Body and Earth: An Experiential Guide (Middlebury Bicentennial Series in Environmental Studies)

Olsen, Andrea; McHose, Caryn

ISBN 10: 1584650109 / ISBN 13: 9781584650102

Published by University Press of New England, 2002

About this Item

Seller Inventory # Shelfdream1584650109

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Body and Earth: An Experiential Guide (Middlebury Bicentennial Series in Environmental Studies)
• Publisher: University Press of New England
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1584650109
• ISBN 13: 9781584650102
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

“Body is our first environment,” writes Andrea Olsen. “It is the medium through which we know the earth.” In a remarkable integration of environmental science, biology, meditation, and creative expression, Olsen, a dancer who teaches in the environmental studies program at Middlebury College, offers a guide to a holistic understanding of person and place. Part workbook, part exploration, Body and Earth considers the question of how we can best, most responsibly inhabit both our bodies and our planet. Olsen displays an easy command of fields as diverse as geology, biochemistry, ecology, and anatomy as she explores the ways in which our bodies are derived from and connected to the natural world. But Body and Earth is not just a lesson, it is also an investigation. Arranged as a 31-day program, the book offers not only a wealth of scientific information, but also exercises for both exploring the body and connecting with place; illustrations and works of art that illuminate each chapter’s themes; and Olsen’s own meditations and reflections, connecting the topics to her personal history and experience. Olsen insists that neither body nor landscape are separate from our fundamental selves, but in a culture which views the body as a mechanism to be trained and the landscape as a resource to be exploited, we need to learn to see again their fundamental wholeness and interconnection. Through hard data, reflection, exercises, and inspiration, Body and Earth offers a guide to responsible stewardship of both our planet and our persons.

About the Author

ANDREA OLSEN is Professor of Dance and faculty member in the Environmental Studies Program at Middlebury College. Author of Bodystories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy, she also performs, teaches yoga and creative writing, and offers workshops worldwide. CARYN McHOSE has a private practice in somatic movement therapy in Holderness, New Hampshire, and has taught creative movement internationally for more than forty years. She is coauthor, with Kevin Frank, of How Life Moves: Explorations in Meaning and Body Awareness