Somatic Intelligence - a lens for Leadership?
After I joined the conversation Michael Chender started on Comlpexity and Complication some of you have asked about my take on Somatic Intelligence.
I wrote a piece for Fieldnotes and sent it to somebody and somehow it seems to have been lost in the either net. I have attached the paper although after reading it again I realize that the conversation on Comlpexity and Complication has given me much to consider and eventually would merit a rewrite of this paper.
Meanwhile I am interested in learning what others have uncovered in this area. Below are my initial thoughts at the moment.
As humans we have a body that is the container for our insights, emotions and intuition. This container has a capacity. When we are exhausted and overwhelmed our system shuts down and we can no longer process information, complex or otherwise. I believe the capacity to tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty and groundlessness is the key to accessing our wisdom. Wisdom in this sense is different from intelligence, it is not about processing data. It is the ability to appreciate the paradox that we are separate and interconnected, that we know everything and nothing and that life is at once simple and complicated. If we are not overwhelmed in the midst of intensity, if we have a strong container we can pursue our inquiry and meet out challenges with more depth and precision.
I wrote a piece for Fieldnotes and sent it to somebody and somehow it seems to have been lost in the either net. I have attached the paper although after reading it again I realize that the conversation on Comlpexity and Complication has given me much to consider and eventually would merit a rewrite of this paper.
Meanwhile I am interested in learning what others have uncovered in this area. Below are my initial thoughts at the moment.
As humans we have a body that is the container for our insights, emotions and intuition. This container has a capacity. When we are exhausted and overwhelmed our system shuts down and we can no longer process information, complex or otherwise. I believe the capacity to tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty and groundlessness is the key to accessing our wisdom. Wisdom in this sense is different from intelligence, it is not about processing data. It is the ability to appreciate the paradox that we are separate and interconnected, that we know everything and nothing and that life is at once simple and complicated. If we are not overwhelmed in the midst of intensity, if we have a strong container we can pursue our inquiry and meet out challenges with more depth and precision.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Watson on -
Hi Wendy,
Here's the article just posted on Fieldnotes.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Chender on
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Wendy wrote "I believe the capacity to tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty and groundlessness is the key to accessing our wisdom." Another way that discomfort can be "held" is through sense of humor.
What's the connection between sense of humor and the body? (Both insights and punch lines welcome)
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Permalink Reply by Stephan R. Sengupta on -
Thanks Michael for your reference to the sense of humor. Although, it might be off subject, I can't resist to propose the following link on Wikipedia about the "Trickster". The "Trickster" is the Shaman that stands between both world : noumenal/phenomenal (call it mind/body). He's the "Bouffon du Roi". He's not present when expected and he's present when unexpected. He's also Merlin who Made King Arthur....
Michael Chender said:Wendy wrote "I believe the capacity to tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty and groundlessness is the key to accessing our wisdom." Another way that discomfort can be "held" is through sense of humor.
What's the connection between sense of humor and the body? (Both insights and punch lines welcome)
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Permalink Reply by Wendy Palmer on -
Michael Chender said:Wendy wrote "I believe the capacity to tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty and groundlessness is the key to accessing our wisdom." Another way that discomfort can be "held" is through sense of humor.
What's the connection between sense of humor and the body? (Both insights and punch lines welcome)
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Permalink Reply by Wendy Palmer on
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Michael Chender said:Wendy wrote "I believe the capacity to tolerate the discomfort of uncertainty and groundlessness is the key to accessing our wisdom." Another way that discomfort can be "held" is through sense of humor.
What's the connection between sense of humor and the body? (Both insights and punch lines welcome)
It seems to me that the body's ability to tolerate intensity allows us to hold a view of the big picture. The big picture is that everything is impermanent - which means we are going to loose everything. If the experience of loss is accepted, genuinely - then it is quite humorous when we see most of our behavior is trying to keep our selves from experiencing loss. (relative) And then there is always the humor of trying to control something that doesn't really exist anyway. (ultimate) As humans we are at once funny peculiar and funny ha ha.
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Arthur on -
A humble bow before stepping onto this mat. This gesture expresses my respect for the spirit of shared inquiry held in this contained space. May our learning here ripple outwards in service to unfolding wholeness.
