Thomas Prattki Centre, Berlin

I recently took part in a 2-year, part time training at the Thomas Prattki Centre in Berlin, ‘Integral Embodiment & Performance Making’.
Facilitated pathways I enjoyed: neutral mask (Jacques Le Coq), blind charcoal drawing & blind clay, voice resonance, dance visualisation and Alexander Technique. At various stages during the process, we were invited to create—to give shape to an emergent theme or resonance experienced within the container of the course. All mediums were welcomed.

Swampland

During the second module, swampland became an important partner in my process.
It is an environment that is illusory and impenetrable as it is mesmerising, a place of retreat and regeneration, and a sinkhole from which you never escape. The lotus grows from the swamp!

shibari-bone

During and in-between the course, I wove my own strings and ropes from wild plant fibres.
I spent hours weaving as a kind of meditation.
Below you can see one I made while in Berlin living next to a lake and studying.
When I got home, I signed up for some private Shibari tuition (Japanese Rope Bondage); I like the idea of making my own ropes for this also.

Later in the year, while in Portugal, I slipped a disc in my lower back.
This was the second time in 2 years. Apart from being fucking painful, it slows me right down.
I used walking to recover, going a little further each day.
During one of my walks, I found a backbone of some small creature, bleached white and lying on some sand dunes, and with some of the vertebrate discs still visible.

Back in the UK, I found myself wanting to turn the found backbone into a necklace.
Rather than tie a simple knot at the top, I decided to decorate it with some shibari-style decoration using the string I wove in Berlin.
As I tie/weave the string, I realise I am securing, fastening, supporting the backbone—holding it together.
The circle completes itself; I have a necklace to remind me to take care of my back.

Soul conversations through charcoal

One of my tutors in Berlin was the estimable Peter Oechsle. Among other mediums, Peter leads blind-guided charcoal drawing—to initiate conversations with the soul and new creative resonances. He plys his trade in the Black Forest, at the Initiatic Therapy school, Dürckheim Rütte.

Following his tuition, I was inspired to make my own charcoal, which became an enjoyable winter ritual.

Edited by Jay Simpson

Ecological Erotics

Sensuality extends itself, reaches into the soul; it’s an arc of eros that stretches through nature and the body.
The overlap fascinates me; one fleshes out the other, my erotic imagination takes flight.
I like to give shape to the love-body held in nature.