110 Functions of the Body[1]
by Wendy Yen

Inhaling, Exhaling, Smelling, Coughing, Sniffing, Sneezing

Hungering, Thirsting, Licking, Sucking, Tasting, Biting, Chewing

Salivating, Spitting, Lubricating, Swallowing, Belching, Hiccupping, Vomiting

Transporting, Digesting, Selecting, Absorbing, Storing

Burning, Building, Copying, Creating, Destroying

Cramping, Flatulating, Defecating

Pumping, Distributing, Filtering, Excreting, Holding, Urinating

Listening, Seeing, Blinking, Dilating, Crying

Speaking, Humming, Singing, Screaming, Whispering, Smiling, Frowning, Laughing

Upholding, Anchoring, Proprioception[2], Sitting, Standing, Balancing

Walking, Running, Jumping, Dancing, Hugging

Tensing, Relaxing, Contracting, Stretching, Trembling

Enclosing, Excluding, Warming, Shivering, Cooling, Sweating,

Itching, Scratching, Shedding

Moving, Touching, Feeling, Engorging, Climaxing

Sleeping, Snoring, Dreaming, Waking

Menstruating, Conceiving, Bearing, Birthing, Suckling, Growing

Fatiguing, Breaking, Aching, Ailing, Paining, Fevering

Replenishing, Cleansing, Hosting, Engulfing, Killing, Collecting, Repairing

Clotting, Blocking, Swelling, Dying, Decaying

 80 Functions of the Mind

Attending, Ignoring, Concentrating, Alarming, Irritating, Exciting

Perceiving, Recognizing, Relating, Remembering,

Forgetting, Understanding, Confusing

Planning, Organizing, Explaining, Defining, Listing, Measuring, Evaluating

Penetrating, Deducing, Predicting, Pretending

Inquiring, Calculating, Reading, Learning, Teaching

Fearing, Hating, Judging, Bragging, Praising,

Disagreeing, Distorting, Misrepresenting

Angering, Blaming, Resenting, Concealing,

Attacking, Justifying, Apologizing, Reconciling, Revenging

Desiring, Grooming, Adorning, Attracting, Grasping, Stealing, Suffering

Respecting, Disclosing, Sympathizing, Cooperating, Giving

Supporting, Loving, Joking, Teasing, Grieving

Believing, Doubting, Questioning, Meditating, Hoping, Worshipping, Praying

Repenting, Despairing, Rejoicing, Honoring, Vowing, Thanking

Imagining, Exploring, Inventing, Playing

MORE ON THE FIRST FIVE PARTS

Head hair are threadlike outgrowths from the skin of mammals.  Thin flexible shaft of hardened cells.  Hair is a protein filament that grows from deep with the dermis.  Hair can be divided into three different parts length-wise: (1) the bulb, a swelling at the base, (2) the root, which is the hair lying beneath the skin surface inside a protective follicle; and (3) the shaft, which is considered the part of the hair above the skin surface though it appears first in the epidermis.  Head hairs are constantly shedding and replaced by new hairs.  Every 2 to 5 years there is replacement of new head hair.  An average human scalp has 100,000 hairs.

Body hair are threadlike outgrowths from the skin of mammals. Thin flexible shaft of hardened cells. Hair is a protein filament that grows from deep with the dermis. Hair can be divided into three different parts length-wise: (1) the bulb, a swelling at the base, (2) the root, which is the hair lying beneath the skin surface inside a protective follicle; and (3) the shaft, which is considered the part of the hair above the skin surface though it appears first in the epidermis. These hairs are constantly shedding and replaced by new hairs. Every 3 to 5 months there is replacement of new eyebrows, which consists of 450 hairs. In a lifetime the average person will grow 2 meters of nose hair.

Fingernails and toenails are made of a tough protein called keratin as are animals' hooves and horns. It is a horn-like structure located at the end of fingers and toes forming flat plates. Each nail is composed of a root and body. The root fastens the nail to the finger or the toe by fitting into a groove in the skin and is closely molded to the surface of the dermis. The only living part of a nail is situated inside or underneath the epidermis. Nails act as a counterforce when the end of the finger touches an object, thereby enhancing the sensitivity of the fingertip. Average growth is 1 milliliter per week. A fingernail or toenail takes about 6 months to grow from base to tip..

Teeth are 32 bony calcified projections in jaws serving as organs of chewing. Every individual has two complete sets of teeth during the life cycle. The first set of teeth are the primary teeth. They are lost by age 14 and are replaced by the permanent teeth. There are 20 primary teeth and 32 permanent teeth.

The skin is the soft outer cover/organ that forms the outer surface of the body. There are over 4 million pores in the skin. In 1 square inch of skin there lies 4 yards of nerve fibers, 1300 nerve cells, 100 sweat glands, 3 million cells, and 3 yards of blood vessels. Every square inch of the human body has an average of 32 million bacteria on it. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour - about 1.5 pounds a year. Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin. By 70 years of age, an average person will have lost 105 pounds of skin.

