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Every breath you take, they’ll be tracking you

“The Propeller sensor keeps track of your medication use for you, with a record of the time and place you have used your inhaler. The sensor is a small device that attaches to the top of your existing inhaler and stays out of your way when you need to use it.”

“Dr. Lawrence Madoff, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Boston, says this is a new trend in public health. “The patient or the public is actually participating in their surveillance directly. You’re moving back closer to an event actually happening – when does someone get sick? When do they show symptoms? When do they first report something going on?”

Read MEDICAL INHALERS TO TRACK WHERE YOU ARE WHEN YOU PUFF

by Alison Bruzek for Popular Science

 

A nice cup of tea, by George Orwell

“If you look up ‘tea’ in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

  • First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea. 
  • Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad. 
  • Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water. 
  • Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners. 
  • Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly. 
  • Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference. 
  • Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle. 
  • Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one’s tea is always half cold before one has well started on it. 
  • Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste. 
  • Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round. 
  • Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

    Some people would answer that they don’t like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one’s ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.”

 

George Orwell, Evening Standard, 12 January 1946.

A Nice Cup Of Tea

 

Boot Sequence

Here is a video tutorial for day-to-day self-care: a “boot sequence” of movements to wake up, warm up, unlock, stretch, strengthen. Recommended in the morning, before physical activity, or to restore some flow after prolonged stillness.
Dedicated to the many courageous people striving for a good fair world.
May this help you take care and stay strong <3
Special dedication to Julian Assange of Wikileaks.

—————————————————

Julian Assange is the founder and editor in chief of Wikileaks.

The publication by Wikileaks of US diplomatic cables and the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs in 2010, exposing US wrong doings and crimes to the public, has brought considerable heat on him and the organization.

In 2012 Assange entered the embassy of Ecuador in London asking for asylum, which he was granted in protection against the political persecution and threats to his life coming from the USA. Indeed in the USA, a secret grand jury is investigating him and Wikileaks, and public figures have called for his assassination, meaning exceptional (illegal?) law and bad treatments most probably await him there (see how Manning was treated).

Contrary to what medias are spinning, Assange is not trying to escape justice in Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning (and not charged) in relation to alleged sexual offenses. Only Sweden is not giving guarantees he would not be extradited to the USA should he travel there for the investigation, nor is the Swedish prosecution accepting alternatives proposed by Assange’s legal team – among other dubious bizarreries in this case.

Meanwhile, the UK keeps the Ecuadorian embassy under constant police watch, refuses Assange safe-passage to his host country, ready to arrest and extradite him to Sweden should he set foot outside.

Consequently Assange has not been able to leave the building and see daylight in over two years, a situation effectively equivalent to pre-charge detention and a violation of his rights denounced by 59 international organizations.

More info and support : 

“The siege of Julian Assange is a farce”, John Pilger

“We are Women Against Rape but we do not want Assange extradited”, Katrin Axelsson and Lisa Longstaff

This day in Wikileaks 

Free Assange Now 

justice4assange

 

 

 

Radio care

Listener-supported, commercial free, SF based SomaFM has a selection of quality music channels from which to pick. Get into a groove, chill, feel, soothe your soul, be inspired, find focus, make a sound cocoon for yourself, immerse your friends in good vibes, create distraction, noise barriers…

We currently have a thing for Earwaves, “spanning the history of electronic and experimental music from the early pioneers to the latest innovators”. It fills space with a relaxed yet strong focus. Good for work, meditation, and bodywork sessions.

BEPO(ésie)

ICI archive vidéo d’une présentation de la disposition clavier ergonomique francophone (et polyglotte !) BEPO, donnée à Paris lors de l’Ubuntu party de novembre. BEPO ou “Plus de mots, moins de maux “, le tout en licence libre (CC-BY-SA). Sans quitter la rangée de repos, pouvoir écrire “Une sainte aura ruinait la nuit trainante”. Absurde AZERTY, c’est fini ?!

Lire aussi Qu’est-ce que le BEPO ?

 

DONDE NO HAY DOCTOR and other health books free

Easy indispensable basic health guides for people and communities worldwide, accessible for free in many languages HERE on Hesperian Health website – including David Werner classic Donde No Hay Doctor. Covering many topics, for when there is no doctor, no dentist, for people with special needs, women and children, disabled, and because health is a right.

 

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Saúde, da dependencia à autonomia

O caderno central do ultimo Jornal Mapa foca-se na area da saúde, com titulo Saúde, da dependencia à autonomia.

“Qualquer pessoa que tenha acesso a informação correcta, partilhada de forma clara, pode providenciar cuidados de saúde básicos na sua comunidade”

“A ideia de partilhar conhecimento ajuda a dispersar o poder e pô-lo onde deve estar, na nossas mãos !”

Maria Freixo, no artigo Haja Saúde !

 

The handshake

handshake

The following article beautifully describes a simple protocol for a hand massage for people with Alzheimer or other dementia, the elderly, or anyone really. It includes a nice description of that important preliminary moment in massage, for establishing connection before you actually do anything and that I like to call “The handshake”…

“Center yourself and take a cleansing breath to focus your attention and intention. Take a moment to establish trust with the elder and gain permission to provide the massage. Sit facing the person, to the side. Be sure that you can reach the shoulder area without strain. (…) Begin with focused touch; simply hold the person’s hand. Place your attention on their hand and think about all the ways their hands have served their life. Notice the lines, the elegance, the strength or the fragility, whatever is there. Linger here a moment, simply enjoying the connection.”

Connecting and expressing the language of the human heart, Ann Catlin, in massagetoday.com

See also by same author

Gentle and effective touch for frail elders 

Para Além do Big Brother @Lisbon & Estoril Film Fest. 14-16 Nov.

VIVA ! Este fim-de-semana, o simpósio a não perder do festival de Estoril : Três dias de discussões e projecções sobre a vigilância de massas (incluído a projecção do CITIZENFOUR de Laura Poitras em sua presença) e participantes como o advogado Baltasar Garzòn, Jacob Appelbaum (TOR), Julian Assange (Wikileaks), fundadores de La Quadrature du Net Jeremie Zimmerman, Philippe Aigrain, entre outros. FORÇA !

L’assureur emboîte le pas du big data

Attention, en santé aussi l’enfer Big Brother est pavé de bonnes intentions.

En Juin dernier Axa lançait “Pulsez votre santé avec AXA” un jeu concours promettant des trackers santé à qui souscrirait bon pied bon oeil une assurance, assortis de bons cadeaux à qui rapporterait le bon nombre de pas…

Ou comment se voir perdre quelques bons degrés de libertés à l’horizon…

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Pour info 

“Parmi ceux qui ont le plus d’intérêts à acheter les données personnelles stockées et vendues par les géants de l’informatique grand public figurent en première ligne les assurances santé, qui disposent grâce aux technologies de médecine personnalisée d’une base d’informations sans précédent sur les comportements individuels des clients qu’ils doivent assurer, et qu’elles ont donc intérêt à influencer par une forme de chantage à l’assurance.

Ceux qui refuseront de voir leur activité surveillée pour vérifier qu’ils ne font rien de dommageable pour leur santé paieront plus cher leur assurance, voire n’y accéderont plus. Ou de façon plus pernicieuse, ceux qui accepteront de porter des objets connectés qui permettent à l’assurance de vérifier leur comportement auront le droit à des réductions tarifaires, mais devront alors s’interdire le moindre écart de conduite pour continuer à bénéficier des remboursements prévus au contrat. C’est ainsi la liberté individuelle qui risque de se dissoudre dans la mode du “quantified-self”.

Guillaume Champeau, “Ça y est, Axa conditionne un avantage santé à un objet connecté”

Oui…

“Et les libertés individuelles ? Ne pas s’en occuper au motif que l’individu est volontaire pour offrir les données de son corps à son assureur, via son smartphone ? Le respect de la vie privée est-il compatible avec une nouvelle « médecine » (personnalisée et numérisée) véhiculée par les géants du marché, Axa, Apple, Nike et leurs concurrents ? Où sont, ici, les puissances publiques, les responsables politiques ?”

Jean-Yves Nau, “Offrez votre corps à Axa, Apple, Nike etc.”

Whistleblowing in healthcare @ Logan Symposium, 5-7 Dec

December 5-7 in London will be the Logan Symposium organized by the Center For Investigative Journalism, for journalists, hacktivists, and all who care about the defence of freedom and democracy. Among the speakers will be Eileen Chubb, a former care worker who blew the whistle on the bad treatment of the elderly in their care homes. She has since been active in the protection of whistleblowers and of the vulnerable elders, working closely with the media. She is the founder of the charity Compassion In Care and co-founder of The Whistler.

