COMPANION NOTES: the urgent need for regenerative practices

When I put down my phone, I put down the weight of witnessing the dark stuff of the world – and I talk to my dog.

I talk to my dog and I say, not even Jung can call this shadow. It’s nothing so nebulous. I say, it’s more like the bottom of a rotting swamp that’s been stirred up. It might be gold-plated, but the stench is vile, and it’s been seeping under our doors for a long time. We just haven’t been paying attention. Are we paying attention now?

I say, let’s go for a walk and see if there are any signs of spring - ah yes, I say, look there are the first snowdrops.

And then I think about Virginia Giuffre and others, whose stories will be horrifying to hear, and yet we must, if only to apportion shame where it belongs - on the perpetrators. And, the snowdrops are not enough to soothe the soul. We need to walk on.

So, on we go, along the slippery tracks beside the desolate fields with the bite of the cold, north-easterly swiping at my face. It’s cold, but then not really; not when I remember winter in Ukraine without power; winter in Gaza without homes; winter in Minnesota with unprecedented ICE.

And now we are walking further than we have for a week or more – the dog and I, the unruly wind dispersing my thoughts as it hurtles over the Fens. Now, it’s just about each step as we start our circuit back home; each muddy stride warming the blood, reviving the bones.

And for all that it was long and cold, the walk was regenerative. At home, we are tired but revived - well, I was revived, the dog was just tired.

All this goes some way to say that regenerative practices do not have to look a certain way, and that to stay engaged in whatever modes of resistance we have at our disposal, we need them more than ever. Find what works for you.

For me, whether I am in movement enquiry or contemplative practice; walking with my dog or singing with my choir, or indeed adhering my bodymind to a row or two or three of rhythmic crochet, I can slip into a state of just being, free from all the mindstuff, just for a while and know that I am not turning away from the world, rather ensuring that I can remain engaged for longer.

FOUR GUIDED MOVEMENT PRACTICES & YOGANIDRA