İnsanın telefonuna bu kadar bağlı olması… Onsuz nasıl yaşıyorduk? 2000 öncesi… Bilişsel haritalarımız tamamen değişti. Beynimiz, beyin yapımız değişti vallahi…

İki gün kadar önce ‘2014 Yerel Seçiminde Sandık Müşahidi olan bir Oy ve Ötesi gönüllüsünün Güncesi’ adlı bir yazı yazdım. O yazı, seçimin hemen sonrasındaki taze izlenim ve duygular eşliğinde yazılmıştı. Aradan geçen birkaç gün içinde yaşadığımız gelişmeler ile, öncekinin yanına bazı yeni gözlemler ekleme ihtiyacı doğdu. Bunlar esasen iki başlık altında toplanıyor: Oy ve Ötesinin bizlerden istediği, ‘geleceğe yönelik öneriler’ ve bu oluşumun niteliğine dair düşünceler.

1. Geleceğe yönelik öneriler:

Zaten dile getirilmeye başladı, tekrar olsa da katıldığım önerileri de dahil ederek bir sonraki seçimdeki etkinliğimizin daha başarılı geçmesi için aşağıdaki önerileri yapabilirim:

–        Sürecin çok daha uzun bir döneme yayıldığın hesaba katarak, seçmen listelerinin oluşumundan oyların seçim kurullarına teslimine, itirazlara ve yeniden sayım isteklerine kadar tüm aşamaları düşünerek her biri için ayrı strateji geliştirmek.

–        Müşahit eğitimi paketlerinde ortaya çıkabilecek her durum ile ilgili kanun maddelerini eşleştirmek. Belki sandık başı ortamını canlandırma oyunları oynamak, böylece gönüllülerin kendilerini işe daha hakim hissetmelerini ve sonradan çıkacak soruları başından daha detaylı olarak öngörme fırsatı vermek.

–        Sandık başı aşamasında, sayıların elvermesine bağlı olarak her sandığa bir değil iki müşahit göndermek. Hangi partiden kart alınacağında daha stratejik olmak, Sandık Kuruluna girmek için daha fazla şansı olan kartlar aldırmak (mesela bir müşahit CHP/MHP/LDP kartı alır, biri bağımsız aday kartı).

–        Oyların teslimi: Bu aşamada da müşahit görevlendirmek. Vardiyalı çalışılabilir, zira gecenin o saatine kadar çoğu kişinin enerjisi tükeniyor.

Seçimin şeffaf geçmesini sağlayan müşahitlik projesinin yanısıra, daha geniş anlamda demokrasi kültürünü geliştirmeye yönelik başka projelerin de Oy ve Ötesi’nce tasarlanıyor olabileceğini tahmin ediyorum. Belki Anayasa okumaları, farklı konularda kanun ve yönetmelik okumaları, avukatların desteğiyle hukuki farkındalık yaratma ve yasal hak arama becerisi geliştirme seminerleri vb etkinlikler, meclis çalışma düzeni ile ilgili bilgilendirmeler, siyasal partilere üyelik ve çeşitli kollarında çalışmak için teşvik ve hazırlık niteliğinde etkinlikler, KADER gibi doğrudan siyasetle ilgilenen derneklerle beraber çalışmalar, AKP’nin etkin örgütlenme sisteminin incelenip bu modelin farklı amaçlarla uyarlanabileceği örgütlenmeler olabilir.

2. Oy ve Ötesi oluşumunun niteliği:

Oy ve Ötesini önemli ve kayda değer bulmamın bir nedeni, genelde fazla rahat ve apolitik yaşadığı imajına sahip olan eğitimli, üst sosyo-ekonomik kesimden ve çoğunlukla genç vatandaşların önemli bir sosyal amaçla, sıkı bir örgütlenme içine girişini sağlamasıydı. Bazı kestirme ikilikler vardır, toplumsal konuları kolay anlayabilmek için yaptığımız: mesela ‘örgütlenemeyen sol’ ve ‘örgütlenebilen sağ’ gibi. Bu algıyı kıran, toplumuzun çok ihtiyacı olan, nitelikli insan kaynaklarını harekete geçiren türde bir oluşum olması benim çok hoşuma gitti. Sonuçlar da o yüzden şaşırtıcı derece etkiliydi sanırım. Gerekli unsurların bir araya gelip de bunun gerçekleşmesi çok sık olan bir şey değil. Zaten bu seçimleri özel kılan o aciliyet, ölüm-kalım meselesi hissi de ender bir fırsat yarattı, yeterince duyarlı olup Oy ve Ötesi/ Sandık Başındayız oluşumlarına kaydolabilenler için.

