Kerstin Kussmaul
ADD-ON | Psoas Connection – Experiential Anatomy

From a biological perspective, the matrix refers to the origin of things. Thus, matrix means ‘mother’ or uterus. Zooming into the body, the term matrix refers also to the extracellular matrix – the connective tissue in which all cells are embedded. This extracellular matrix creates an environment for the cells and is also closely connected to our nervous system. So much for cell biology.

So what does the matrix have to do with rewilding? The term ‘rewilding’ is used to describe ecological regeneration – that is, enabling an ecosystem to create balances, interactions, favorable conditions for thriving and a certain distribution of resources. Such rewilding increases biodiversity and resilience. It is therefore concerned with the interaction of individual organisms with the ecosystem. And so, it is the idea of ‘environment’ that links the extracellular matrix with rewilding.

The Rewilding the Matrix workshop aims to make the environment that exists within our bodies - the extracellular matrix – vibrant and diverse: Thrive and Resilience. This is achieved by consciously interweaving the nervous system with the connective tissue. The relationship between the cell and the extracellular matrix is also reflected on a macro level - as the relationship between the individual body and the environment.

This somatic exploration is both slow and deep and can also express itself spontaneously and uncontrollably. We are always simultaneously doing, resting, observing and being observed. This observing is always a sharing, never a judging: a ‘with-nessing’, as philosopher Bracha Ettinger says. We move from being to doing and back again.

With the help of touch, improvisation and vibration, we reorganize ourselves in solo and ensemble experiments. Groups are the diversity within us. Repetition and variation are what engage our nervous system and allow us to let go at the same time. We practice being radically experience-oriented and curious. Sometimes we reduce our habit of speaking in order to find that which has no language.

Participation requires experience in somatic work of any kind.

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