Check out the program up HERE.

 

Yoga-to-go

Classic, concise, clear, accessible yoga book ASANA PRANAYAMA MUDRA BANDHA by Swami Satyananda Saraswati is available HERE although not in its latest version.

Imo, this manual is particularly interesting when new to yoga and/or or looking for some easy body routines that you can start practicing alone. The Beginners group is good indeed, with different series of basic exercises to help prevent or help alleviate disorders caused by overexertion and stillness-stasis combined (as in a lot of computer / office work). Check out the Exercises for the eyes !

(Remember to first read the advice and precautions in the introduction)

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Surveillance Self-Defense (EFF)

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Surveillance Self-Defense is EFF’s “guide to defending yourself and your friends from surveillance by using secure technology and developing careful practices.”

Activists or protesters, journalists, human rights defender, everyone, on the move or at home: Be introduced to threat modeling, find out how to keep your data safe, how to create strong passwords, learn about encryption, choose your tools…

For inspiration, you can read Laura Poitras on the crypto tools that made her journalistic work with whistleblower Edward Snowden possible, and the film CITIZENFOUR 

 

 

 

Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen

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The Huang Di Nei Jing, a.k.a Yellow Emperor’s inner classic or canon, is considered a fundamental text of chinese medicine, going back approximately 2000 years. It exposes TCM principles and applications in the form of a Q&A between disciple and old master. The canon is divided into two sections both containing 81 chapters (where 8+1=9, 9 being the number for the sky in chinese metaphysics). The first section is Su Wen, or “Basic Questions” deploying the theories at the root of all diagnostics, and the second section is the less known Ling Shu, or Spiritual Pivot, which is more directly about applications and acupuncture.

HERE is an Annotated Translation of Huang Di’s Inner Classic – Basic Questions: 2 volumes, by Paul Unschuld (University of california Press). A complementary history and comparative literature of the Su Wen, also by Paul Unschuld, can be read HEREA chinese manuscript (Wang Bing’s version) can be found HERE on World Digital Library.

 

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The Patent Pathology (TPP)

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Wikileaks renders public health a vital service and releases UPDATED SECRET TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (TPP) – IP CHAPTER (2nd Publication), an economic agreement secretly in the making which would have terrible implications on access to medicine if adopted. 

“Thursday 16 October 2014, WikiLeaks released a second updated version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. The TPP is the world’s largest economic trade agreement that will, if it comes into force, encompass more than 40 per cent of the world’s GDP. The IP Chapter covers topics from pharmaceuticals, patent registrations and copyright issues to digital rights. Experts say it will affect freedom of information, civil liberties and access to medicines globally. The WikiLeaks release comes ahead of a Chief Negotiators’ meeting in Canberra on 19 October 2014, which is followed by what is meant to be a decisive Ministerial meeting in Sydney on 25–27 October.

Despite the wide-ranging effects on the global population, the TPP is currently being negotiated in total secrecy by 12 countries. Few people, even within the negotiating countries’ governments, have access to the full text of the draft agreement and the public, who it will affect most, none at all. Large corporations, however, are able to see portions of the text, generating a powerful lobby to effect changes on behalf of these groups and bringing developing country members reduced force, while the public at large gets no say. Read the full press release here. ”

See also Julian Assange and Sarah Harrison’ editorial : 

US and JAPAN LEAD ATTACK ON AFFORDABLE CANCER TREATMENTS 

“Despite claims from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) states that a final agreement would be reached by the start of this year, the publication of the draft IP Chapter led to a backlash – no agreement was realised, country alignments have altered and negotiations continue. However, US negotiators have made a counter-attack. The latest leaked version of the draft text shows the United States pushing for measures that would significantly constrain affordable access to vital generic drugs, such as cancer drugs and treatments for communicable diseases such as Ebola. Continue reading here

And also PUBLIC CITIZEN Analyses of the newly leaked IP chapter

 

 

 

Holly Herndon’s NSA break up song

Holly Herndon’s HOME, a love/break up song “for prying eyes” and corrupt confidants/devices. Data rain of NSA symbols in music video by Metahaven.

Holly Herndon says:

For my debut album Movement, I communicated an intimacy with my laptop. It is my instrument, memory, and window to most people that I love. It is my Home.

The ongoing NSA revelations have fundamentally changed this relationship. I entrusted so much in my device. To learn this intimacy had been compromised felt like a grand betrayal. Is everything done privately on my laptop to be considered a public performance?

Metahaven says:

The NSA spying on our network may have been tacitly known from reports going back as far as 2002, but the aesthetics of this surveillance were not so known. Code names, acronyms, icons and graphics from a shadow world designed to never be publicly exposed.

For “Home,” we created a data rain of these NSA symbols.

 

Oficina Cyber – Crypto Party, 8/10 @ PORTO

A tecnologia que nos controla ou a tecnologia que nós, cidadãos, controlamos ?
Guerra cibernética ou paz cibernética?
Que futuro queremos para a tecnologia, e de que forma podemos combater a vigilância em massa?
Nesta oficina será abordada a história das redes, ética, co-respondabilidade e co-dependência, os ciclos virtuosos e os ciclos viciosos.
O tema central será o anonimato, a descentralização e o software livre, a alternativa ao Google, Skype, Dropbox, entre outros.

Não é obrigatório trazer um dispositivo próprio (laptop, tablet ou telefone).

A oficina será orientada por Jérémie Zimmermann, engenheiro informático Francês co-fundador da La Quadrature du Net, grupo de defesa das liberdades fundamentais dos cidadãos na internet.

Jérémie foi um dos contribuidores para o livro “Cypherpunks: freedom and the future of internet”, de Julien Assange.

Quarta feira, 8 de Outubro, na Sonoscopia, PORTO
Das 15H às 20H
Preço Livre

 

Protein synthesis danced

“Only rarely is there an opportunity to participate in a molecular happening. You’re going to have that opportunity, for this film attempts to portray symbolically yet in a dynamic and joyful way one of nature’s fundamental processes: The linking together of amino acids to form a protein”.

This is Protein synthesis: an epic on the cellular level, from Stanford department of chemistry, 1971.

Watch the Ribosomes, “depicted in the film as tumbling, rolling, clusters of bodies, amorphous by themselves but organized and structured when in the act of translating a message”

This little gift was found reading WHEN GOOGLE MET WIKILEAKS, by Julian Assange.

ONE of the many gems with which his interview with Google’s Eric Schmidt & crew is paved, including the fantastic footnotes. Educational, empowering, curious, challenging, frightening but also invigorating and heart-warming… BRILLIANT, and not only for tech experts.

To paraphrase JA last words in ” The banality of ‘don’t be evil’ : “ WGMW is “essential reading for anyone caught up in the struggle for the future, in view in one simple imperative: KNOW YOUR FRIENDS

Feeling grateful 🙂

Body Imaging (SANCTUS, Barbara Hammer)

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Barbara Hammer‘s movie SANCTUS on UBUWeb 

“Sadly reduced by hype machines to a pioneer of “lesbian cinema” (whatever that means), Barbara Hammer has a long career in creative and critical filmmaking, constantly trying to find new narrative forms and technical possibilities to offer the world a personal view on such themes as physical disease, media, gender, sexuality, age or health-care. In her 1990 short Sanctus, the main point seems to be the time-honored dictum of the body as a temple, or, as the author put it, of a body in need of skeletal protection from a corrupting and diseasing environment. Hammer used old x-ray footage, rearranged, colored and orchestrated through optical printing, in order to reveal hidden bodily movements and rhythms in its constant juxtaposition.” — Sound of Eye

 

 

 

 

Gynandco

“Lancé en juillet, le site Gynandco est une liste blanche de soignant.e.s pratiquant des actes gynécologiques (gynécologues, mais aussi médecins généralistes ou sages femmes) qui respectent les lesbiennes, les bisexuelles et les personnes trans’. Grâce à cet outil – toujours en construction –, l’équipe de Gynandco entend défendre le droit à une prise en charge de qualité et non discriminatoire pour tou.t.e.s, et faciliter l’accès à ce droit: «Nous avons choisi de promouvoir l’accès à un.e soignant.e qui respecte le/la patient.e, et non pas de dénoncer ceux et celles qui abusent de leurs pouvoir et savoir médical.» À ce jour, plus de 160 professionnel.le.s ont été recensé.e.s sur le site (le module de recherche est en cours d’amélioration).”

