Embodiment & Direct Experience
(Here we refer to the experiencing body, not just the physical- objective body)
We are naturally wired into the living world— into nature and into earth’s processes. This interwovenness we share with all life forms. Our sensory & perceptual systems are intimately attuned to the dynamic meanings already embedded in the environment. Thus our embodied mind directly perceives its experiences—without mediation by way of cultural artifacts or language. And it is by way of this direct-embodied experiencing that we are placed within the seamless web of existence.
THE WISDOM BODY & KINSHIP WITH ALL LIFE
The essence of nature comes together in the living body and its sensory presence. We start with our embodied engagement and felt &sensing as the ground for our explorations into the imagination and nature. We give symbolic expression to this sensorial attunement through expressive modes of processing.
It is by way of our lived body —our somatic presence, that we are emplaced within the seamless web of existence. Thus our body is the locus of perception and of our directly felt and lived experience. Our embodiment and the world form a seamless interweave.
AN EMBODIED ECOLOGY OF PARTICIPATION WITH NATURE
We seek to awaken the inner organs of perception and cultivate the imagination so as to open into an active participation with nature’s aliveness. Direct experience, immersive learning with the soil and fungal webs, along with the animal and plants…and with the sound of silence become our teachers.
“The core self is the imprint of one’s uniqueness and is expressed and connects with all outer appearance. Thus outwardly every emotion is transferred into a bodily gesture and is thus the perfect expression of the inward template of the core self.”
~ Biology of Wonder: Andreas Weber
 Through the children’s gestures and expressions we sense their wonder of touching the earth’s dirt & soil. |  We immediately understand the meanings inherent in Julie’s bodily expression as she pours her enthusiasm and focused exertion into her encounter with wheelbarrow and the group making effort of making a compost pile. |  Our core self is expressed in each gesture. Here Bea’s hands speak the meanings and aliveness of her sandtray (note the similarity between her sandtray mask and feathers and her hands with “feather” spread expressiveness). |
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 The Great Re-Weaving. Join with the integrity of our earth systems both on the embodied and visionary levels. |  The creation of living images. Our bodily responses are gestural - we can elaborate this response through movement, art-making ,and poetry. |