When you unite things, their power keeps growing

When you link things, when you unite things, their power keeps growing. This quote by El Anatsui, one of my very favorite artists, is related to a somatic practice as much as an artistic one. Anatsui works with common materials, most often liquor bottle caps. He stitches thousands of them together, transforming them into massive metal tapestries.

Anatsui says of his materials, you don’t have to allow them to be thrown away [ignored], but give them new life. In a somatic practice, sensation is your material. When you give your time, attention, and imagination to sensations, even uncomfortable ones, they begin to shift. You can connect and transform seemingly unrelated parts of your internal experience into something more comfortable, often pleasurable. I’m sharing (with permission) a couple of comments from the class community that illustrate the kind of transformations that happen in Moving Whole classes all the time:

I started 2023 as a flat paper doll and I'm ending 2023 with many dimensions. —Nancy

Earlier on in this process, it was harder to engage with the difficult aspects of my experience. But my whole body has learned to trust the process. I’m noticing a huge shift in my ability to use my eyes more now. —Kimberly