Extrait de: Gynandco, une liste blanche des gynécologues lesbian, bie et trans-friendly (par Maëlle Le Corre)

GYNANDCO

(à propos)

“Nous sommes un groupe de militantes féministes et nous en avons marre des soignantEs ayant des pratiques sexistes, lesbophobes, transphobes, putophobes, racistes, classistes, validistes, etc. Nous avons donc mis en place Gyn&Co pour mettre à disposition une LISTE BLANCHE de soignantEs pratiquant des actes gynécologiques (qu’il s’agisse de gynécos, de médecins généralistes ou de sages-femmes).

Nous sommes nombreux’ses à avoir été confrontéEs à des expériences malheureuses avec unE soignantE lors de consultations gynécologiques : qu’il s’agisse de propos jugeants ou déconsidérants, d’un manque de respect de l’intégrité de nos corps, d’un refus de tenir compte de nos choix voire de discrimination ou de violence.De plus, nous n’avons pas forcément les mêmes besoins et attentes selon nos situations et nos pratiques – handicap, travail du sexe, usage de drogue, séropositivité, polyamour, etc.

Pour mener à bien ce projet, nous avons élaboré un questionnaire afin de collecter des coordonnées de soignantEs et de les mettre à la disposition de touTEs. Attention il s’agit bien d’une LISTE BLANCHE : nous n’intégrerons que les coordonnées de professionnelLEs nous ayant été recommandéEs sur des critères positifs.* (…)”

Ateliers découverte des massages, Sept-Dec 2014 @Biopulse, Paris

>>> Programme des ateliers découvertes des massages proposés par l’école Biopulse à Paris pour les semaines à venir. Une variété de thèmes et de formateurs, pour apprendre ou revisiter des bases et se faire du bien dans un moment de partage. Tous niveaux et horizons bienvenus. Les jeudis soirs de 19h30 à 21h30. 15 euros. Inscription nécessaire au 01 44 82 51 29.

Chen Xiaowang on Chen style taijiquan

Nice video here of Chen Xiaowang explaining and demonstrating some principles and characteristics of Chen family style taijiquan, extracted from a documentary for chinese television. Below is a transcript of the (sometimes approximate) english subtitles.

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CHEN XIAOWANG CCTV EXTRACTS

(Transcript of english subtitles)

Chen Wangting (1600-1680)

Journalist:

Chen Wangting, from Chen village in Henan, building on the martial arts of his ancestors, studied famous Ming general Qi Jiguang’s and many internal fighting arts, integrated meridain theory, and confucian, daoist and traditional taiji yinyang teachings, created Chen style taijiquan and two person push-hands practice.

Four characteristics of Chen style taijiquan

Chen Xiaowang:

The first characteristic: movement spiraling and rotating, ‘chansi jin’ (reeling silk force). What is reeling silk force ? The jin which comes from silk reeling practice is reeling silk force. This spiraling, twisting way of moving is characteristic.

The second characteristic: Fast and slow alternate. Circle, slow. When circle arrives at straight, fast. Circular, lively movement. Light soft movement. At the (moment of) fajin it becomes straight. When doing fajin it is fast.

The third point: It preserves – cuan, beng, hao, yue (leap, bounce, jump, leap) teng, nuo, shan, zhan (soar, shift, dodge, open)

The fourth point: In the first form, soft spiraling movements dominate. But when this movement pattern is established, practice the second from, jump, leap… Soar, shift, dodge, open. Fast, faster than shaolin.

Slowness is the obligatory path” (to “form the dantian as core”)

Journalist: Master Chen, we often see the form done slowly, so why when it is applied it is so fast ? How would you explain this ?

Chen Xiaowang: The slowness is to slowly form the dantian as core. One part moves, all move, connected from section to section, qi unbroken throughout – To arrive at this movement principle. Now this movement system, if you can adapt it to all circumstances then when the opponent attacks you convert his attacking speed into your movement power. E.g. If he suddenly pushes … I change. He can push me quickly I retain my calm (position). I use this movement system, the dantian as core. I don’t move, he attacks. Second, after the system is developed, adapting it to all circumstances is about not losing this core. You must proceed from the slowness, to reach slow but not scattered, fast but not chaotic. If there is not ‘slow but not scattered’, if there isn’t this construction, this movement system process, there cannot be the resulting speed. This is the obligatory path, from slowness.

Relaxing is for coordination, harmony”

Chen Xiaowang: First of all, just relaxing is no good. E.g. This part, the position is not right. Can I relax ? No. First, correct the position. Only when the position is right can I relax.

Journalist: The position must be correct.

Chen Xiaowang: Yes, that’s the first point. Point two: relax how much ? Too much is also wrong. Relaxing is for coordination (harmony) to serve the movement principle. It is not ‘The more relaxed the better’.

Journalist: Is it true that too relaxed turns into slack ?

Chen Xiaowang: Right. This is called diu (losing, abandoning)

Agility appears”

Chen Xiaowang:

So to put it simply this movement principle is the foundation. After establishing this movement principle, when error is reduced to a certain level, movements are coordinated with the inside, not using brute force, then agility appears.

Chen Changxing’s 10 important points”

Journalist:

Chen Changxing’s 10 important points says:

When the upper part moves, the lower follows – When the lower moves, the upper leads – Upper and lower move, the middle responds – Middle moves, upper and lower harmonize – Hands move, waist moves, feet move, gaze follows – Only when upper and lower follow each other can we achieve taijiquan’s higher level requirements

Dantian moves, hand moves, foot moves…”

Chen Xiaowang:

Hand, elbow, shoulder, chest, abdomen. Below is pelvis, knee, ankle, foot. If above and below can follow each other, you can achieve dantian as core: one moves all move, unbroken. So what does follow mean ? First, the right position. Maintain the dantian as core. When you move with dantian as core, it brings about lower and upper moving together. Dantian moves, hand moves, foot moves.”

Different approaches for different angles of attack”

Journalist: Horizontal, vertical or sloping circles…

Chen Xiaowang: Yes, all appropriate for different angles of attacks, as necessary for striking. Sometimes the opponent strikes from the front: the arc should go this way. If he attacks from behind: shan (dodge) goes this way. From the left, this way. From the right, this way. Different approaches for different angles, to adapt to different attacks. This becomes front, back, left, right.

Journalist: So the opponent’s attack determines which circle I use ?

Chen Xiaowang: Correct.

The difference between hard and stiff”

Chen Xiaowang:

So by gang (hard) we mean fajin. What is the difference between hard and stiff ? One part moves, all parts move, Qi is unbroken. Then it is gang (hard) strength (jin). e.g. I do a fajin movement. This jin from the dantian, compared with this one… Two different feelings… Hard jin is qi unbroken, flowing. Whole body strength as much as possible, concentrated into one point. That is gang jin.

The characteristics of fajin (fali, emitting force)”

Chen Xiaowang:

The characteristics of fa li can be summarized: relax, lively, springy, shaking. These four words are hard to understand. The first step: get the body right. Before the fali, the whole body is relaxed. You mustn’t be over-relaxed. Every body part in the right position. For example, forearm and hand raised this much is enough. Using more force can obstruct the inner qi flow. In the wrong position, that is wrong too. So you need both the right position and not use to much force. This is the right amount of relaxation. With this precondition, with every part in the appropriate place, the dantian as core will naturally emerge. When you move, starting from the dantian to move the whole body, then its jin will have relaxed, lively, springy, shaking results. One hand, two hands, sideways, all the same.

Before fajin, you are relaxed. The fajin time, the shorter the better.

The art of hard and soft”

Journalist:

Renowned taiji master Chen Xin wrote insightfully about this. The taiji practitioner, reaching hard and soft, and mixing them seamlessly. Hard and soft nature is like a spring. A spring’s pliability and toughness is soft, its springy vibration is hard. The soft is not floopy, the hard is not stiff. Taijiquan is the art of hard and soft.

Chen Xiaowang:

So ‘gang’ is fajin, and soft is slow movement, change movement. In hardness, softness, and in softness, hardness. Pure hardness, without soft, lacks coherence. Pure soft without hard, is empty. What happened there ? He threw a punch. First I deflected his attack. This deflection is ‘soft’.

