

·         Do you have control over what your body wants and how does this kind of relationship with your body frustrate/anger/perplex you?

Our bodies often ask for things it needs in indirect ways, but breath isn’t one of them. Among our innate needs, oxygen/air is the most important and crucial in keeping our bodies functioning and our bodies overriding needs for it is support for this.

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Take a Hike (Body Prompt)

by Michael Daining

Inspired by: Treaties on Man by Descartes

“Thus, I say, when you reflect on how these functions follow completely naturally in this machine solely from the disposition of the organs, no more nor less than those of a clock or other automaton from its counterweights and wheels, then it is not necessary to conceive on this account any other vegetative soul, nor sensitive one, nor any other principle of motion and life, than its blood and animal spirits, agitated by the heat of the continually burning fire in the heart, and which is of the same nature as those fires found in inanimate bodies.”

Materials: Good shoes, a flashlight, water. (optional) Star chart, pen, paper.

Directions:

For this body activity we are going on a hike to a place you can see stars. Stars are always better outside of major cities but even on Spencer or Skinner Buttes you can get a pretty good view of the sky. If you want to know what stars and planets are visible you can get a star chart and take that with you. Currently Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn are in our night sky.

The first step is to find a trail you want to hike. Find a hike that will get your heart rate up and tire you without making you exhausted. Difficulties vary from person to person. Try and time it so you get to the top of a hill or to a clearing around sunset.

Once you get to the trailhead take a couple minutes and sit in your car or lay in the grass. Take deep breaths and get a feel for how your body is feeling. Is it tight from the car ride? Is your brain tired from homework? Are you stressed about finals?

Make sure you have all your gear and start hiking. As you start hiking pay attention to your body. Feel your breathing and heart rate increase, notice as your muscles start to warm up, and pay attention to where you put your feet.

As time goes on let your mind wander. Start looking around at the scenery and notice the greenery and color of the flowers. Hiking can be like meditation. As you hike your brain automatically takes over the walking allowing your brain to wander and relax. If you find yourself focusing on the stress of your regular life start paying attention to your body again: your breathing, footfalls, and muscles. Then let your mind wander again. As your body gets tired and your mind lets itself wander you should feel your tension and stress fade away. Let the peacefulness of the nature around you draw the tension from your muscles.

Hopefully, you will get to the top as the sun is starting to set. Find a comfortable place to sit or lay. Once again mentally take a look through your body. Pay attention to your breathing, your heart beat, and your tension levels. Do you still feel stressed or tense? Are your legs tired?

Now just relax and watch the Sun set. Feel your heart and breathing rate lower. Watch the sky change color as the Sun drifts down. If you have a pen and paper write about how you feel and what you see. Get up every once and a while and walk around to keep your muscles loose, we are going to be here for a while. Keep looking around the sky and see if you can find the first stars as it gets darker. (There is a good chance the first “star” you see will be Jupiter) As it gets darker lay on your back and watch the stars come out.

Reflect on the incredible distance to the stars you can see. (the closest one is about 26 trillion miles away) Feel the Earth at your back and think about how small it is compared to the stars you see. How does this make you feel? Do you feel small? Do you feel wonder at the incredible complexity of the universe we are a part of? If we are such a tiny part of the universe do you think it makes us insignificant or does it make you value each and every person a bit more?

After you decide you have been there long enough, start walking back. Now as you hike pay attention to the complexity in your own body. Think about each cell in your leg muscles all working together. Think about your brain unconsciously raising your breathing and heart rate as you exert yourself. Now that you are hiking in the dark do you feel fear? Is your body responding to that fear with a bit of adrenaline? Wonder at the incredible complexity of your brain and body. Reflect on Descartes' words. Do you feel like an automaton? Do you feel like you are in control of your thoughts and reactions? Once you get back to your car sit for a couple minutes and feel your body calm down from the hike. Notice your heart and breathing rate drop. If you were scared about hiking in the dark allow yourself to relax and maybe smile about the fear you felt now that you are safe. Pay attention to the relief flowing through you. If you brought a pen and paper write about what you felt and thought throughout the hike.

