Occupy Your Body! Embodiment and Activism

Your body is an incredible instrument.

Somehow in the everydayness of living in a body, it's easy to forget what a miraculous thing it is, to have one. It's easy to forget to pay attention to it, or the signals that it gives us every moment, of every day. Shoulders hurting? Feet aching? Back thrown out? Caught a cold? In our culture today, we are taught to view the body's messages as reasonless obstacles, to be endured or pounded out of us with drugs. With everything else there is to do in a day, the body often comes last in our list of priorities.

But each of these aches and pains is a message to us, asking us for something to change. Sometimes change is not possible, and enduring is simply what you must do. But sometimes there are small ways, small kindnesses we can give to ourselves, supporting this complex and beautiful body that is supporting us.

Shifting our relationship to our own bodies is an essential next step in human evolution. In the dominant culture, there has been an explosion of workout gyms and Yoga centers. There seems to be a general movement-- from a disembodied, mental experience of life-- toward a way of living that includes having a body (at least in the hour that you go to the gym). However, the emphasis, in many cases, seems to be about shaping and weighing, dieting and appearing. There is an element of self-mastery to it, and more than a hint of competition. In some cases it seems as though people are treating their bodies almost brutally, requiring their bodies to shape up as a measure of sex-appeal, self-esteem, or social power. But the body has a voice! Deep in our cells is a way of knowing that can't be heard, so long as you are constantly telling your muscles what to do. The relationship of mind to body is still out of balance. To "Occupy Your Body" is to acknowledge that "you" don't just have a body, you are a body.


Denying the true expression of our bodies is one more way we allow ourselves to be oppressed and enslaved, and cut off from nature. The story of our relationship to body is the story of our relationship to earth. Our attempts to control and manage our planet's resources have only brought us pain, war, and toxic living conditions. Attempts to over-manage our own bodies result in anorexia, bulimia, mental illness, drug abuse, domestic abuse, violence, and depression, to name a few. I think much of what we suffer from, personally and culturally, can be traced back to mistreatment or abuse, and lack of access to what our bodies need for health and safety. Much of this is imposed upon us, from an early age, as part of a domestication process. Parents and teachers, in an effort to help us "fit in" to society, curbed our wild-human instincts and taught us to repress and deny our body's impulses. After a certain point, however, most of us took over and become our own monitors, our own oppressor. Even if no one is watching, we don't explore our bodies. We don't explore sexually. We don't play, or express, or dance. But our natural impulses cannot be bridled indefinitely. Repressed, they simmer and stew, fermenting into a toxic form. Sooner or later it breaks out-- usually misdirected at those closest to us, or against ourselves.

Most animals on the planet cannot be tamed, because they will not act against what they know in their bodies to be true. Earth knows what it needs, for its own healing. The forest would soon take over our cities, if we only stopped cutting the trees back. Our bodies also know what we need. If I tune in and learn to listen to what it says, my body can better serve as my ally and friend as I walk dance move toward wholeness and freedom. How wild will you allow yourself to be?

Occupying with Balance: Avoiding Activist-Burnout
In my community work, I've noticed a culture of overwork tends to dominate in non-profits, social work, and activism. Body-denial becomes a thing to brag about-- who slept the least, who spent the most hours, who suffered the most. There's often a train of unspoken narratives: "Whatever you do, put yourself last because you're doing it for the team"; "you're sacrificing yourself for a great cause"; "if you put in just one more hour, that will make all the difference in saving the world"...

Sometimes there is a time for pushing ourselves like that. When a harvest is ripe, it's appropriate to go out there and work all night to pull it in, with tangible results. The issue I had with puppetry, was that there was no end to the "crunch times." There was a celebration every few months. I became used to a rhythm of pushing hard, then collapse. Then push hard, then collapse. Yes, I got results. My determination paid off, and we created some really beautiful work together. I question now, however, whether I could have had better boundaries around my health and my time. Did I really have to sacrifice my health, my relationships, my personal life? My experience has led me to look carefully: what kinds of projects do well with this kind of crash & burn rhythm, and which do better with a "steady-does-it" routine?