Journalist: So you absorbed it, absorbed the force

Chen Xiaowang: Correct. This part is ‘soft subdues hard’. The down part is ‘store up and emit alternating’.

Journalist: The down part is ‘gang’

Chen Xiaowang: Yes, the change.The transforming part is ‘soft’ subdues ‘hard’. After subduing hard with soft comes ‘store’. Not like this, that way I’m gone. When he comes I store up. Downwards is store and release alternating. Store and release, mutually changing.

Soft subdues soft”

Chen Xiaowang:

If the opponent doesn’t use force and I don’t use force, it depends on whose absorbing skill is better. If one person soft absorbing skill is good, he can feel his opponent’s changes and grasp the opponent’s core and fali. This is soft subdues soft. He is soft, I am even softer. If he comes very lightly, I can still lead him and change, soft subdues soft. If he softly listens to my force – you attack me. Then I first listen to his force then grasp his weak point. He is listening to my force. He is soft I am soft, I change, still soft, find his weak spot.

Hard can subdue hard”

Chen Xiaowang: Sometimes both are fajin. Then it depends on who has better hard jin.

Journalist: But if both are hard, don’t you get blocking ?

Chen Xiaowang: If the opponent’s quality is poor, he will be thrown right out. Now he is using hard force. He fajin’ed, I did too.

Journalist: Yours was harder than his

Chen Xiaowang: Yes. A question of whose basic skills are better. One strong, one weak. It’s the same, hard can subdue hard.

Many ways to control the opponent”

Journalist:

We can see taiji’s hard and soft needs close investigation. Soft does not always subdues hard, hard subdues hard, soft subdues soft, there are many ways to control the opponent. Taijiquan is like this, seemingly full of contradictions which can be perfectly resolved. Hard and soft, fast and slow are like this. Movement and stillness are also like this.

Handle movement with stillness” and Winning by surprise”

Chen Xiaowang:

Handle movement with stillness means feeling the opponent’s force as it comes. How does he come, from which direction ? Which angle ? Should I harmonize and change ? This is not a fixed rule, handle movement with stillness. If you also handle movement with stillness and I do too, if we both don’t move, that is no good. There is no opposition. So then there is winning by a surprise move. Find the opponent’s median line , weak spot, empty, weak point. You can attack first. You don’t have to handle movement with stillness. E.g. I push with (Chen) Bing . Step and close. Both waiting for the opponent to move. But here he is weak, here the qi is not enough. I see his center is here, I can take him down, suddenly attack. It is not always handle movement with stillness. Even if he doesn’t move, I can move.”

Soft absorbing, hard emitting”

Chen Xiaowang:

So hard is fajin, everyone knows that. Soft is changing, not fajin. When the opponent uses jin we use soft means to change the opponent’s line of force. The opponent has come at my center. We change the direction of his force, change and dissolve his force. This is absorbing. When the opponent loses his balance, we strike with hard jin, attack the appropriate part. That is called soft absorbing, hard emitting. (Chen) Jun psuhes my center line. My core is here. His force doesn’t reach my center line. This process is called absorbing. If his force reaches here my hard force is here…I move like this..That is hard emitting. He wants to take my center – I change, redirecting his force direction. He heads off a different way, then he also loses his balance. The process of leading him is the process of storing energy. He loses his center, I store energy. And… Fali! Attack his weak spot. So the absorbing force becomes storing, so when he loses balance, fali.

Journalist: Then it’s an ’empty’ ‘full’ change

Chen Xiaowang: Correct. Don’t try to hit first. First you have to change and dissolve, maintain your own movement principle.

 

E agora ? What now ?

nuno

Portuguese film sound engineer, producer and director Joaquim Pinto has been living with HIV and Hepatitis C for years and lost quite a few of his friends and collaborators to the virus along the way.

Beaten but not down, blurred yet bright and sharp, he offers a rare testimony with E agora ? Lembra-me a personal diary he filmed over a year as he was undergoing experimental drug testing in Madrid. His collections and recollections though, are mostly set in and outside the home he shares with his long love and husband Nuno (also infected) in a dry luminous countryside of Portugal.

joaquim

As the four seasons go round we are invited to feel along the repercussions of the clinical trials, but mostly the passing of time, with its very own pace, its redundancies big and small, challenging will, challenging life, the questions and, eventually, the answers only time can bring… The movie opens with a shot of a slug crossing the screen on a dead leaf: You could not accelerate certain processes even if you would, so bear with them. The trips to Madrid, transiting through frantic airports, seem all the more brutal in that perspective (Why do we do that to ourselves ? is among the questions that are raised).

While the announced intention of the film is to record and evaluate the effects of the drugs tested in Madrid (noting side effects you’ll never read about in a drug leaflet) it soon appears that the subject is not so much that but rather other forms and ingredients of care, which although not mentioned as such (and maybe they shouldn’t!) become evaluated in parallel, much more positively. Pretty honestly or “sem merda” as some friends around me have put it.

So yes, honestly : At the end of the day what is really keeping Joaquim, Nuno, us, alive through hardships ?

Here are some suggestions from the film:

Love, definitely. Partnerships, setting the preservation of (a good) life and care of one another as priorities… Abundance of fresh air and sunlight, a connection with nature, mediated by animals, through farming, all of which help keep regular (and circadian) cycles of work, play, rest… Being responsible for someone else, caring for them, a lover, an old dog, a young tree threatened by drought and wildfires… A connection with past generations, some sort of historical inscription in the community of mankind and on the tree of life on earth (“we are not special, just recent”)… Peaceful renunciations to what is no longer suited, all the while reaffirming commitments to what matters most… Solidarity, sharing information, experiences, expression of the voices of the weak… A relative autonomy and self-sufficiency, carefully balancing the dependencies to absurd and adverse economical and healthcare systems… Critical thinking, intellectual curiosity… Creativity, art… Cinema..? As a critic notes “this hypnotic video essay eases the discomforts of the flesh with the comforts of moviemaking” and “the film repeatedly erases the neutral hues of sickness with the lush vibrancy of nature.” So it does.

whatnow

 

Yoga postures to relieve sciatica pain in piriformis syndrome

Read how spasms in the piriformis muscle can cause sciatica pain (+ understand there are other types of sciatica) + check out / try out the selection of well described yoga postures that can help relieve that pain and prevent it from happening again.

>>> Healing with Yoga: Piriformis Syndrome (Daily Bandha)

piriformis_stretch_01

“Piriformis syndrome is characterized by buttock and/or hip pain that may radiate into the leg as a form of sciatica. This syndrome is thought to result from spasm of the piriformis which causes irritation of the sciatic nerve as it passes across (or through) the muscle. Spasm in the piriformis can be precipitated by an athletic injury or other trauma. The mainstay of treatment involves stretching the piriformis and its neighboring external hip rotators, with surgery to release the muscle reserved for recalcitrant cases.”

See also on Daily Bandha : The Piriformis Muscle and Yoga 

>>> Yoga poses can relieve pain sciatica pain (Fox5 San Diego)

ypigeon-e1408484831383

“Pigeon pushup”

“This is a piriformis-stretching pose for the front leg and a hip-flexor stretch for the back leg.

From a kneeling lunge position, take both hands to the floor on the inside of your leg. Open your hip by letting your knee fall out to the side as you roll to the outside of your foot. Walk your hands forward and outward to push your weight out of your upper body and into your hips and pelvis. Take five long, deep breaths.”

CAREFUL with the exercises !

You might want to “Check with your physician or physical therapist before trying these exercises” and do “Move carefully into each posture, listening to your body. Stop immediately if pain increases or you feel any cautionary sensation.”

 

Navigating Crisis Handout

Here is Navigating Crisis, another sensible handout from the Icarus Project, a community dedicated to helping each other and oneself “navigate the space between brilliance and madness”

Useful facts about psychological crash, crisis response suggestions, how to write down advance directives for friends / carers ..

” When you or someone close to you goes into crisis, it can be the scariest thing to ever happen. You don’t know what to do, but it seems like someone’s life might be at stake or they might get locked up, and everyone around is getting stressed and panicked. Most people have either been there themselves or know a friend who has been there. Someone’s personality starts to make strange changes, they’re not sleeping or sleeping all day, they lose touch with the people around them, they disappear into their room for days, they have wild energy and outlandish plans, they start to dwell on suicide and hopelessness, they stop eating or taking care of themselves, or they start taking risks and being reckless. They become a different person. They’re in crisis.

