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CONTENTS

Foreword: John Elder	xi
Preface: Bill McKibben	xiii
Acknowledgments	xv
Entering the Text: Origins	xvii
Stories of place in our time are often stories of migration.
Anecdote: “Openings and Closings”	xvii
Introduction	xxi
This text is about relationship. We are part of, rather than separate from, the intricate world we live in.
Anecdote: “Hunting for Hope”	xxi
Preparation: Body and Earth is a book to be done as well as to be read.	xxiii
Section I: Underlying Patterns and Perception
DAY 1 Basic Concepts	3
We begin in wholeness.
Anecdotes: “Connections”	3
To do: Inner and outer awareness	4
To do: Finding your place	5
Performance text: Farmstories (1994)	6
DAY 2 Attitudes	7
Our attitudes inform our actions.
Anecdotes: “Views”	7
To do: Body map	9
To do: Place story	10
Performance text: Models—The Traveler	10
DAY 3 Underlying Patterns: Body	11
We live in a fluid body; our origins were in the primordial seas.
Anecdotes: “Heritage”	11
To do: Pouring the fluid body	14
To do: Vessel breath	15
To do: Fish swish	15
Performance text: Water	16
DAY 4 Underlying Patterns: The Upright Stance	17
Bipedal alignment is our two-footed stance.
Anecdotes: “Standing Up”	18
To do: Postural alignment (Mountain Pose)	20
To do: Spinal undulations (Standing)	21
Performance text: Arriving	22
DAY 5 Underlying Patterns: Earth	23
Understanding place requires both a microscopic and a macroscopic perspective.
Anecdotes: “Rhythm”	23
To do: Bonding with gravity	28
To do: Timeline	28
To do: De-evolutionary sequence	29
Performance text: Soil	30
DAY 6 Underlying Patterns: A Bioregional Approach	31
A bioregional perspective merges nature and culture.
Anecdote: “Nature and Culture”	31
To do: Place scan	36
To do: Telling your place story	38
Performance text: Edges	38
DAY 7 Mind: Brain and Nervous System	39
The human mind orchestrates our actions and our reactions.
Anecdotes: “Changing Mind”	39
To do: Patterns of mind	47
To do: Lobes of the brain	48
Performance text: Edges II	48
DAY 8 Visceral Body	49
The visceral body produces our “gut feelings.”
Anecdotes: “Needs”	49
To do: Pouring the gut body	53
To do: The box	53
To do: Inner observer	54
Performance text: The Cardboard Box	53
DAY 9 Perception	55
We construct our view of the world through our senses.
Anecdotes: “Expectations”	56
To do: Naming the sensory receptors	60
To do: Seeing and being seen (the witness)	60
Place visit: Expectation and projection	61
Performance text: Sky	62
DAY 10 Touch	63
Touch underlies all the other senses.
Anecdotes: “Stroking”	64
To do: Layers of touch	67
To do: Basket of objects	68
Performance text: Quilts	68
DAY 11 Movement	70
Movement partners the dynamics of the earth.
Anecdotes: “Dancing in Place”	71
To do: Yielding and standing	75
To do: Authentic Movement (the mover)	75
To do: Dance a day	76
Performance text: Models—The Boat	76
DAY 12 Sound and Hearing	77
Sound touches us.
Anecdotes: “Listening”	78
To do: Vibrations	82
To do: Audible breath	82
To do: Sound score	83
Performance text: Listening	83
DAY 13 Vision	84
The way we see shapes our view of the world.
Anecdotes: “Perspectives”	85
To do: Changing focus	90
To do: Snapshots	90
Performance text: Remembering	91
Section II: Body and Earth
DAY 14 Bones	95
Bones connect us to the ground.
Anecdotes: “Basics”	95
To do: Axial skeleton	102
To do: Moving all the bones	103
Performance text: Crossing Over (1996)	104
DAY 15 Soil	105
Soil is the skin of the earth.
Anecdotes: “Prints”	106
To do: Reading the signs	109
To do: Savasana: Corpse pose	110
Performance text: Holes	111
DAY 16 Breath and Voice	112
Perhaps the most sensuous experience is the feel of our own breath.
Anecdote: “Practicing Sound”	115
To do: Lung breathing	117
To do: Moving vibrations: Lips to pharynx	118
