Psychology + Zen = Philosophy and methods to relieve suffering and reveal happiness.
Psychology: We project onto others what we reject in ourselves. Some call it a Shadow. Healing comes from making the unconscious conscious, taking responsibility for our projections, integrating what is split off as our own thing.
Zen: There is no separate self. When we can be at one with every aspect, then we belong everywhere and we reject no one.
We heal the world by becoming intimate with our whole selves.
What do you see when you see me now, head drooping, carefully stepping, barely balanced on sticks held by arthritic hands? "Bless you," I've heard, or "good job," or some just smile to show I'm included in this beautiful day. I am accorded that kindness reserved for heroic cripples who might have given up but instead still struggle, still battle, and maybe even overcome obstacles. Thank you.
Imagining my death last week I felt a little thrill, which interested me very much. It wasn't just the possibility of relief, it was a curve of curiosity. Dying might be super cool, alive as I am, dissolving into the One.
Curious about the thrill, I pursued it, gently lest I scare it away. I let it ring a little as I investigated hospice care and funeral homes, then heard it ringing as I felt the breeze, finally a little cooler in NYC, and as I relaxed in my abode, eyes dancing with the flow of forms I've created or, rather, felt into being. Language has always seemed treacherous to me
I'm excited to finally offer this little 6-minute vignette of the work of the PsychoZen Mixed Messages ensemble. Here we are playing with a format that I designed from the family therapy technique of sculpting. One person begins by arranging two people into a shape that expresses a relationship between mother and daughter. It could be her own relationship or an imagined one. Then the players reveal the sensations, emotions, thoughts and desires that arise. The director modifies the flow and the sculptor continues to shift the tableau according to what is happening, what is needed. It enables us to move and shift trauma, and emerge with freedom and love.
November 2020
Ekin talks to her mother. The company participates. Are they supporting or hindering?
A 15 minute set including this improvisation will be featured at Movement Research on Mondays at Judson Church. We are in good company. On the same evening, my daughter, Vita Taurke, will show her work, along with John Jasperse and Larissa Velez-Jackson. May 11th. Save the date!
Cinematographer: Traven Rice
featuring
Ekin Naz Demirok
Katelyn Atanasio
LaVeda Davis
Ara Fitzgerald
Katherine Ann Marie
Yuriko Miyake
ReW Starr
Directed by Elena Taurke
January 2020
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