[1] From https://32parts.com/functions-of-the-mind-and-body.html

[2] proprioception means: perception or awareness of the position and movement of the body. In the limbs, the proprioceptors are sensors that provide information about joint angle, muscle length, and muscle tension, which is integrated to give information about the position of the limb in space.

23rd April, 2019

 Butoh:

Historical: Founded in 1950s Japan coming out of the Hiroshima bomb, surrealism, german expressionism, mime, flamenco and more  

These workshops:

o   Slow movement

o   Meditative

o   Creative

o   Focused

o   Grounding

o   Doesn’t have a particular outcome

o   Gentle exercise

o   Movement outside the routines of caregiving

So Far:

·         We have looked at the breath, the posture, and some walking. Today we will look at the body. We will also explore some longer meditation exercises.

 Workshop Plan:

1.    Introductions, check in, this workshop

2.    Introductions

a.    How have we been going so far?

b.    I find I feel deep peace when we practice some meditation together

c.     It has been a pleasure to watch any create moments that have come out of our improvisations SUCH AS WHEN XXXXXXXXX       

d.    Meditation is a very important practice, why?

e.    Creativity is a very important practice- why? How does it feel in the moment of being creative?

3.    Physical warm up

a.    Yoga stretching

b.    Shaking warm up

c.     Shake out the face

d.    Touching of hands exercise  

4.    DO SOMETHING BIZARRE, help everyone get creative  

a.    Creativity has many forms. In Butoh there is a certain aesthetic. An aesthetic is a visual logic that keeps a whole piece together. It is important for us to consider more the aesthetic of our movement within Butoh so that we can build a practice. The anesthetics to focus on are:

                                          i.    Asymmetry

1.    "When I seriously consider the training of a butoh dancer,

I think that what's important are kinds of movements which

come from joints being displaced, then from the

disjointed leg striving to reach the other leg for two or three steps." – Tatsumi Hijikata, founder of Butoh

                                         ii.    Passive/slow movement: coming out of moving automatically in set forms and paying very close attention to the body.

1.    "Even your own arms,

deep inside your body,

feel foreign, feel that

they do not belong to you.

Here lies an important

secret.

Butoh's radical essence is

hidden here."

2.    Something is hiding in our subconscious, collected in our subconscious body, which will appear in each detail of our expression. Here, we can rediscover time with an elasticity, sent by the dead. We can find Butoh in the same way we can

touch our hidden reality. Something can be born, can appear, living and dying in a moment."- Tatsumi Hijikata, founder of Butoh

                                        iii.    So today I really want us to consider the body as stranger, meaning we can have a beginners mind looking at it. I want us to also consider aymetry and passive/slow movement.

b.    Maybe give one hand a character. The other hand sleeps. Create a one minute performance for yourself when the character hand enocunters the sleeping hand.  

5.    READ FROM CHANTING BOOK: Breathing mindfully meditation

a.    Lead participants into their own practice  

b.    Allow participants to have more time to follow themselves- maybe play some light music?

6.    Read the 110 functions of the body while group has eyes closed and focus on their bodies and how they are feeling

7.    Feedback on this poem

8.    Meditation exercise: body scan, focus on outside and inside

9.    Read 32 parts of the body while group has eyes closed and focus on their bodies and how they are feeling

a.    Let it sit for a while, breath in and out the whole body.

b.    Give out sheet with all of them written on

c.     This time feedback on anything striking or bizarre WRITTEN DOWN

d.    Everyone number your observations

10.  This is now your score to devise with. PLAY MUSIC

a.    Create x2 images with a partner

b.    PRESENT TO GROUP

c.     Create x2 simple movement with a partner

d.    PRESENT TO GROUP

e.    You have 2 minutes to, on your own create, a short sequence (no more than one minute) using your score from the body. You performance will end when you make a sound (think the cream of the week before)    

f.      GROUP WITH CRITICAL FEEDBACK TO EACH OTHER

11.  Beginning of warm down

a.    Light stretching after the movement

1. Thanks goodbyes, plans for next week and taking on feedback p293

2. Summing up what we have done

d.    Body scan and breathing meditation again

e.    LOVING KINDNESS meditation

f.      Butoh closing session with clap

• Use humor and banter to bring people in

• Bring it back to being present

• No right or wrong way

• PLAYFUL 😊

• LET’S EXPLORE TOGETHER

Reflection on the 32 parts of the body:

This which is my body

From the soles of the feet up and down from the crown of the head

Is a sealed bag of skin filled with unattractive things

In this body there are

Hair of the head, hair of the body, nails, teeth, skin,

flesh, sinews, bones, bone marrow, kidneys,

heart, liver, membranes, spleen, lungs,

bowels, entrails, undigested food, excrement, bile,

phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat,

tears, grease, spittle mucus, oil of the joints, urine, brain.

This then which is my body

From the soles of the feet up and down from the crown of the head

Is a sealed bag of skin filled with unattractive things 

- Patikulamanasikara