You have a body. This is a fairly safe prediction to make for the moment, since as far as we know, no one has uploaded their consciousness into any sort of digital domain. As yet, no self-aware artificial constructs exist to read this. That you are in possession of a body is the first in a number of statements and questions that we will present that will seem (hopefully only initially) to be rather obvious.
Hello again!
I have processed the first four Jellyfish recordings and posted them via Soundcloud. As I mentioned in the previous post, the Jellyfish Exercises are a set of breathing and interoception exercises Bob developed over the last four or five years, starting when I was in still in Salt Lake City. They steadily became a regular and important practice for him; he viewed the exercise as connecting with the most fundamental fact of being alive and embodied in the world.
Here in Seattle we are once again headed into a period of required mask wearing in public spaces. Many folks might be strongly advised to engage in double mask use in some contexts and depending on their mask selection (a thing I do myself, as my N95s have an exhalation valve). While masks don’t interfere with our oxygen levels, and mostly don’t make it any harder to breathe than wearing a scarf in the winter, they do change our experience of being out and about in the world, and even how we experience fundamental aspects of our own bodies.
This is a movement, breathing, and attention exercise. The intention is to work with the breath, and understand the breath as not simply a passive activity, but as a form (and source) of movement. It is simple, but can be quite challenging and can be a rich practice. An audio version of this exercise that guides you through it will be produced in the future. For now, simply read it and give it a try. It can take anywhere from five minutes to as long as you would like.