(Disclaimer: Whenever you are hiking be smart. Always take extra water, food, a first aid kit, layers of clothes, and rain gear. Always tell someone you trust where you are going and when you expect to return. If you are hiking in the dark take extra batteries, a map and compass and know how to use them. Don't get eaten by a bear.)

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Body Prompt

Purpose of project design:

Quote from Katharine Park’s Secrets of Women Gender, Generation, and the Origins of Human Dissection: “The language of concealment thus comes to play at exactly the moment when women’s bodies need to be revealed to men” (Park, 92-93). The reproductive and sexual female body has been made taboo by the very nature in which it exists.  Female genital being internal and “hidden” creates an illusion of secrecy around female genital.  To hold a secret is to be ashamed of/or be deemed inappropriate to discuss.  This project will challenge the taboo of the sexual body being “dirty”.

 Quote from Fratz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks: “There is a white potential in every one of us; some want to ignore it or quite simply reverse it” (Fanon, 30). As expressed by Fanon, privilege and positive exposure makes some bodies more publicly desirable then others.  These privileges are built from a system of oppression over other bodies to elevate a very specific form of a body as superior. Outside pressures are constantly tearing bodies down to make them uncomfortable to live in as they suffer in navigating a world that denies space for said bodies.  This project is aimed to reclaim space for the body to be more comfortable to live in.

Materials:

  Comb

Razor

Scissors

Shaving Cream/Body     Wash/Conditioner/Body Lotion

Sharpie/Permanent Marker

Duct Tape

 Directions:

Create a simple design using a Sharpie/Permanent Marker on the non-sticky side of some duct tape.  This design should be no larger than two inches in any direction. A basic shape will work as long as it is appealing to you.   Cut out the design with a pair of scissors. Set the cut out aside for a moment as you drop your pants.  Use your comb to brush your pubic hair down in such a way that separates any tangled pubic hairs from themselves.     Take your duct tape design and place it as firmly as you can on top of your combed pubic hair.   Carefully lather the pubic hair around your design with your choice of shaving cream, body wash, conditioner, body lotion, or any other shaving lubrication.  Make sure to not move your design too much or make it unsecure in its position! Use your razor to shave around the design. Be careful to not cut yourself. It might be necessary to trim the area around your design before you proceed to shave away the pubes if they are too thick.   As you shave your pubic hair, focus on the control you are having over your body.  Remember that you are doing this for yourself and not for anyone else. Admire your body as a space you have created for yourself.  Practice positive self-efficacy as you make this claim over your body. Once the area is shaved to the extent that you like, remove the duct tape design.  Depending on the complexity of your design, you may need to use scissors to cut out smaller sections or make curves more noticeable.   Wash and dry your pubic hair. Be proud of the time and energy you dedicated to shaping and engaging on a section of your body that is made taboo by western culture.  Let yourself feel comfortable no matter how the design turned out.  If you feel satisfied with the result from the experience, allow yourself to talk to others about the experience, and encourage them to think about their pubic hair more seriously as a margin of the body that is neglected and underrepresented.   Rachel Voigt

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Body Journal 2

For my second body activity I wanted to do something that made me truly feel alive. I decided to go for a vigorous run, which in the past had frequently made me feel better, more alive - body and mind. The activity of running did make my body feel more alive. The movement of the activity made my body feel invigorated and my mind rejuvenated. The more I pushed myself, the more alive I felt in a positive and empowering way. During this experience, in regards to connecting it to our class, I reflected on Mbembe’s Necropolitics piece. Specifically I focused on the death aspect of the text in which slavery could be viewed as a form of life-in-death. This made me think about what makes someone feel alive and what makes someone feel closer to death. Through this thought process I was inspired to put more energy towards things that make my body feel alive. 

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Body Prompt by Natalie Paslay

Inspired by: Katharine Park Secrets of Women

“Male writers often referred to matters of this sort as ‘the secrets of women,’ a phrase that had multiple and sometimes conflicting connotations. On the one hand, it implied that women had access to knowledge concerning sexuality and generation that men did not, and that they hoarded this knowledge for their own, often unsavory purposes. On the other hand, it simply described a topological situation: precise information on matters equally important for men and women was inaccessible to both.”