Thank you Wendy for opening us into this exploration. In my direct experience in dancing with the emergence of novelty I have found practices and strategies that allow me to engage uncertainty and complexity in ways that inspire and energize my whole self system. The discomfort of uncertainty is the clearest pathway into discovering our attachments and desires. To give voice and image and motion to that discomfort is a key to accessing our wisdom. When the shadows of discomfort are seen, heard, accepted and loved then we are better prepared to enjoy our tumble through the rapids carrying us downstream.
In reading your paper and touching into your online presence I sense that this is core to your work. One curiosity I have around your language is the use of the metaphor of the body being a container that we need to strengthen. I trust this perspective holds value that I am missing and would welcome some reflection here.
thomas
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Permalink Reply by Wendy Palmer on
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Hi Thomas,
A bow in return..... Well yes, a container is used to hold something. Like the story of the philosopher and the Zen master - philosopher goes to the Zen master to receive teaching. The Zen master offers tea and begins to pour. He pours until the cup overflows and the tea is spilling on to the table and the floor. "What are you doing?" asks the philosopher? " You come to this interview like this cup - already full." responds the Zen master.
So, our body contains our mind, brain, nervous systems, muscles, organs etc... They work together in a way that is complex and complicated in order to do simple tasks - walk, sit, lie down, think etc. My premise is that all this happens within the container of the physical body. Without a body we can not do those things. If our container is more expansive and has more space in it we can receive more information. The funny part is - we probably don't need it.
Michael - can you help or add anything here?
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This container business is a huge topic. As I see it, one way of talking about it that might apply is as the conditions that allow a situation to fulfill itself, or that allow the inherent wisdom (or life-energy) of a situation to be inspired and most freely circulate. I’m going to follow Susan’s suggestion and start another thread for it. I also don’t want to go too far off-topic from this rich inquiry.
As for the body, I still am regularly surprised, despite decades of body awareness practices, to discover that I have/am involved with such a thing! So a powerful question for me is what do we/you/I mean when we refer to “body” in tour own experience? Trungpa Rinpoche pointed out that what we call body is generally a mental projection, and few of us experience directly what he called “body body.” (Don’t know what that means) Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing points to the intelligence inherent in “felt-senses,” described as vague backgrounds to our feelings of emotions, aches and twinges. Are these body? mind? both? neither? (Does it matter?)
Wendy, is there a progressive understanding/experiencing of the body that allows for a deepening and unfolding of somatic intelligence?
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Arthur on
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Ah, Language, funneling experience in grooved patterns shaping perception. In my view, saying: I have a body.... creates a separation between mind and body that may have value in certain situations, but sets up dualistic obstacles to experiencing present moment awareness. It puts Descartes before the Horse so to speak.
I am a body of experiences, sensations, feelings, emotions, thoughts, memories, and intuitions. I find Wilber's distinctions between exteriors and interiors helpful for me here. "...every mind has a body, or every state of consciousness has a corresponding signature state of matter-energy, or every interior prehension has an exterior form..." Our subjective experience of thought, emotion, and felt-sense is an interior perspective; the corporeal reality of our body is an objective/exterior perspective. Two perspectives of a unified bodymind.
Michael, I think your question of how the inherent wisdom of "life-energy" is allowed to flow freely is indeed at the heart of conscious embodiment. It is here that Wendy's genius for teaching and creating conditions for us to experience the expansive presence of source intelligence is of such deep value. Her practice for cultivating embodied resilience is elegant, beautiful and accessible for those ready to step more fully into the world. What a beautiful gift she brings forth.
There are many pathways for developing somatic intelligence. The complexity of a living body in its wholeness offers up sweet mysteries to explore for guidance in taking wise, compassionate actions in our turbulent world. Many approaches have been developed in the last half century for enlivening our embodied relations. What are some of the core patterns that help you experience a deepening of awareness in the ways you inhabit and bring forth your beauty, goodness and truth?
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Permalink Reply by Wendy Palmer on
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Oh boy - here we go - from the ultimate point of view yes, the body is a mental projection. I have had glimpses of that. Meanwhile, most of our experience has to do with the health of this thing that needs food, sleep and companionship.
