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Videos of the full BodyPoem
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The Body Poem
The BodyPoem is movement meditation practice that enlivens our physical body, integrates our emotions, fosters our imagination and nourishes our spirits.
"Walk on the earth and sense with the soles of your feet the generations of life and blood that have gone into it.
And when your heart races with fear, let this holy ground quiet you with peace and joy and patient endurance.
Yield to the great loving power of The Breath-Giver, stand still, and rest.”
"A Cherokee Feast of Days"
We have completed our summer season.
We will be scheduling the fall season shortly.
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Free, donations are welcome.
The BodyPoem
The BodyPoem is a beautiful integration of exerise, art, prayer and community.
The movements are active enough to engage and enliven, and gentle enough that they can be done by most anyone.
The BodyPoem is a practise to commune with creation-
You can think of the BodyPoem as active recitation of The Canticle of Creation by St Francis of Assisi.
...
Be praised, my Lord, for all your creation
and especially for our Brother Sun,
who brings us the day and the light;
he is strong and shines magnificently.
O Lord, we think of you when we look at him.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon,
and for the stars
which you have set shining and lovely
in the heavens.
Be praised, my Lord,
for our Brothers Wind and Air
and every kind of weather
by which you, Lord,
uphold life in all your creatures.
Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water, who is very useful to us,
and humble and precious and pure.
Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire,
through whom you give us light in the darkness:
he is bright and lively and strong.
Be praised, my Lord,
for Sister Earth, our Mother,
who nourishes us and sustains us,
bringing forth
fruits and vegetables of many kinds
and flowers of many colours...
Naturalists John and Eve Muir, learned the bodypoem from ' a Chinese woman in San Francisco as a preparation for Tai Chi'. Elizabeth Cogburn learned it from the Muir's. I learned it from Elizabeth as part of the preparation for dancing her Longdances and Sundance.
The poem is made of movement 'glyphs'-symbols that inform us non-verbally. They have physical component, an emotional component, and an imaginal component.
'Poem' is derived from the word 'poesis'. Poesis: the process of making; production, creation; creativity, culture. With the body poem we are creating movement not just in our physical body, but also our emotional, mental and spiritual bodies. We move toward grace, responciveness, centeredness, and aliveness.
The full bodypoem is made of 24 glyphs.
Each glyph addresses a particular physical axis in the body.
Each glyph isolates and integrates a particular part of the body with the body.
Each glyph has in intention and poetic metaphor.
The bodypoem can be abbreviated or extended as part of a community creation.
Depending on the day- sometimes we do the BodyPoem in silence; some days we do with recorded music and whenever possible we use live music.
In this video we did 5 of the glyphs:
- Come Home - the repeating glyph between each of the other glyphs.
- Raising the Sun
- Raising the Moon
- Bringing in the Winds
- Gathering and Spreading Seeds
Videos of the full BodyPoem
Register to participate in the BodyPoem
Frequent Questions
Is this appropriate for kids?
This is a wonderful activity for kids and families. Some children will need some preparation and orientation to successfully participate.
