Being in the body / SenscienceAn interface of a bodymind practice, art, the humanities and science

In this image, is it art in the service of the emerging science of anatomy or is it anatomy in the service of the artistic image? This is a very accurate rendering of a skeleton but it is so much more. You can see and even feel in your own body the action of gravity on this skeleton.

You won’t find that sensation in a contemporary 3D anatomy app. Also the whole scene is quite dramatic. When you look at this image you immediately empathise with this character. Though he has no flesh and personal face he is so human and expressive. His posture says so much and the mirror neurons in your pre-motor cortex are imitating his posture so that

you actually kind of feel it in your body.

This image is from the famous 1543 manuscript by Vesalius, the founder of modern anatomy.

The skeleton though it lost all its flesh hasn’t lost the natural world it ‘lives’ in. It is standing in a landscape, a dramatic precipice. It is leaning on a man made stone monument with writing on it. So it is part of a specific civilization and historical time and place and again it is dealing with gravity, which is what skeletons do throughout history and geography. This skeleton is

contemplating a skull, so it seems this skeleton person is alive and the skull is dead. What a trick the artist played on us. He is alive because he is whole and standing. If he is dealing with gravity so successfully he must be alive. But the skull is surely dead.

He is not standing in the ‘anatomical position’. He has this nonchalant crossed leg and a bit slumped posture. Feel the gravity again. He is supporting himself on his right leg. The left foot is barely kissing the ground with the tips of its toes. This gives us a good view of the medial aspect of the foot. His left elbow is supported on the monument and he is a bit hunched over. His right hand gently covering the skull with very little weight it seems, or is it resting on the skull? Only the tone of the ghost of the biceps muscle could answer that. Gravity again.

Is this a depiction of male human anatomy or of the human condition? Wondefully it is both.

What is he thinking about, this bony guy? Death? The mind-body problem? The spirit of his

ancestors? Or is he simply examining the sutures of the skull? Of course that’s what he is doing.

This is an anatomy text. We are down to earth scientists. Just give us the bare detailed data.

Why do I keep mentioning gravity? Because gravity is not just a law of physics. It is our being in the world. It is our ever present, most exacting, most rewarding teacher and life/dance partner.

The image embodies a moment in history where science, art, philosophy and spirituality are not yet separated. This is the Renaissance. In Being in the body/Sensecience course we attempt to regain this wholeness. We move, it is a sensation based improvisational exploration of our bodies and it is a dance. We play with gravity as it plays with us, we ‘do physics’. We visit different places in our bodies combining our direct experience with anatomical and physiological information.

We bring our scientific musings into our body and contemplate/sense/feel them intuitively. We relax and take pleasure in the completeness of our experience. Pleasure is important. It is the way the organism measures it’s harmony, it’s well being. We let our body/mind reorganize in a natural way so that we can come out rejuvenated and perhaps with the seeds of new insights.