What if we change the language and use the Buddhist term 'vehicle'. It is the thing that gets us from here to there. We have gotten in it some how and there for we need to maintain it because if we don't we won't be able to have these stimulating exchanges.
My interest is in relating with the aspect of our vehicle that endures stress in a way that can maintain an open heart and an open mind - the capacity to learn and be kind. So when we do practice to open our heart or get an insight about the way things work - it would be prudent to road test our vehicle and see if can perform when the going gets tough - if we are criticized or abused. An example is the Tibetan lamas who were tortured and don't have post dramatic stress. They are able to maintain a compassionate heart and clear mind - so how do they do that? Our western psychologists say that is not possible.
I think there are practices we can involve ourselves in that promote this kind of ability - other than starting training at 5 years old and going through the process they were taught. I believe there is a more modern and accessible path.
Michael Chender said:This container business is a huge topic. As I see it, one way of talking about it that might apply is as the conditions that allow a situation to fulfill itself, or that allow the inherent wisdom (or life-energy) of a situation to be inspired and most freely circulate. I’m going to follow Susan’s suggestion and start another thread for it. I also don’t want to go too far off-topic from this rich inquiry.
As for the body, I still am regularly surprised, despite decades of body awareness practices, to discover that I have/am involved with such a thing! So a powerful question for me is what do we/you/I mean when we refer to “body” in tour own experience? Trungpa Rinpoche pointed out that what we call body is generally a mental projection, and few of us experience directly what he called “body body.” (Don’t know what that means) Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing points to the intelligence inherent in “felt-senses,” described as vague backgrounds to our feelings of emotions, aches and twinges. Are these body? mind? both? neither? (Does it matter?)
Wendy, is there a progressive understanding/experiencing of the body that allows for a deepening and unfolding of somatic intelligence?
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Permalink Reply by Wendy Palmer on
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It doesn't work for me to say - I am a body. I have had some experiences that have given me a glimpse into a state in which that is not the case. As I believe I am everything and nothing simultaneously then it works for me to say I have this body or vehicle as I mentioned in the above reply to Michael.
It seems that to inhabit the body in such a way as to to bring forth beauty, goodness and truth, one has to be able to tolerate fear, hatred and loneliness in such a way that these dark aspects become the compost that enriches the soil of our soul which in turn produces wisdom and compassion.
Thomas Arthur said:Ah, Language, funneling experience in grooved patterns shaping perception. In my view, saying: I have a body.... creates a separation between mind and body that may have value in certain situations, but sets up dualistic obstacles to experiencing present moment awareness. It puts Descartes before the Horse so to speak.
I am a body of experiences, sensations, feelings, emotions, thoughts, memories, and intuitions. I find Wilber's distinctions between exteriors and interiors helpful for me here. "...every mind has a body, or every state of consciousness has a corresponding signature state of matter-energy, or every interior prehension has an exterior form..." Our subjective experience of thought, emotion, and felt-sense is an interior perspective; the corporeal reality of our body is an objective/exterior perspective. Two perspectives of a unified bodymind.
Michael, I think your question of how the inherent wisdom of "life-energy" is allowed to flow freely is indeed at the heart of conscious embodiment. It is here that Wendy's genius for teaching and creating conditions for us to experience the expansive presence of source intelligence is of such deep value. Her practice for cultivating embodied resilience is elegant, beautiful and accessible for those ready to step more fully into the world. What a beautiful gift she brings forth.
There are many pathways for developing somatic intelligence. The complexity of a living body in its wholeness offers up sweet mysteries to explore for guidance in taking wise, compassionate actions in our turbulent world. Many approaches have been developed in the last half century for enlivening our embodied relations. What are some of the core patterns that help you experience a deepening of awareness in the ways you inhabit and bring forth your beauty, goodness and truth?
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Permalink Reply by Thomas Arthur on
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Thank you Wendy for your gracious and to-the-point replies. I am a vehicle of understanding. :o)
I look forward to tasting your approach to increasing my capacity to more fully tolerate and transform stress. It feels clear that your very presence carries elements of learning that will bring me closer to expressing my own wisdom and compassion.
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