sense lab 2:
collective unconscious
June 1, 2024 Todos Santos, BCS Mexico @Cuatro Vientos
In this second Sense Lab, we were curious to discover what occurs when we connect and transmit collective communication through meditation, movement, and writing.
What deeper ways could we connect?
Where and how will we find each other in the collective unconscious, in the liminal space that unites us?
We relaxed three layers inward, slowed down, and witnessed what arose.
The workshop began with a sensorial meditation and movement practice with Nica to uncover what resides beyond our initial intentions. Then we took our discoveries into the writing realm to unfold messages from our subconscious with Amanda. Diving deeper, a subsequent meditation and writing exercise invited forth excavation of our collective unconscious. An opportunity to safely move into the deeper layers together, we wrote our way into connection with the innermost tributaries of our mind.
the emergent work I’ve asked Mary to take my hand, and guide me through the path that awaits for me. The one bountiful and fresh. Life – for all of us, I submitover and over and over, until previous blacks and whites become shades of gray. Anonymity helps me discover myself, to face my fears and to give myself a voice. Wisdom arrives in the quietest of places. The fog acts as a guide that allows me to hear my truth. A god, a gra
why
We spend a lot of time learning to connect with ourselves through contemplative practices on mats and cushions, and in our bodies as individuals. When interfacing with the world, we sense that there is a source that unites us, and expresses itself through shared individual experiences. It is often known, but difficult to explain. Often we are fascinated, acknowledge, and move on. However, we believe that the very tools we use to access our own subconscious could be the same ones we utilize to capture and better understand the themes and messages that arise from the collective.
the experience
Documentary Photography
by: Tomek Banan
Jenna Barnes
Jenna Barnes is a master chef who works in the wild and in situ to build plant-based dinners and food experiences from a radically local foodshed with a global narrative.
Her herbal wisdom collaborates with a lifetime of working to nourish people resulting in interactive experiences that foster community, full of storytelling, qualities of the plants, and unusual recipes that build taste into history.
She has been studying the flora and fauna of Southern Baja for many years. Learn more at parakaloprovisions.com.
Nica Celly
Nica Celly is an artist and designer who connects disparate practices to build a common understanding and equanimity across disciplines.
She has been studying and practicing yoga (tantric Shaivist lineage, 500+ certified, nearly 1008 complete) for over 25 years, holds an MFA in textiles from California College of the Arts, and works across the fields of contemplative studies and mid-life established practitioners to connect mastery of their craft to emerging audiences.
Learn more about her here, at nicacelly.com, and nicolemarkoff.com.
I’ve asked Mary to take my hand,
and guide me through the path that awaits for me.
The one bountiful and fresh.
Life – for all of us, I submit
over and over and over,
until previous blacks and whites become shades of gray.
Anonymity helps me discover
myself,
to face my fears
and to give myself a voice.
Wisdom arrives in the quietest of places.
The fog acts as a guide that allows me to hear my truth.
A god, a grant of wishes.
God[s] offer no blessings, as worshippers lay prostrate.
I am guarded as I open.
Still presence
Stillness essence
Still present
I am
See me for who I am,
for what you’ve experienced with me,
and only that.
Over and over this rhythm never pales,
never fades.
Sometimes large,
sometimes small,
breaking barriers one and all.
We are one, even when we try not to be.
The body must learn to be human.
Sensual.
Silk.
Mangos.
Cunt.
Words read better with sound and taste.
Writing memorializes the intentions
So this is why I try.
Down the river,
across the rocks,
into a stream of kooky consciousness
I go.
The boundaries roll over and set us free.
The stone rolls over and turns a new leaf, a new beginning, a new start.
The fog clears – sad soup disappears. My eyes pool with tears.
My wounded heart is licked well by the hound-sounds on this no-more fucked up day.
The boundaries that keep me safe are just as flammable
as the boundaries that hold me back
Without these supports I can easily waiver,
lose balance,
and fall to a crumbled state
of doubt and distress.
Joy and sorrow are ancient lovers in and for life.
One without the other, life would be without reasons or seasons.
Embrace joy while you are grieving.
A water dancing dream of volcanic lights …
where the end has just begun to whisper…
Oh wait, my children, there is always time.
This time it births out of your mouth.
about the artists
Amanda Aileen Fisher
Nica Celly
THE COLLECTIVE:
Deep gratitude to the individuals whose willingness to experience this made it happen: David Power, Chantal A, Ana Noble, Susan Johannsen, Fabiana Burr, Christine R, Kari Schein, Charlotte Eulette, Christine Martin, Diane Cox, Emily Balfour, Lane Brugman, Daniela Orozco, Ty Alexander, Alexis, Mariana Regil, Susan Johannsen, Bonnie, and others
an exporation of breath & form, of presence & movement, of expansion in practice
the collective work
We began the approach the power of the collective through the individual. An immersive sensorial meditation will begin our journey, followed by simple asana movements to integrate what arises into our body, dissolving the space between mind and subconscious. We will take emergent concepts and write through the prompt-based practices. We will then repeat, and go another layer deeper through a subsequent sensorial meditation and another writing exercise.
Ultimately, we are creating the conditions to see what arises first within ourselves, and then through our connection to each other. We humbly ask that you consider coming with as clear of a mind as possible, and nourish yourself at least an hour prior to the start of the event.