Bir yandan da, Oy ve Ötesi’nin kimliğini ve ülkenin sosyal panoraması içinde nereye oturduğunu da sık sık sorar buldum kendimi.  Girişimin eğitimli ve genç yapısı, her ne kadar AKP’ye de başvurmuş olsa da (doğal olarak onlara ihtiyacı olmayan AKP örgütlenmesi tarafından ilgi görmeyerek) aslında oluşumun iktidar dışındaki başlıca partilerle daha yakın bir amaç uyumluluğu ve iletişiminin olması (müşahitlik kartlarını aldıkları partilerle mesela), ister istemez oluşumu biraz ‘Gezi’ saflarına konduruyor, akıllarda. Toplumumuzun içine düştüğü/ düşürüldüğü malum kutuplaşma ortamında, ‘Çapulcu’ mu ‘Hüloğcu’ mu diye seçmek gerekirse yanıtı oldukça net olur. Oy ve Ötesi ekibi, “ikisi de değil, biz bağımsız ve herkese eş mesafedeyiz” diyeceklerdir, sanırım. Ama bu güçlü ve doğal kimlik yakıştırma eğiliminden kurtulmak o kadar kolay değil. Ben de “Oy ve Ötesi aslında Gezi’nin Sandık Ayağı” önermesini kabul edebilirim. Ancak Gezi’de sihirli bir kapsayıcılık, kucaklayıcılık hali vardı. Dün akşam Sosyal İnovasyon Merkezi’nce organize edilen etkinlikte konuşan ekip üyelerine bakınca, biraz ‘corporate’ tavırlar (İngilizce sözcükler kullanmalar mesela) bazı arkadaşlar arasında bu toplumu kapsayıcılık ve inandırıcılık potansiyellerini gözümüzde düşürdü. Belki bu noktada önemli olan, Oy ve Ötesinin kendini nasıl konumlandıracağı. Bunu partiler ve toplumun kabaca ayrıldığını gördüğümüz ana kesimleri (AKP/ dindarlar, CHP/ laikler-ulusalcılar, MHP/ etnik Türkçüler, HDP/ Kürtçüler, ayrıca Aleviler, diğer solcular vb) açısından da yapabilir  ve kendini otoriter/demokrat, muhafazakar/liberal (ya da kısaca İktidar ve Muhalefet) gibi ikililiklere göre tanımlayabilir. Hiç tanımlamasa bile bir şekilde başkaları tarafından tanımlanacaktır. Belki bu konuda samimi ve net bir duruş göstermesi iyi olur. O zaman da CHP ve diğer liberal/sosyal demokrat/ sol partilerin daha iyi örgütlenmesine destek olmayı seçer.

Bir başka duruş da şu olabilir: madem fazla ‘Gezici’/muhalefet olarak tanımlanmak istemiyoruz, toplumun tümüne kucak açmak, ulaşmak istiyoruz, o zaman da seçim günü müşahitliklerimiz sayesinde zaten güzelliklerini kısmen tadabildiğimiz, ‘öteki’ ile olumlu bir ilişki/paylaşım çalışmalarına ağırlık vermeli. Bu bana çok hoş bir fikir gibi geliyor, ve belki fazla idealist olacak ama toplumsal cepheleşme/ yarılmalarımızı yumuşatmaya ve empati/diyalog kültürünü geliştirmeye biraz olsun katkısı olabilir.

İşte böyle.. Umarım yararlı bir şeyler bulunabilir bu gözlemlerden.. Oy ve Ötesi’nin onu şu anda bizim için özel yapan niteliklerini koruyarak kurumlaşmasını ve daha çok uzun sürecek güzel bir hikaye yazmasını diliyorum. Teşekkürler.

