Holding space for the heavy and difficult content of this course requires your body to be nourished, tuned and rhythmically balanced. The practices below are basic recommendations that can help you with four Ds: to de-center your ego, to disarm affective landmines, to declutter your gut, heart and headspace and to disinvest in harmful patterns. The practices may feel very different each time you do them so we suggest that you commit to repeating them more than once (ideally on a daily basis through this period). You may want to stick to only one of the practices and/or try them all, and repeat at least one of them consistently. 

Food: If we prioritise relationships in the way we see and relate to the world, your food carries all the relationships involved in its existence. Imagine all the relationships that might have gone into your food, including harmful relationships with the earth, labour, transport, and (re)sale. Instead of measuring your food in calories or nutrients, for a week, you are invited to measure your food in relationships by holding your plate in your hands and reflecting on this for one minute in silence before eating. Observe what this practice activates in your body and whether it compels you to relate differently to food.

Sound: Every day, for a week, make the sound AAHH for three long breaths while tapping the middle of your chest with your fingers. Play with it, make it quieter, louder, try different pitches and notes. Evoke the passengers on your bus who feel shame, guilt or blame – don’t let them drive the bus, just be present to their feelings and narratives. Explain to them that holding on to these sensations is a trap that wastes precious energy that could be allocated instead to expanding the capacity of your bus to show up in more generative ways. Invite them to do the exercise with you.

Movement: For a week dance to this same song at least once a day while only moving in circular motions. Don’t forget to move (in circles) your ankles, your knees, your hips, your G or P spots, your belly button, your feet, your arms, your nose, your mouth, your ears, your elbows, your shoulders, the nails in your toes, the end of your hair, the pit of your stomach, your guts, your lungs, your tongue, your teeth… Song options: He Aha Ra Te Manu (Māori) -or- Kolyskova (Ukranian)