The word “crisis” comes from a root meaning “judgment.” A crisis is a moment of great tension and meeting the unknown. It’s a turning point when things can’t go on the way they have, and the situation isn’t going to hold. Could crisis be an opportunity for breakthrough, not just breakdown? Can we learn about each other and ourselves as a community through crisis? Can we see crisis as an opportunity to judge a situation and ourselves carefully, not just react with panic and confusion or turn things over to the authorities? ”

“Calibration of feeling”

Julian Assange on emotions as body states, cultivation of character, passion, and purpose. From the archive of his Interesting Question, IQ.org.

j-577

Tue 12 Dec 2006 : Calibration of feeling

Words have no power to change except when there’s a fork in the road with equally attractive paths.

In your position, I’d take a deep book, a backpack of food and a tent and go walking for three months along the.au or .nz coast. You need to recalibrate your emotions through recalibrating your body. Emotions are body states. The mind can not be strong without strength in its relation to the body. ‘Whatever’ is then quickly answered; wake with the sun, take the next step, eat the next bite and behold people and chairs become a delight. It’s hard for you to see this now, since future visions are colored with present emotional responses. But these emotional responses are just another part of your flesh, built from the integration of your neurons and body. It’s material, stuff, like muscle, constructed from last weeks potatoes and environmental stimulus. You can strengthen your will through overcoming physical hardship.

The natural environment provides man with ready motivational gradients, but civilization has filled them in. Hyper-civilized influences, such as computing, artificial lights, drugs, films, instant food supply, telephones and reading decalibrate by disconnecting behavior and reward and failing to provide the sense data that our biological mental and physical structures have evolved to require.

There’s little difference between a mouse exploring a new maze or a scientist realizing the greatest intellectual act of the age. Both are motivated by the same primitive brain regions that control feelings.

‘The point’ comes when feelings demand it. It can only be rationalized from the axioms of primitive emotion. If these axioms are weak due to decalibration by civilization, ‘the point’ eludes us. If they are strong, we pursue our goals with passion and vigor.

Sat 16 Jun 2007 : Everyone and no one wants to save the world

When the world extended to one’s surrounding hills and mountains and over them was only legend, saving the world was approchable and a natural activity to all of independent character.

You do not need to justify the possession of these noble instincts. Such attributes are normally distributed. You have a constellation of these attributes and that makes you who you are. Recognise that the substantial ones are invariant.

You must satisfy your invariant instincts or you will be at odds with your own character. It is only when we are not at odds with our basic makeup that we can find life meaningful.

To exercise your instinct for saving the world, requires saving what you perceive to be the world.

Being modern, educated and wordly, the world you perceive is immense and this is disempowering compared to the valley world of your ancestors where your feelings were forged and where saving 10 people saved 10% of the “world”‘s population.

Here lays the difficulty in actualising your character. Your perception is of a world so vast that that you can not envisage your actions making a meaningful difference.

People try to fool themselves and others into believing that one can “think globally and act locally’, however to anyone with a sense of proportion (not most people, btw) thinking globaly makes acting locally seem to be a marginal activity. It’s not setting the world to rights.

To meaningfully interact with the world, you have to either constrain your perception of what it is back to valley proportions by eschewing all global information (most of us here have engaged on just the opposite course which is what has provoked this discussion), losing your sense of perspective, or start seriously engaging with the modern perception of the world.

That latter path can be hard to find, because it is only satisfied by creating ideas or inventions that have a global impact. Perhaps I have found one, and there’s others out there, but for most people of your character a combination of eschewing knowledge of those parts of the world they can’t change, and robust engagement with the parts they can is probably optimal.

Do not be concerned about when one is to do good, who defines good, etc. Act in the way you do because to do otherwise would to be at odds would to be at odds with yourself. Being on a path true to your character carries with it a state of flow, where the thoughts about your next step come upon waking, unbidden, but welcome.

I support similarly minded people, not because they are moral agents, but because they have common cause with my own feelings and dreams.

Tue 18 Jul 2006 : Laughter

Laughter is fear and relief. Fear is all around. Every step is conditioned by the fear of falling. It is the relief from primitive anxiety and alarm responses that give rise to laughter. The release of the breath that wasn’t needed. That sudden surprise rendered harmless by higher perception. Wonder, when accompanied by the expression of laughter is the unknown and fearful transformed. A transformation by subconscious brain functions typically of sub second duration. A transformation that takes the unknown and therefore possibly lethal and yields up the unknown and harmless to observe. Something to be explored, understood and remembered by wide eyed curiosity. Those eyes wide to suck in the world and a memory hungry for its details. A psychological and physiological stance that makes the unknown known. A state of maximal observational learning. 

  

Guía fácil para el aborto espontáneo (y salvaje) – Maria Llopis

Guía fácil para el aborto espontáneo (y salvaje) –

An Easy (and wild) guide to miscarriage (also available in English) –

Maria Llopis

1.- Definición de términos. ¿Qué es un aborto espontáneo?

Un aborto espontáneo o aborto natural es la pérdida de un embrión por causas no provocadas intencionadamente. Se distingue pues de un aborto inducido. El término se puede aplicar solo cuando la pérdida se produce antes de la semana 20 del embarazo, a partir de ese momento se denominará parto prematuro.

2.- Antes de abortar.

Las causas de los abortos espontáneos son un misterio para la medicina occidental y no hay nada que un médico pueda hacer para impedirlos. Si intentan recetarte progesterona, recházala. No hay pruebas de eficacidad y solo conseguirán ponerte de un humor depresivo y suicida.

Si te prohiben tener relaciones sexuales, desconfía. Se suele desaconsejar el sexo cuando hay amenaza de aborto (como pérdidas de sangre) pero no existe evidencia científica de que el sexo provoque el aborto. Lo que sí puede suceder es que empieces a abortar después de tener relaciones sexuales. Pero las relaciones no son la causa, simplemente estimulan un proceso que YA a empezado en tu interior. Es como cuando te viene la regla después de follar. No te viene la regla porque folles, te viene porque no te has quedado embarazada. Que no te confundan. Algunos ginecólogos tienen vocación de curas.

3.- No vayas a un centro médico.

Si te has hecho una ecografía y ya no hay latido (es decir el embrión ha muerto) vas a sufrir un aborto. Es solo cuestión de tiempo. Tienes que tener paciencia porque la cosa se puede demorar semanas. Prepara tu cuerpo y despídete. Cada caso es distinto. Cuando comience te darás cuenta, empezarás a sangrar y a sufrir calambres. No vayas a un centro médico porque hay muchas posibilidades de que te hagan una intervención muy agresiva y en absoluto necesaria.

 

Black Cross Collective First Aid for Radicals and Activists

http://www.blackcrosscollective.org

>>>> Basic first aid and safety for protesters, advice about medication in jail, protection against pepper spray and tear gas, tips for emotional / injury/ chemical weapons aftercare… A zine, the Activist’s Guide to Basic First Aid, to read / print /share…

“Black Cross Health Collective is an affinity group of health care workers who live in Portland, Oregon. We formed after the WTO protests because we saw a need for medical care that is specific to the radical community. We think our needs as radicals are different, and that groups like the Red Cross don’t give us the skills we need to keep ourselves and each other safe in the streets. So we called upon our own medical experience (as nurse practioners, nurses, EMT’s, clinical herbalists, and more), as well as our experience in demos
and direct actions, and formed Black Cross. Since then, we’ve done first aid trainings in Portland and around the country, provided medical support at local and national demos, and are conducting trials looking for a way to neutralize pepper spray.

We believe that health care is political. The kind of care we do or don’t receive, where and how we receive that care, who provides that care, who has access to training to provide care, and what kinds of trainings are smiled or frowned upon, all involve inherently political issues. We believe the system needs to be changed… the health care system right along with all the others.

We’ve put this zine together mostly to go along with a first aid training. While doing the trainings we realized there was way more to say about first aid than we would have time to say it in. So we thought a little reading would maybe be helpful to y’all.

Remember the most important words you can ever learn to say are “I don’t know.”

Fight the power, do no harm.”

Black Cross Collective 

TransH@ckFeminist (THF!) 2014, Calafou (Spain) 4-11/08

“The TransH@ckFeminist (THF!) camp, organised in collaboration with Calafou & /etc (eclectic tech carnival), is a gathering of intersectional feminists, queer and trans people of all genders interested in better understanding, using and ultimately developing free and liberating technologies for social dissent, as a alternative to the corporatisation of technologies and the digital world. We understand technologies in their broadest sense including computer systems, (distributed) networks, “pirate”, community and/or independent radio/ tv, guerilla knitting and gardening, looming, hardware hacking as well as gender hacking.”


transhackfeminist.noblogs.org/

 

THF – TransHackFeminist Evento (Español) from stoopt on Vimeo.

