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In the following section I would like to present an understanding of what in various disciplines is called “first-hand accounts”, “first-person access”, “introspection”, “phenomenal data”, or “lived experience”. In my understanding, the concept of the first-person perspective has a clear connection to the lived and experiencing body – an understanding which is theoretically based on phenomenology and which in the course of this contribution and my further chapters in this volume will be presented as the key to the understanding of body-anchored learning.

The central orientation is that the first-person account is the basis for the creation of meaning which expresses the relatedness of the individual to specific material, social and cultural contexts. In that sense, first-person accounts are not person-centred, but are oriented towards an interactive and circular concept, which blends the individual with the situation – more about this later in the chapter.

For the further investigation of the first-person approach, let me go back to the inspiration received from sources outside my own basic research area and field of practice: I read about a meeting of the neuroscientist Francisco Varela with the Dalai Lama, which was part of a seminar on destructive emotions (Goleman 2003). In his presentation, Varela expressed the necessity of first-person access for the further development of neuroscience. The reason for this suggestion is to reduce the “explanatory gap” between the computational and phenomenological mind – to use a term of Jackendoff (1987). The research perspective in regard to this new orientation is the possible understanding of how neuronal activity becomes subjective experience (see also Fenwick 2000). Depraz, Varela and Vermersch (2003) express the need for first-person data as follows:

Specially, we are referring to the need for first-person data in cognitive neurosciences, the need for reduction as a concrete and embodied praxis in phenomenology, the need for introspection in cognitive psychology, the need for various know-hows in a wide range of psychotherapies, and the need for various spiritual practices which highlight the “examination of consciousness” and the “practice of effortless effort”. (Depraz et al. 2003, p. 3).

Initial steps are being taken in neuroscience, where the first-person perspective opens up for a deeper understanding of what is seen through different forms of visual representation via PET, SPET or MRI scanning (see Varela 1997).

The following documentation seeks to show that the first-person approach is not entirely new as a reasonable and useful standpoint in research and applied work:

In psychology and psychotherapy we find approaches where a deeper understanding through immediate and embodied experience is the pathway to the understanding of psychological processes. The prototype for such an approach is focusing, developed by Eugene Gendlin (1981, 1996, 1997). In this psychotherapeutic approach the felt sense or felt meaning of a specific situation, person or activity is the entrance to and anchor of the client’s developmental or psychotherapeutic process. Also, the approach of mindfulness (Brown & Ryan 2003; Germer, Siegel & Fulton 2005; Langer 2002), where the perceptual and non-judgmental focus is on the here-and-now of the situation, seems to support first-person access in a similar way.

Learning theories and educational approaches that can be related to the idea of the first-person access have existed for about a century, for example, the German Arbeitsschulmethode (Kerschensteiner 1966; Winch 2006), experiential learning (Dewey 1963; www.wilderdom.com/Experiential.html), Outward Bound (Ewert 1989; Fletcher 1971; Hahn 1958), and different reform-pedagogical approaches (Freinet 1967; Montessori 1949). In these pedagogical theories and concepts the immediate experience of the pupil or student in the learning environment is – in one way or the other – the starting point for the learning process.

In the area of sport psychology and stress management several techniques are used to prepare for challenging performances or for handling stressful situations (e.g. Hardy, Jones & Gould 1996). Different first-person approaches like relaxation and imagery have been introduced to psychological training of athletes and other clients. Many of these techniques work with a specific awareness of the body. In progressive relaxation (Jacobsen 1938) the focus is on the change between tensing and relaxing of specific muscles or muscle groups. It is a very easy-to-learn technique, where success is within reach for nearly all participants involved in the training. In autogenic training and therapy (Schultz & Luthe 1959), achievement of a detached but alert state of mind called “passive concentration” is the basis of physical changes and mental development. Autogenic therapy consists of six basic focusing techniques: Heaviness in the limbs, warmth in the limbs, cardiac regulation, centring on breathing, warmth in the upper abdomen and coolness in the forehead. Autogenic training and therapy can be combined with biofeedback which is a training mode more often applied in sport psychological intervention (Blumenstein, Bar-Eli & Tenenbaum 2002). A frequently used mental training strategy in applied sport psychology is imagery training and especially visual-motor-rehearsal (Sheikh & Korn 1994). A considerable body of research on the relationship between imagery and athletic performance has emerged in the last decades. Both experimental and anecdotal evidence clearly demonstrate that imagery techniques can be a valuable tool in improving athletic performance. The athlete has to practise imagery training as regularly as the physical training (Cunning & Hall 2002). First, the basics of visualisation have to be adapted and later on, the technique has to be applied in situ.

In complementary and alternative medicine many of these body techniques have long been known. Particularly in the continental European psychosomatic medicine and psychiatry, attention has been drawn for many years to the first-person perspective, especially with a focus on body awareness and experience (Blankenburg 1983; Brähler 1995; von Uexküll 1991). Researchers in this field have become aware of the lived body as a key for the description of the dynamic relationship between the individual and his/her environment – thereby paving the path towards a deeper understanding of illness, psychosomatic and psychological disorders. The growing awareness of the body is also applied in mindfulness, an embodied intentional orientation of “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn 1994, p. 4) where the focus is on the cultivation of conscious awareness and attention from one moment to the next in an open, curious and accepting way (Germer 2005). There are a growing number of studies that indicate a positive effect of mindfulness intervention on a number of different disorders like stress, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis or myalgia (see for an overview: Baer 2003).

In the applied research in leadership and in organizational work there is a trend towards first-person access. As the entrance to an in-depth understanding of specific challenges a leader or an employee might be confronted with, a coach can help to sharpen the awareness of the person to be coached on personal and immediate, here-and-now experiences, which the person can connect to a specific situation. This personal access and attention on situated action might be the key for an understanding of the meaningfulness of these actions and for the development of new work strategies and personal well-being (Gallwey 2000; Stelter 2002, 2004, 2007; Whitmore 1992).