Historically we have developed a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the body – and so too with its innate intelligence. This is a cultural phenomenon that stretches back millennia. In this presentation, Philip Shepherd will bring to life not just the history of our estrangement from our bodies – he will also illuminate the ways in which our culture’s assumptions still hold up disembodiment as the prudent way to live. To understand how deeply we have habituated to that message is at the same time to gain personal choice in the matter. In illuminating this larger framework of embodiment and the challenges it presents, Philip hopes to bring a fresh context to the brilliant legacy of F. M. Alexander.

As the movements of a fish are learned in response to the water it swims in, the use of our bodies is patterned by the culture that surrounds us. Knowing nothing else in our youth – as a fish knows only water – we encode the assumptions of our culture as physical habits before we are old enough to question them, and we accept them as normal because everyone else does. In this workshop, Philip Shepherd will share a series of practices that disclose such culturally enforced physical habits, enabling them to be experienced directly. A pattern that is not noticed will perpetuate indefinitely; when we bring it into the light, we gain choice. With choice comes freedom.