Regarde au loin

“L’oeil humain n’est pas fait pour cette distance; c’est aux grands espaces qu’il se repose. Quand vous regardez les étoiles ou l’horizon de la mer, votre oeil est tout à fait détendu; si l’oeil est détendu, la tête est libre, la marche plus assurée; tout se détend et s’assouplit jusqu’aux viscères. Mais n’essaie point de t’assouplir par la volonté; ta volonté en toi, appliquée en toi, tire tout de travers et finira par t’étrangler. Ne pense pas à toi, regarde au loin.”

Alain, Propos sur le bonheur.

Search Inside Yourself (mind GOOGLE)

SIY-book-bild

Google has mindfulness meditation courses for its employees (so do/did the military and Monsanto). The program, called Search Inside Yourself, focuses on attention training, self-discovery, self-mastery, and the creation of useful mental habits. The objectives are personal, inter and trans-personal, which include better efficiency, resiliency, innovation, vision, peace & like in the workplace and of course in business, and ultimately… World peace ?

Never-mind if meanwhile outside of Google, San Francisco residents rather suffer from the “growth”, and – while in the Silicon Valley – never-mind the mindfulness, happiness, and well being of the people mining coltan in the DRC, or the people assembling iPhones at the infamous Foxconn sweatshops (in what some call Buddha Abuses).

The head of the program, Chade Meng Tan, portrayed in this Guardian article, has these words : “Also if you treat everybody with kindness, they’ll like you even if they don’t really know why. And if they like you, they want to help you succeed. So it’s good for your soul and it’s good for your career.”

No doubt the skills can come in handy for a variety of individuals and groups with a variety of agendas and understanding of the word “kindness” (does it also sound like some PSYOP art of deception ?).

Chade Meng Tan compiled his teachings in a book, so that the outside world wouldn’t be left out. It is called Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace)

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, says about the book :

“This book and the course it’s based on represent one of the greatest aspects of Google’s culture—that one individual with a great idea can really change the world”

Oh really ?!

In 2011, Eric Schmidt met with Julian Assange, Wikileaks’ founder and editor in chief, to discuss the “New Digital Age”, which would later become a book written by Schmidt (the transcript of their meeting is here). When the book was published, Julian Assange gave his opinion about it in the New York Times in June 2013, in an article very well titled The Banality of “Don’t be Evil”.

Soon, a new book by Julian Assange will be out : When Google met Wikileaks, about the encounter, and in which Assange will expose his understanding of “Google’s culture”and his vision of the future of the Internet. The publisher OR Books says the book will include his proposal for “a radical overhaul of the naming structure of the internet, one which would revolutionise the way information is accessed”

Capture d’écran 2014-07-28 à 17.55.24

 

In the meantime, for an overview / reminder of what else “mindful” Google is up to, check the related timeline on the TerminatorStudies news archive. Nothing to relax about.

 

Prosthetic Surveillance

Prosthetic Surveillance: The medical governance of healthy bodies in cyberspace

(Emma Rich, Andy Miah)

Abstract : 

This paper examines how ‘surveillance medicine’ (Armstrong 1995) has expanded the realm of the medical gaze via its infiltration of cyberspace, where specific features of healthism are now present. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of biopower, we examine how digital health resources offer new ways through which to discipline individuals and regulate populations. The emergence of health regulation within and through cyberspace takes place in a context wherein the relationship between the body and technology is rendered more complex. Departing from early literature on cyberspace, which claimed that the body was absent in virtual worlds, we articulate a medicalized cyberspace within which the virtual and corporeal are enmeshed. 

The range of health issues articulated through surveillance discourses are many and varied, though of significance are those related to weight and health, as they provide a particularly rich example through which to study medical surveillance in cyberspace due to their moral and regulative focus. We argue that the capacity for health resources to encourage disciplinary and regulative practices defies the designation of virtual, as non-reality. Moreover, with the advent of a range of digital platforms that merge entertainment with the regulation of the body, such as Internet based nutrition games, and the use of games consoles such as Nintendo wii fit, cyberspace may be providing a forum for new forms of regulative practices concerning health. These virtual environments expand our understandings of the boundaries of the body, since much of what takes place occurs through both a virtualization of identity, such as the use of an avatar or graphic image of one’s body on screen, and a prostheticisation of the body within cyberspace. To conclude, while surveillance medicine regulates physical selves in real time, we argue that there is a growing tendency towards a prosthetic surveillance, which regulates and defines bodies that are simultaneously hyper-text and flesh. 

Full article (pdf) on Surveillance & Society journal :

http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/3256

Music For Heart And Breath, Richard Reed Parry

In love with Music For Heart And Breath, Richard Reed Parry‘s first classical composition album that came out a couple of weeks ago.

What it is, in his words :

“Very soft, very quiet music, played utterly in synch with the heart rates and breathing rates of the musicians performing it. Every note you hear is either in synch with the heartbeat of the person playing it, the breathing of the person (or one of the surrounding persons) playing it. So what you hear when this music plays is played precisely in time with someone’s quiet, internal rhythms. Brought to musical life by a handful of different ensembles.”

I feel this album is a gift for bodyworkers and caregivers. I also work with a stethoscope in massage sometimes -to amplify and interact with body sounds in real time- and I have been working with a musician in massage-music composition. To me, Music for Heart and Breath is both a soulmate, an inspiration, and a great auxiliary for working and teaching. I play it in individual massage sessions and I sometimes play it in my workshops, where it works as a great (sensational) auxiliary for learning (feeling) how to carefully approach and massage a person, body and mind.

Like it is said in this Pitchfork review of the album:

“There is a palpable aliveness to the performance that makes the six pieces, written for different configurations, feel like a guided meditation. This is body music, unquestionably, and by the end of the album the music’s subtle internal rhythms have reconfigured your own.” 

and

There are no fixed points, just motion along a spectrum, and we never know exactly where we are. But the uncertainty, familiar as it is, is oddly soothing. “

Milford Graves, holistic beat doctor

Milford Graves is a free jazz drummer and percussionist, music teacher, therapist, acupuncturist…

Intrigued by the powerful effects of music on body and mind, he started to explore the beats and harmonics of human hearts, to the point where he could detect pathological anomalies listening to the songs of people’s hearts, and even fix them with his computer programs and custom made beats.

He was, also, going back to the source code for music…

Find more about him in a series of short interviews on Tom Hall web show ImprovLive365.

There, from his studio in Queens Milford Graves talks about human rhythm and sounds, the healing potentials of sonic vibrations, cardio-pathology, metronomic “machine” time versus biological variability in time, percussionist and acupuncturist virtuosity, focus, innovation, creativity, yin yang theory… Deep !

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Read article Finding Healing Music in the Heart, by Corey Kilgannon, NYT, 2004

Mr. Graves, 63, a jazz drummer who made his mark in the 1960’s with avant-garde musicians like Albert Ayler, Paul Bley and Sonny Sharrock, performs only occasionally now. He spends about half his week teaching music healing and jazz improvisation classes at Bennington College in Vermont, where he has been a professor for 31 years. He spends much of the rest of his week in his basement researching the relationship between music and the human heart.

After descending the psychedelic-painted stairway into his laboratory, visitors are faced with a collection of drums from around the world, surrounding a network of computers. Wooden African idols spiked with nails rub up against medical anatomical models. Amid a vast inventory of herbs, roots and plant extracts sits an old wooden recliner equipped with four electronic stethoscopes connected to computers displaying intricate electrocardiogram readouts.”

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Read Interview with Milford Graves, on Perfect Sound Forever 

PSF: What have you found out with different ailments and responses in your work and research?

Some of the things are very standard, like the dynamics of loud and soft. Sudden explosive loud sounds would cause a very strong skin galvanic response- it would be very stresssful on the system.