Materials:

Ambiantic Music

Paper

Pen

Definitions:

Aphrodite: Goddess of Love, Beauty, Sexuality, Pleasure

Gaia: Mother of all. Mother Earth

Yoni: Translates to “sacred space”. Place of birth. Source of Power. Vulva.

Directions:

Find a safe, comfortable, quiet space to stand.

Put on some music that relaxes you that you can move to.

Take a few deep breathes until your body feels relaxed. Breathe in with your nose and out with your mouth. Breathe into your womb space using your diaphragm. Your stomach should expand, not your chest. This is for a deeper breathe.

Put your hands to your womb, and rest them there for a bit.

Start rocking back and forth or side to side. Feel how your pelvis moves along with your body.

Start slowly tucking your pelvis in and out, still laying your hands over your pelvis/lower stomach.

Take a second to make sure your feet are firmly planted on the ground, feel the connection you have with the earth below your feet. The connection you have to Gaia.

Begin to broaded your pelvic motions, moving wherever your womb/pelvis/yoni take you.

Imagine you are floating in Aphrodite’s sacred pool. Floating with ease in warm, inviting, healing water.

Continue to move to the music and connect with your inner goddess, your inner aphrodite, goddess of sexuality.

Give your yoni love and attention. Call to her and listen carefully to her answer.

As you finish your movements, place one hand on your heart and one on your womb.

Stand still for a few minutes and feel the energy at your heart and the energy at your womb.

When you feel ready, sit in a comfortable position and write down a few notes of your experience.

What emotions were brought up?

How did you body feel? Your mind?

What parts of your body are you more aware of now?

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Body Prompt

By Emilie 

Connecting with your mind spirit and body

Inspired by:

Cathy Hannabach’s Blood Cultures

“Blood is a slipper substance: both in matter and idea, both a viscous material entity and a collection of visual and linguistic metaphors,” (p. 2).

Rachel C. Lee’s The Exquisite Corpse of Asian America

“In the subtle movement of teeth and the Transport of the whole bodies across the globe, technologies of movement are thought to enhance individual embodiment, by way of extending function: cosmetically improving the person’s capacity to take in the world, or temporally quickening and spatially expanding the range of things to take in,” (p. 80).

Material:

Paper/journal

Writing utensil (pencil or pen)

Comfortable clothing that you can move in

(Optional) Something that play’s music (computer, stereo, speaker with phone port or Bluetooth)

Directions:

Find some empty space in your room, house, at studio, or outside. If you have chosen to play music you may turn it on at this moment if your please, but not too loud you want to be able to hear yourself breath. After getting comfortable in the space around your, take a moment and write down how you feel about your body, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Here are some questions you can think about at this moment and write about:

How are you feeling? Are you sick or healthy? Stressed or relaxed?

How does your body feel? Is it tense and sore or lose and relaxed? What part(s) of your body are sore?

Is your heart racing or is it beating at its normal rate?

How do you feel about your body? Are you comfortable in your own skin? Do you feel connected to all or some of your body parts?

When your done writing, if you have not turned on your music by now and would like to, this would be a good time to. Lay on your back with your legs relaxed, straight out in front of you, elided with your hips or slightly separated, and your arms relaxed beside you. Close your eyes and breath (in through your nose, out through your mouth) and relax your body. Stay like this for five minutes breathing and letting your body relax little by little with every breath (it might feel like your melting into the floor). After five minutes slowly start to move one body part at a time, starting with your toes making your way up to your head. Once your body has come to complete movement take your time moving to come up off of the floor to standing on your feet. After getting up on to your feel, take a minute and take two deep breaths (in and out).

When you are done take a moment and think about how your body feels now after doing this body activity, and write it down. You can use and think about the same questions from above, but also take a moment to come compare how your felt before and after.

Do you feel more connected to your body?  Why or why not?

Could you feel your breathing move throughout your body? Did your breathing target your sore spots and relax them?

Did you feel your blood traveling through your body?

Where is your heart rate now? Rapid or relaxed?

How do you feel about your body now?

