Integral Body Research
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From time to time the IRC staff will use this blog to showcase Integral researchers. This time it’s Dylan Newcomb… If my experience is any indication, Integral scholar-practitioners will be fascinated, challenged, and inspired by the work of Dylan, a Julliard-trained dancer, choreographer, and inventor of an approach to body-mind development called the 16 Ways. I met Dylan at a Bay Area Integral event in May, where he lectured on and danced the 16 Ways, and facilitated us in movement-based inquiry into the nature of being-in-the-world. The 16 Ways is “an easy, yet powerful body-mind practice which greatly increases the flow in our life by stimulating movement between opposite energetic poles on the levels of mind, body, and emotions.” Basically, Dylan developed the 16 Ways through years of experimental research on the bioenergetics of consciousness, in particular through exploration of the relationship between the breath, sound, body movement, and thought. This exploration was carried out in large part through sessions with various communities of dancers and workshop participants. Currently, Dylan is studying how practicing the 16 Ways influences the physical body by examining the effect of these movements on an individual’s blood. In particular he has found that individuals doing two different movement sequences of the 16 ways have shown “less clotting, less imbalances, rounder, more solid cells and more oxygen”. So, Dylan’s body of work and ongoing research represents a fine example of mixing subjective, intersubjective, and objective methods and perspectives. I might add that Dylan pursued his work for many years without awareness of the AQAL model. Since discovering AQAL, Dylan has made intriguing points of connection with it, intriguing because of his unique and integrative movement-based approach to disclosing and describing phenomena. For instance, imagine Dylan articulating the four quadrants simultaneously through spoken word and his body, with the four quadrants being presented as: the content of an object (UL); the form of an object (UR); the content of a relation (LL); and the form of a relation (LR). Also noteworthy is the Spiral Dance, which is an application of the 16 Ways to the spiral of consciousness. More specifically, it’s “an embodied journey through the evolution of consciousness.” Imagine—and try—that! For more information on Dylan and his research and workshops (as well as some great video clips) check out his website: www.dylannewcomb.com We are excited to see what emerges in Dylan’s ongoing integral research on the intersections between body, breath, voice, and movement. Jordan Luftig MA |