At the college, we had people who had cardiac irregularities or arrhythmias. They were diagonised as non-organic arrhythmias- people couldn’t really get any help with using medication or trying to change their lifestyles. So I would co-ordinate some music that would be considering ‘free jazz,’ entirely spontaneous and improvised. Some of it was done live but some of it was pre-recorded. We would play these things and we found that with one particular person, his heart rhythm started to synchronize with what we had performed on the tape. Then we played live and we steadied the rhythm into a regular heart rhythm and his own heartbeat stopped being arrhythmic and then it co-ordinated with us. That was very interesting. Some people don’t believe this but I have all the documents about it- electrocardiograms and a tape with one track having our pre-recorded music and on the other track we actually had this person’s heart rhythm and you could see how it synch’s right in.

One long phrase of movement

Trio A (The Mind is a Muscle, part I), Yvonne Rainer, 1966

[Trio A] would be about a kind of pacing where a pose is never struck. No sooner had the body arrived at the desired position than it would go immediately into the next move, not through momentum but through a very prosaic going on. And there would be different moves-getting down on the floor, getting up. There would be this pedestrian dynamic that would suffuse and connect the whole thing. So the whole thing, though it would be composed of these fragments of movement unrelated both kinetically and positionally or shapewise, would look as though it were one long phrase. There would be no dramatic changes like leaps. There was a kind of folky step that had a rhythm to it and I worked a long time to get the syncopation out of it. In a way the opening da, da, da, da of the arms set the rhythm of the whole thing. There were exceptions to this rule, but this began to be the overall structure rhythmically and dynamically of this solo.”

-Yvonne Rainer, interview with Lyn Blumenthal, 1984, reprinted in Rainer, “A Woman Who . . . Essays, Interviews, Scripts” (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999), p. 64

Select a bone for viewing

eSkeletons provides an interactive environment in which to examine and learn about skeletal anatomy. The purpose of this site is to enable you to view the bones of both human and non-human primates and to gather information about them from our osteology database.”

Department of Anthropology, University of Austin Texas.

License CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Therapy Gauntlet

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“The Gauntlet is an interactive accessory designed for a specific application in the field of health and wellbeing: It serves as a therapy device for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) which is one of the most common hand diseases. Symptoms range from a burning, tingling numbness in the fingers, nocturnal rest pain, strength loss of the fingers and blood circulation disorders of the hand. The Gauntlet makes CTS patients aware of load situations and reminds them to vary their hand positions: One knitted sensor on the top of the hand realizes if the wrist is bent, another one at the palm and inner side of the arm measures pressure on the wrist.”

Design research lab project by Katharina Bredies & Hannah Perner-Wilson 

Chinese Martial Arts Manuals translated

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Here is a generous selection of 19th century to mid 20th Chinese Martial Arts Manuals (notably Taiji Boxing manuals) all translated to english and made available by Paul Brennan on his site. Original chinese scriptures are still in the copy along with vintage photographies and images. Interesting for practice, the manuals are also windows on chinese metaphysics and the fundamentals of Traditional Chinese Medicine (which the “gymnastics” are part of), and on chinese (war) history…

“The ideal thing to do is unite in association with each other and rouse our spirits to strive, to study intensively in the triple aspects of education [i.e. ethical, intellectual, physical] and let us be common friends against a common foe. Without strength of literature, how will these things be spread far? A single page carried by the wind can delay a culture’s decay.” 

Liu Qian, foreword to the TAIJI MANUAL OF XU YUSHENG

Le “santé-mentalisme”, outil du néolibéralisme – Entretien avec le psychiatre Mathieu Bellahsen

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Entretien vidéo avec le psychiatre Mathieu Bellahsen auteur de “La Santé Mentale – Vers un bonheur sous contrôle” (Ed. La Fabrique), sur Mediapart par Sophie Dufau.

http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/210614/mathieu-bellahsen-la-sante-mentale-est-devenue-un-outil-du-neoliberalisme

L’originalité de cet essai réside aussi dans la personnalité de son auteur. Psychiatre des hôpitaux (ex-président des internes en psychiatrie et cofondateur d’Utopsy), il suit au quotidien les malades d’un secteur de la banlieue parisienne. Fort de cette pratique, Mathieu Bellahsen est allé voir aux sources du concept de santé mentale pour comprendre son évolution. Le décryptage de textes essentiels – émanant de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS), de l’Europe ou du Centre d’analyse stratégique (service dépendant du premier ministre) – permet de saisir combien l’intention humaniste du milieu du XIXe siècle s’est muée, au début du XXe siècle et sous un vocabulaire positif, en norme impérative des comportements :

– « La santé mentale et le bien-être mental sont des conditions fondamentales à la qualité de la vie, à la productivité des individus, des familles, des populations et des nations, et confèrent un sens à notre existence tout en nous permettant d’être des citoyens à la fois actifs et créatifs », écrit l’OMS en 2005

– « Une personne en bonne santé mentale est quelqu’un qui se sent suffisamment en confiance pour s’adapter à une situation à laquelle elle ne peut rien changer », estime le Centre d’analyse stratégique en 2010.

– La prise en compte de la santé mentale permet « d’améliorer la disponibilité des ressources économiques », peut-on lire dans le Livre vert de l’Union européenne, publié en 2005.

 

Mémo de l’Atelier Observer-Hacker-Masser La MAIN du 14/06 @POOP, Paris

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Samedi 14 Juin j’ai animé un atelier de massage de la main lors du festival de hack et bidouille multidisciplinaire POOP du LOOP à Paris. Comme promis, pour mémoire et pour la curiosité et le bienveillant usage, voici notés ici les principaux éléments de l’atelier.

Avant toute chose, j’ai expliqué ce que, inspirée par l’informatique (!) j’appelle désormais le “handshake” en massage, ce moment initial très important, lors duquel s’établit la communication et que les corps / coeurs / esprits de l’un et l’autre partenaire s’accordent avant d’échanger par le toucher. Pour signifier cela, nous nous sommes offerts… des poignées de mains..!

handshake

Assis en rondes d’explorateurs et explorés, nous avons commencé par OBSERVER les mains…
Leur territoire… s’étend tout le long de l’avant bras jusqu’au coude, où s’insèrent certains des muscles aux commandes de la main…
D’où une première déduction majeure: un bon massage de la main ne s’arrête pas au poignet !
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Nous avons discuté des connaissances qui peuvent être collectées sur la main, des éléments d’anatomie pour comprendre sa “mécanique”, mais aussi des qualités de la main de la personne massée, cela pour “déduire” ensuite, en se fiant beaucoup à nos sens, quels gestes pourront être bons en massage…
surfacebras
Nous avons observer la structure au niveau osseux, au niveau musculaire, et tendineux, et ainsi nous avons pris des repères (par exemples les têtes des os de l’avant bras, le nombre de phalanges dans les doigts, les “câbles” des tendons, les “ventres” des muscles…)
teteUlna
Sans rentrer dans le détail d’une musculature riche et complexe permettant autant la force brute qu’une précision de pointe, nous avons identifié le groupe des extenseurssur la face postérieure (p comme poilue) de la main, et le groupe des fléchisseurs sur la face antérieure. Ces deux zones antagonistes sont “séparées” d’un côté par la tranche de l’os ulna, de l’autre par le muscle brachio-radial (celui qui gonfle quand on presse son poing vers le haut sous une table). Nous avons aussi parlé de deux autres mouvements importants, la supination (porter la soupe), et la pronation (renverser la soupe). Nous avons vu que le système musculaire fonctionne avec des musclesantagonistes les uns aux autres (l’un travail, l’autre se détend) et des synergistes (un ensemble principal et des assistants).Pour sentir cela nous avons exploré en passif, et aussi en actif, c’est à dire en demandant au partenaire de bouger ou résister à des forces.
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Les observations de structure sont importantes pour comprendre
– Comment on peut mobiliser, tenir, soutenir la main de la personne lorsqu’on la masse
– Comment on peut faire du bien en et ne pas faire de mal en suivant cette structure, os muscle tendons
– Comprendre comment différents éléments de structure seront massés différemment (par exemple le tendon beaucoup plus “résistant” moins irrigués et moins élastique qu’un muscle pourra être “scié” comme j’ai appelé, ou les os “poncés”…)
– Comprendre comment/pourquoi on a mal (par exemple une participante souffrait du syndrome de canal carpien)
– Avoir des idées sur comment moins ou ne pas se faire mal, améliorer sa posture, ses usages… avec son clavier, sa souris, ses raccourcis qui finissent par raccourcir nos muscles toute la journée (éviter notamment une position maintenue de la main en supination ou pronation, privilégier l’alignement des structures et repos du poignet..).
flexionExtMain
Quant aux qualités perceptibles sur la main du partenaire en particulier, il s’agissait de sentir des choses telles que:
– Y a t’il des réactions de plaisir ou de douleur selon ce que je fais, selon les endroits ?
– La main est-elle chaude, froide ? Moite ? Quoi d’autre ?
– Comment la main droite est-elle différente de la gauche ? Où sont les muscles les plus toniques ?
– Y a t’il des blessures auxquelles il faudra faire attention ?
– La peau est elle sèche ? Très poilue ? (c’est intéressant pour le choix, et le dosage d’huile, il faut beaucoup plus d’huile sur une peau poilue !!)
– Comment sont les tissus ? Plutôt gonflés, plutôt dégonflés ?
– Le bras, les articulations résistent-elles à nos mobilisations ?
Tous ces éléments nous guident ensuite dans l’exécution d’un massage adapté à la personne, et pour cela, on peut souvent juste se faire confiance… Ainsi, une main froide nous donnera une envie de la frictionner, un avant-bras lourd aux tissus gonflés, chaud, “chargé” nous donnera envie de l'”essorer”…La personne qui était “explorée” était elle aussi, bien sûr, en situation d’observation, de son propre ressenti, vraie clé des champs pour un bon apprentissage et la réalisation d’un bon massage…Sentir en massage, c’est comprendre / apprendre… et bien souvent même ne pas oublier !Et nous voyons comment OBSERVER a tendu logiquement vers HACKER modestement, la main, “ouvrir le capot” pour la comprendre (nous avons aussi ouvert un livre d’anatomie) et pouvoir déduire, inventer à partir de cela le MASSAGE qui suit…

