Kate,

I am thrilled to take on your challenge this month and, frankly, happy that I can do a piece of it each week.  I started with part B: having someone teach me something.  I went back and forth, over and over about what kind of information I wanted to learn, and from whom I wanted to learn it.  You know that I’m a learning addict and could be fascinated by almost any subject matter.  While there were practical considerations, I ultimately decided to take an introductory course on the principles of Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy.

Biodynamic what?

Well, I’ve actually been participating in Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy sessions with Tera Judell for about nine months now.  While I knew a little bit about the theories regarding this type of healing process, I thought that it would absolutely add to the benefits of these sessions for me to have a deeper understanding.  The New York Open Center had a workshop with Dr. Michael Shea and I took advantage of it.

My mind was blown.  I tried to take copious notes throughout the class, but he was citing so many studies and researchers that it was a bit hard to keep up.  Primarily, Dr. Shea believes that we are all perpetual embryos, living in a 3D fluid body.  He referenced an unpublished German study from a few years ago that revealed that adult human bodies are approximately 92% liquid and 8% solid (muscles, bones, etc.).  Even more conventional studies agree that the body is close to 70% liquid.  To contrast, the human embryo is 98% liquid – not a huge difference!  While discussing the first two weeks of embryonic development, he shared some animations of exactly what’s happening inside the female body, and within the egg.  Essentially, the embryo itself is transparent liquid for about two weeks and is developing in extraordinary ways, indicating that this liquid has a sentience.  The cells inside have an incredible intelligence.  And it’s that fluid that still composes most of our bodies today.  His therapeutic work concentrates on building a stronger relationship with your origin story, your embryonic self.

I clearly could go on and on, so if you ever want to hear more about this topic, feel free to just ask.  One more cool piece of information had to do with a practice called Cardioception.  CCARE at Stanford has performed studies recently that demonstrate that bringing your awareness to your heart and its movement actually affects the insular cortex in the brain, downregulating intense emotions and upregulating empathy.  How phenomenal is that?

So for a brief moment, I obviously wanted to become a Biodynamic Craniosacral practitioner.  I’ve come back down from the excitement of the class, but part A of your challenge was certainly a success.

Now on to part A…  I’m still trying to figure out what and who I will teach next week.  I’ve always been fascinated by and compelled to tutor young children in math.  I know that sounds random, but I’ve always been drawn to the clarity of the math world.  That probably won’t happen next week, but just a thought.

I’ve also been brainstorming a lot about my dream graduate program.  My interests academically span quite a range, so I’m working on discovering the intersections and what makes the most sense.  At what point does Kinesiology cross art policy?  We’ll see.

How’s your documentary course prep going?  Have you seen any amazing new ones yet?  Keep me posted.

B

PS – My favorite documentary right now is probably Chicago 10.