Class Description

We “stretch the connective tissue” of the modern medical paradigm – which holds the mind and body as separate and treats us in parts – by examining the Mind-Body network and inquiring:  What’s missing? What is the hidden (or not so hidden) cost of this approach? We explore the body as a system in relationship to larger systems in our surroundings, and role of anxiety and depression within them.  In our first discussion section, we introduce the practice of “Embodiment Hashtags” – noticing and naming the sensations that arise in our bodies in response to new or difficult information. We weigh the benefits and challenges of a systems approach to mental health.

Supplementary Material & Practice Toolkit

The Yoga Practice Lab Check- In: This is a tool used in Bo’s classes and throughout our online courses.  We invite you to play with applying it to your own practice and your work in this course. Run through these checkpoints to “get your baseline” before and after using a tool, watching a chunk, or doing your own practice.

Lifework

Reflect:

• What are the embodiment “hashtags” that arise in you during this chunk?
• Are these familiar feelings, and if so, where else do they arise?

Post to the Forum:

• How do you react to looking at ourselves and our mental health as systems rather than parts, and to how that affects our medical system or the ways we intervene?
• What systems do you belong to and how do they impact you?