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Body Prompt

Death-in-Life - Body Prompt

Eleandra Lewis

For my body activity I wanted to engage in something that made me feel truly alive. I choose to go on a vigorous run. During this run, I started to think about the fact that I was obviously already alive. How could this activity make me feel more alive than I already was? Was I less alive before I went running? This mental process then brought up the thought of life and death as a continuum and the question of if we actually are on a continuum of these two extremes all the time? When considering Mbembe's text from class, it seemed that this notion does hold some truth. Certain situations in life or circumstances such as slavery for example, make people feel closer to death than to life. Likewise certain activities or circumstances also make us feel more alive ( varying from person to person). Below is an exercise to try and understand these notions in relation to the body.

This Body Prompt exercise is inspired by Achille Mbembe’s article on necropolitics and the ways in which we think about, define and ultimately live with death. It is important to be aware of both life and death even as metaphor - what makes your body feel “alive” and what makes your body feel “dead”.

Excerpt:  “Slave life, in many ways, is a form of death-in-life. As Susan Buck-Morss has suggested, the slave condition produces a contradiction between freedom of property and freedom of person. An unequal relationship is established along with the inequality of the power over life.” (p. 21) Achille Mbembe - Necropolitics  

Instructions for Body Prompt:

Find a quiet space to sit, meditate and reflect without distractions

Materials needed:

Pen and paper

1.

Once seated, close your eyes and concentrate on your body while you breath deeply. Focus on your living, breathing body and reflect on what it means to be alive in that moment. Contemplate the concept of “being alive”. Is it more a bodily feeling or an intellectual thought? Do this for at least 5 minutes.

2.

Now, write down four activities that make you (body/mind) feel more alive. (This could be anything from running to massage, or even making artwork, whatever you truly feel)

3.

Next, close your eyes and consider what the word death means to you. How does that thought or concept make you feel? What is your bodily reaction to it?

4.

Write down four circumstances or actions that would make you (body/mind) feel as if you were closer to death. Consider the example of slavery from Mbembe’s text.

5.

After this, ask yourself if you think of death differently in anyway. Are there forms of death-in-life as Mbembe suggests? Obviously, there are many levels of severity concerning this notion of death-in-life but are there instances in which you feel certain levels of this in your daily life?

6.

Write those instances down.

7.

Next, take your list of activities that make you feel more alive and pick one that you can do following this exercise. Focus on how your body feels during the activity.

8.

Lastly, after you complete this activity, journal on your experience of all the steps and how you felt during the exercise. Hopefully, this will bring up more important questions about death-in-life and also create positive incentive for more opportunities for the activities that make you feel alive.

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Body Prompt (Katie McGraw)

Inspiration:

This body activity/prompt was inspired by ​Human Cloning in the Media: From Science Fiction to Science Practice​, Haran, J. , Kitzinger, J., McNeil, M. and O’Riordan, K. (2008).  

“They (women’s bodies) are made invisible and visible in the following ways:

They appear as a resource  – a source material  – which is crucial in constituting science as a national and global project.  

      2. They appear as the (potential) recipients of cures and reproductive technologies and as carers of the recipients of cures. 

Their corporeality is erased.”

In this class we have discussed the dominant narrative that says that women are a tool for fertility, something to be used, and that we are unable to be separated from uteruses. Through my body activity I wanted to focus on seeing my body as the vessel I belong in, a machine that gets me where I need to go, and a safe space I call mine. I wanted to take back my body, note how I see my body (good and bad), and see how mindfulness can change these perspectives and biases.  

Materials:

Comfortable clothing or lack there of (wear whatever makes you feel most comfortable for stretching, moving, and being present)

A comfortable space (for me this was my living room, for some a busy gym setting makes them most comfortable when practicing yoga, pick what you will and feel free to move settings if the first choice doesn’t feel right)

Yourself/ Your body

Prompt:

Before the movement activity begins, take a few moments to make a list in your head of different adjectives that you feel describe your body. This could include words such as; strong, clumsy, thin, powerful, fat, beautiful, graceful, etc. whatever best describes your body in your opinion. Try to be honest with yourself, and focus on both the critical words and the empowering ones.  

You will begin and end this body activity with the same breathing exercise. The mental focus during these times (and throughout the practice when possible) should be in putting these adjectives and the feelings associated in the forefront of your mind, while (with an emphasis of this in the final breathing session) learning to accept and embrace all aspects of one’s body, “good” and “bad.”