Place visit: Resonance	119
Performance text: Ceremony of Purpose	119
DAY 17 Air	120
Air is the dynamic medium in which we live.
Anecdotes: “Invisible Air”	121
To do: Flute	124
To do: Empty spaces	125
Performance text: Calling	126
DAY 18 Muscle	127
Muscles move us through the landscape.
Anecdotes: “Body Language”	127
To do: Strengthening and lengthening	133
To do: Lion	135
Place visit: Light touch duet	135
Performance text: Bridge	135
DAY 19 Animals	136
Animals are our kin.
Anecdotes: “Company”	136
To do: Lateral line	140
To do: Reading the signs	141
Place visit: Observe an animal	142
Performance text: Floating	142
DAY 20 Endocrine System	143
The endocrine system can be considered our system of transformation.
Anecdotes: “Lifting Off”	144
To do: Balancing the endocrine system with sound	146
To do: Elevated pelvis (Modified Bridge Pose)	148
Performance text: The Bear	148
DAY 21 Insects	149
Insects change from one form to another in a process called metamorphosis.
Anecdotes: “Greetings”	150
To do: Noticing insects	153
To do: Insect stories	154
Performance text: First Visits—I	154
DAY 22 Digestion and Nutrition	155
Digestion incorporates the nutrients of the earth into the tissues of our bodies.
Anecdotes: “Food”	156
To do: Lunch	161
To do: Tracing the digestive tract	161
Performance text: First Visits—II	163
DAY 23 Plants	164
Plants provide food for every other living organism.
Anecdotes: “Views”	164
To do: Locating a tree through touch	168
To do: Perspectives	169
Performance text: Talking to Trees	170
DAY 24 Fluids	171
Fluids are connectors.
Anecdotes: “Transitions”	171
To do: Moving with the fluids	175
Performance text: Skin	177
DAY 25 Water	178
Water is essential for life.
Anecdotes: “Inside Stories”	179
To do: Reading the signs	184
To do: Tai ji: Receptive Stance	184
Performance text: Returns	186
Section III: Connections
DAY 26 Connections	189
We understand the connections between body and earth through experience.
Anecdotes: “Connections”	190
To do: Comings and goings	192
To do: Nature and culture	192
Performance text: Writing Home (2000)	193
DAY 27 Motion and Emotion	194
We track emotions in the body through sensation.
Anecdotes: “Completing the Picture”	194
To do: Tracking emotions	199
To do: Shaking it off	200
Performance text: The Stream	200
Place visit: Riding the wave	201
DAY 28 Sensuality and Sexuality	202
We connect to the environment with rich sensorial experience.
Anecdotes: “Longing”	202
To do: Romance of place	207
To do: Merging with landscape	207
Performance text: The Lake	207
DAY 29 Art and the Environment	208
As we feel, we care.
Anecdotes: “Dimensions”	208
To do: Creative process	213
To do: Arranging	213
To do: Specifically for dancers: Site works	215
Performance text: Fire	215
DAY 30 Concerning the Spiritual	216
Reflection on body and earth reminds us of our wholeness.
Anecdotes: “Endings as Beginnings”	216
To do: Ritual circle	222
To do: The discipline of Authentic Movement: Triads	222
Performance text: The Road	222
DAY 31 Embracing Place	224
As we imagine earth as body, we can no longer remain separate.
Anecdotes: “Growing”	224
To do: Personal project	228
Place visit: Create an ending ritual	229
Performance text: Writing Home	229
Notes	231
Sources and Resources	237
Selected Bibliography	239
Subject Index	241
Art Index	245

MAPS

The first day of class, I tell my students we are beginning a journey. It is as dangerous as any unfamiliar terrain and equally disorienting, like exploring New York City would be for a rural person or camping in the desert for a city dweller. Very few of us know much about our body and its relationship to the earth. We need landmarks to guide us, maps on the journey as we learn its ways.

Map drawn by Anya Brickman Raredon, age nine.