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Pour le massage nous avons vu une manière confortable et saine de s’assoir en préservant son dos (a.k.a le zafu sitting) avec épaules basses, et comment se placer avec son partenaire, et sécuriser dans sa main/avant bras dans les nôtres. La paume de sa main pouvait par exemple reposer sur notre genou. Pour faire bouger son bras sa main, toujours partir d’une articulation. Parfois une main masse, l’autre maintient, en alternance, et parfois nos deux mains massent en même temps…
zafusitting
J’ai fait une démo de quelques uns de mes mouvements préférés, un peu à la volée et dans le désordre (!) puis nous nous sommes laissés aller, et finalement cela a débouché sur un “protocole” créé le jour, avec le langage du jour, que je vous note ci-dessous:- Ouverture de la zone à l’huile, main avants bras, en grand mouvements amples et superficiels. Plusieurs fois. On fait tout minimum 3 fois, pour un bon ressenti et une bonne intégration (la personne est sure de ne pas halluciné sur votre bonté de geste).
– Prise, et mobilisations, rotations douces, mais fermes, du poignet (une main tient, l’autre soutient) Optique un peu “diagnostique” (ambiance plutôt bras de fer avec la vie ? ou relax ? ou quoi?)
– Remonter le long de l’avant bras entre les ventres des muscles extenseurs…départ au poignet entre les têtes des os, et terminus sur les tendons en hauts.
– Descendre l’avant bras en “brûlures indiennes” (vous vous souvenez ce mouvement à l’école primaire ?), sortir en faisant le boa sur la main (anneau musculaire à une ou deux mains)
– Faire gentiment mais gaiement, sauter/danser l’articulation du poignet.
– Puis dans cette position, avec la pulpe d’un ou deux doigts, faire des cercles autour des têtes des os de l’avant bras.
– Scions du tendons sur le dos de la main. D’abord tous, puis un par un (doigt par doigt)
– Retourner la main, pour faire apparaître la paume, la tenir sécure comme j’ai montré avec les petits doigts dans les petits doigts
– Ecarter, lisser les eminences thénar, faire des cercles au centre… appuyer sur les coussinets..
– Pour terminer, improviser à partir de tout cela une manière de revenir au global après avoir fait du local (donc par exemple reprendre l’ouverture comme une fermeture) et repasser à du léger après avoir fait du profond.
WAHOU.L’astuce bonus mise en commun : avec nos deux mains, solliciter l’articulation du poignet du partenaire dans de subtils mouvement en 8 – aaah le 8 🙂

Précautions à prendre 
– Le point à éviter chez les femmes enceintes en acupression
– Toute pathologie ou inflammation, musculaire, tendineuse, osseuse.
– Allergies aux ingrédients dans l’huile
– Blessures
TOUJOURS demander avant, et aviser. Soit ne pas masser, soit masser léger et/ou pas longtemps, ou sans huiles etc.

L’huile employée était L’huile de massage et soin biologique Muscles et Articulationsde Florame, avec dedans, entre autres, de la gaulthérie, du bois de camphre, du genévrier…

Le livre d’exploration en anatomie était le très bon Trail guide to the body, de Andrew Biel (dont sont extraites la plupart des illustrations de ce post), disponible aussi en français en librairie, et aussi en datalove dans le pack ICI

MERCI à toutes et tous pour vos présences sympas et sagaces

MERCI à toute l’équipe du POOP / LOOP pour ce beau festival.

Spécial Merci Big up Hug à Okhin, Meli, Bram

Atelier Massages de la Main – Samedi 14 Juin @ POOP, Paris

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Samedi 14 Juin, 17h-19h @ POOP 

ATELIER MASSAGES DE LA MAIN

L’anatomie extraordinaire de la main en fait un outil capable d’exercer la plus grande précision, la douceur, comme la force brute. Le pouce à lui seul est contrôlé par 9 muscles distincts. Certains muscles prennent leurs origines et insertions sur les os de la main, d’autres au contraire s’étendent jusque dans le bras…

Point de contact, médiatrice de nombreuses interactions et réalisations, en direct ou par machines interposées… La main établit la communication entre personnes, signe l’amitié, la confiance… ou pas !

De là elle donne bien-sûr son nom au handshake en informatique, procédure d’établissement d’une communication entre deux terminaux ou logiciels. Cette étape initiale est particulièrement importante en massage, lorsque deux corps s’accordent avant d’échanger par le toucher.

Nous explorerons nos mains entre pairs et verrons comment, à partir de ce que nous observons, nous pouvons déduire comment leur faire du bien par le massage.

bryanchristieHands_human

Lire un autre billet Variations autour de la main à propos de l’article du National Geographic, The Common Hand

Image Andrew Biel Trail guide

Photo Bryan Christie

Le vent en *POOP* festival à bricoler soi-même 14 et 15 Juin PARIS

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Le weekend prochain aura lieu le POOP -Portes Ouvertes Ou Pas- festival de hack et bidouille multidisciplinaire à bricoler soi-même organisé par Le Loop à Paris. Le programme par définition participatif est rempli de bonnes choses à partager, des savoirs, des expériences, et bien sûr des moyens pour réaliser ces mises en commun. Jetez un oeil au programme et venez prendre soin de vous, des autres, du monde dans lequel vous voulez vivre, que ce soit en découvrant des moyens de réaffirmer et protéger la vie privée dans les communications à la chiffrofête*, en apprenant à cuisiner du seytan, en scannant des livres, en écoutant le récit de la campagne pour la neutralité du net menée par La Quadrature du Net, en soutenant Nos oignons et plein d’autres choses encore.

Quant à moi je serai là avec un Atelier de Massages de l’outil MAIN le samedi de 17h à 19h (+ de détails dans un autre billet). Ce sera aussi l’occasion de se rencontrer et de discuter de Hacking with Care avec qui voudra !

D’un point de vue du soin et de la santé, la question du Libre appliqué au vivant (Valentin Lacambre) et le Retour sur l’usage du jeu vidéo dans un atelier psy avec des enfants (Zora), tout deux au programme de samedi après-midi, retiennent mon attention… Comme beaucoup d’autre choses !!

Au plaisir de vous rencontrer !

* Qu’est-ce qu’une Chiffrofête ou Cryptoparty ?

Les outils techniques qui permettent de conserver un peu de vie privée sur un réseau Internet où nous sommes constamment espionnés et surveillés (par les publicités, les réseaux sociaux, les gouvernements…) ne doivent pas être l’apanage d’une petite poignée de gens plus habiles que les autres avec l’informatique. Chacun est en droit de s’approprier, à la hauteur de son niveau de compréhension, de ses besoins, de ses envies, ses différents outils.

Les chiffrofêtes sont donc des événements dédiés à l’apprentissage de la sécurité des communications en environnement numérique (Internet, mais également téléphoniques (SMS)). Le maitre mot étant la pédagogie.”