Step one:

Take a seat on the floor or stand in a comfortable position, one where you can sit/stand tall, open up your lungs, and really breathe deeply.

Take a 5 count deep breath in, and a 5 count breath out. Repeat for 5 breaths.  

Now, focus on your body. How does it feel? Can you hear/feel your heartbeat?

Continue to take deep breaths with a comfortable time count, at this time focus on the adjective list.  

Which words feel most salient and true? Why do these specific words have significance? Who/what practices taught you to feel that way about your body?

Step two, yoga sequence:

The intended count for this sequence is 5 or more counts per pose, focusing on your breath and body, and flowing from one movement to the next.

Mountain Pose

Toe touch

Plank

Cobra

Downward dog

Toe touch

(Repeat 3x)

Downward dog

Warrior one

Warrior two

Triangle Pose

Tree Pose

(Repeat with dominant side switched)

Downward dog

Cobra

Child’s Pose

(Repeat 3x) 

If you have a preferred or practiced yoga sequence, feel free to partake in that instead.

Step three:

Corpse position (5 to 10 minutes)

Continue to take deep breaths with a comfortable time count, at this time focus on the adjective list. Are there new words that come up? Which words feel most salient and true? Why do these specific words have significance?

After this final breathing activity, take a few minutes to reflect on the practice and how it made you feel. Did you feel empowered by your body? Did your body feel like an obstacle? When practicing yoga what body adjectives came to mind most? How did it feel to actively try to accept your body in its entirety? What words stood out most in the beginning, what words stand out most now? Was this difficult? What movement were easy/hard? What movements would you add in/ take a away in your next session?

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Qijia’s Body Prompt

Inspired by: • “Secrets of Women” : By treating all these practices together rather than looking at academic dissection in isolation, I aim to restore their cultural conference. This is a fundamental point: assuming anachronistically that opening the human body is in the first instance a medical procedure, historians have ignored the broader phenomenon of which it was a part-or reduced these other, related procedures to the status of “Background” or “cultural context.” In contrast, I consider the opening of the human body as a whole.(P18) • “Black Skin, White Masks”: How could the good and merciful Lord be black? He’s a white man with bright pink cheeks. From black to white—that is the way to go. One is white,so one is rich, so one is handsome, so one is intelligent.(P34) Materials: 1. paper/handbook 2. pen Directions: • Go to any public space, like shopping mall, parks, campus area, Find couple different race and gender people. • Start a brave observation one at a time. • Write down what you think about this person, include: personality,background, craeer or major. • Try to chat with when after this per-observation and find out what you feel about them again. • Write down what you feel about them now and compare with the predicting you write down before. • See what is the different between this two writing connected with the excerpt from the books? • How much your prediction is depend on the body, race or how they talk, walk? • Is there any different between your prediction and the thought after you talk with them? How different is that?

[itsthebodyblog-blog]

I wanted to practice non attachment and letting go of my appearance. I’ve looked pretty much the same since as long as I can remember, long brown hair, bangs, freckles and brown eyes. I’ve obviously grown up but that's how I’ve looked since I was 5. I’ve always been attached to they way I looked because as a woman in this society, my appearance defines me. I find that to be incredibly stupid so I wanted practice letting go if these ideas of how I “should look”. Appearance can be changed so easily. I decided to have my nose pierced. I know there are more drastic things I could’ve done to my appearance, but I liked this because it’s a semipermanent change.  This activity can be done with anything that will change appearance, like a haircut or tattoo. This is an experience in letting go.

Materials:

Mirror

Paper

Pen

Idea of how to change your appearance

Directions:

Sit in front of a mirror. Take in your appearance. What do you like about it? What don’t you like? In what ways did you choose to look like that? How does your appearance define you?

Write down your favorite thing about your appearance and why you're attached to it.

Decide how you can change these things you’re attached to. How will it make you feel to let them?

Write down how you expect these changes will make you feel

Change your appearance

Reflect on how you feel after the changes. Do you love it? Hate it? Did it change how you feel about yourself?

Reflection:

Why were you attached to your previous appearance?

Why did it matter to you?

What did it mean to your identity?

What does the change mean to your identity now?

How easy was it for you to let go?

Do you feel more or less confident?

Will a change in your appearance really matter?

-Cassidy Santiago