I've noticed a similar pattern with the endless rallies and calls to action. My thought is that the strategy of the powers-that-be must be to bombard us with as many terrible laws and bills as possible, and keep us running until we are worn out. I've already seen several Occupy-ees burn out. Several good ideas or projects got dropped or fell through the cracks because the core organizers pushed themselves too hard, and then collapsed. I've also noticed many people "not having time" for things like discussion, or relationship-building, mediation, or some of the other in-between-actions-events. Yet it's engaging in our relationships with each other, that builds understanding, trust, and solidarity. It's in welcoming new people and helping them get plugged in, that our movement grows. It's in keeping an eye on our public image, forming alliances, and focusing on outreach that we grow our true power. In the uncertain times ahead, we'll need this solid foundation with each other. More strategic thought into how we fight this onslaught, while keeping the movement steadily growing, would be a good idea.

How do we build a culture of gratitude, self-responsibility, and group-accountability? An Occupier from North Carolina came by last month, and spoke about a series of "interaction-agreements" they had formed, to address some of the boundary and work-balance issues that had arisen. I admit, I'm concerned about the upcoming Re-Occupy. I hope that people take care of themselves and find a good balance between "saving the world", and attending to their own well-being. I hope that we can share resources and respect our different approaches for accomplishing this Revolution. There are many ways to build a movement, and many strategies for what it means to "Occupy." (my last blog has more info about the angles I'm busy working on).

What if the fight against the corporate-machine is a decades-long fight? How can we support each other on the front lines of pushing for our rights, while also working on the home-front to strengthen our resilience, creating infrastructure to survive the coming environmental crises? How do we encourage each other to truly take care of ourselves, and take care of each other, as we do this work together?

What we are up against is more than a few banks, a few laws, or one election-cycle. We are up against a system of oppression and colonization, exploitation and greed, that surrounds us and is within us. To survive as a planet, we have to come together now, and learn how to be one people as we've never been able to before.

The Politics and Fashion of Disconnection:
I think it's no coincidence, that we are experiencing such heavy backlash against women, gays, and people of color in our culture right now. It's intertwined with the fear of people still rooted in a patriarchal, racist, and homophobic culture, and their subconscious grasp that their ways are coming to an end. I think of these drastic measures as a dinosaur thrashing in a tar-pit. The old ways are on their way out. The story of stripping procreative power away from women is deeply woven with the story of earth, and the ways we have raped and pillaged her resources, taken her bounty and harnessed it into commodity. The same pattern destroys Indigenous cultures, wherever they are encountered, killing them, ripping them from their homelands and distorting their cultural stories with disrespect and appropriation.

It is the same fear, that keeps us cut off from our bodies, cut off from our true natures as human beings alive on a planet that breathes.


I look at neckties and I see a psychological noose. It's so plain, it's right out there, and yet we call it fashion and buy nice ones for our fathers on Father's Day. I know many men who refuse to wear them. And yet, it is the costume-code for dressing up in our culture. I admit, I don't get it. Why would the most powerful people on earth place something around their collars that gives their necks a sense of being constrained? Does it help them feel better, giving themselves a story of not being the ones in control? "Oh, it's not my fault my decisions are destroying lives and destroying the planet. After all, my company has its own bottom line. If I didn't do it, someone else would."

I look at high heels and I see shackles. A woman's physical strength is in her legs. You can't run in heels. The power of women is in our deep connection to the Mother Earth. Of course, the fashion of the oppressor is to encourage us to put things on our feet that push us away from the ground, and disconnect us from our source. As though everything we are, all that we eat is not from the soil. As though we could somehow push away death, push away the thought that we will one day have to return to the earth, ourselves. Earth has life-- and we, our bodies, mind, and spirit, are a part of that life.

(Photo: Tar Sands and Boreal Forest, Canada)

The time for disconnection is over.
We cannot afford
any longer
to deny the existence of
Death,
as a part of life;
Earth,
as more powerful
than humans;

Women Mother Sister Daughter
we know what it is to be
enslaved colonized
raped beaten
denied
So Rise UP
It is our time
Speak for Earth
Speak for our Bodies
Speak for our Children

Men who would be our allies, please
Learn to listen

We do not have time
to play these games with you
We do not have any bodies left
to feed your wars
We do not have time anymore
to wait, patiently, for you to stop
interrupting us

Interrupting Life,

For a new world to be born
One must die.

So un-noose your neckties
Kick off the high heels
Turn off the TV
and come out to dance with me

The answer is in your body
The answer is in your body
You were never made to be a slave
You were made to be free

* Black & White Photo by Ann Marsden. Malia Burkhart, Butoh dance. Promo for "The Survival Pages", a 2007 performance for the Naked Stages Program through Intermedia Arts and the Jerome Foundation.