My friend Daphne Cohn recently shared her interview with the writer and teacher Philip Shepherd. This conversation was just what I needed–you could say the timing was divine.

Philip talks about how the body belongs to the whole world.

When we are truly present with the self, not just the human-body-self, but the self that belongs to the environment we sit in, to the earth we stand on, and to this very place and time, then we are truly grounded in a sense of companionship with the world rather than struggle and alienation. We can remember that we are never really alone in the world.

But how do we find that space and understanding? Philip tells us that we need to unlearn the Western cultural perspective that we are mechanical meat-sticks, experiencing the world through the computer machines of our brains.

Instead, we must relearn to listen, to feel, to experience the world through the whole body.

And even beyond the body...

Yes, you can listen to the world through your ears as sound processes through your brain. But can you also listen to the world through your heart? Through your belly? Through the pelvic floor? What would that even feel like? How is that even possible?

And perhaps our bodies do not end at the periphery of our skins...maybe our bodies extend into the very air, into the very ground, and into the other living beings (and maybe even non-living entities) beyond our perceptions of self?

I am fascinated by these discussions, and I continue to investigate and to explore these themes in all of my classes, workshops, events, and even through my art-making. I hope you will join me.

​Learn about Philip and his teaching here.​

​Watch Philip discuss the fallacy of being alone.​

​Listen to interviews with my friend Daphne here.

There is still time to sign up for my upcoming workshops and events below. I invite you to explore these relationships with me.

With Love,

Angie ♥️

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"...the trees and grasses are our kin, our relations, our genetic cousins; the rocks of the earth are born of the same star matter that made us. How apt, then, that Thich Nhat Hahn should write of washing a teapot “with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath...” ― Philip Shepherd, New Self, New World: Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-First Century

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“By letting go of what is known, you are free to encounter the living present, in all its perplexity and revelation. Just as silence is the possibility of sound, self-confessed ignorance is the possibility of encounter.”― Philip Shepherd, New Self, New World: Recovering Our Senses in the Twenty-First Century