(Excerpts from my annual New Year Letter to friends, written shortly before the corruption scandal erupted in Turkey on December 17, 2013)

As another year rolls by, let me send best wishes for a Happy New Year! May it bring you good things.. good health, love, success, fulfillment… We are all in pursuit of a good life, and in my own pursuit to this end, I have had a rather interesting, and perhaps even special, year of efforts and events.

Shortly before the New Year, I moved my belongings, my cats and then myself from Abu Dhabi to Istanbul. I left behind a life built up over close to five years, made up of a wonderful, international mix of friends, a well-paying government job in cultural heritage (a miracle for this sector!) of some status and responsibility, and the lifestyle opportunities of a young, rich country optimistically looking forward to a bright future. It may sound crazy to do this, but I knew it was time to move out and back into my own country. Because there was also some kind of a life that continued to exist there for me, both personally and professionally. And the United Arab Emirates is a place of transience, especially if one does not have a family with them there to give a sense of home and stability, and if one is not an Arabic speaker (at least for me, who would like to understand the local culture more deeply). Being a true part of a place, preferably as a citizen with stakes and rights in the local governance, feels to me like a fundamental need. As a government employee (even an expatriate one), one had a certain extent of involvement in how the country was being developed, but the limits of attachment and belonging became clear sooner or later.

I am a ‘third culture kid’ (TCK) who continued to be a nomad during graduate studies and working life, and I must say I enjoy participating in the ‘international life’ (being with people of different cultures, traveling often, observing and interpreting intercultural relationships, etc.). However, the issues of ‘home’ and ‘stability’ have continued to bother me throughout this time. I know I am not alone in that, as I hear other TCK or expats talk similarly. I suppose a balance is needed. For me, the solution of the moment has been to move to Istanbul. A completely new experience (as I had previously lived not there but in Ankara), and an exciting, challenging city with some cosmopolitan character, though not as much as it historically had and not as multi-cultural as the UAE. Still, Istanbul nowadays is a ‘happening’ place (I love that many friends flying from the Middle East to Europe or North America transit in Istanbul and we can meet up), as the cultural and economic heart of Turkey, which is also a ‘happening’ country (!).

Until this spring, Turkey was interesting for the world because of its economy doing so well in contrast to the crisis-stricken Eurozone, and its apparent ‘moderate Islamic democracy’ working as a model for the Muslim world and the Middle East. As of May 31, it became yet more interesting with the Gezi protests erupting in Taksim, Istanbul (the district to which I had just moved, as luck would have it!), after police pepper sprayed civilians in Gezi Park and set their tents on fire. The protests, as you would have seen in the news and through our tweets and Facebook posts, started as a peaceful ‘tree hugging’ event to defend Gezi Park, the equivalent of Hyde Park in London or Central Park in New York City, against an unlawful mall construction project, but became symbolic of all that was wrong with the current government of Turkey (increasing Sunni majoritarian politics, suppressing Alawites’ rights or dismissing through token liberties those of the Kurds; one-strong-man rule by Erdoğan; threats to liberal, secular lifestyles through legislation, public narrative and behavior regarding issues like alcohol, women’s rights/segregation and education), as it spread to 79 out of Turkey’s 81 provinces.. #direngezi (‘diren’ meaning ‘resist’ in Turkish) and #occupygezi were popular hashtags and ‘çapulcu’ the nickname for a Gezi protester, going around and inspiring a whole variety of others..

Having attended the protests starting from those first seminal days in late May, I feel lucky to have witnessed this historic event, only getting a mild dose of police violence, in the form of pepper spray (a few times on the streets and once in my 4^th-storey flat, about which I began taking legal action but could not follow through to the end when I lost focus). The only time I thought I was in real trouble and headed for the Beyoğlu police station was when a friend made a prank phone call impersonating an officer investigating my online social media activity. I really did believe him! There had been a few people arrested on that charge, and in the environment of repressed dissent and extreme worry, it was not so far from plausible.. Thankfully, I did not get into any trouble, and have continued to tweet away like millions of others. In the most heated days, many of us here had their daily routines completely disrupted, being glued to our computer screens till the small hours of morning for days on end. I seriously started to sleep around 3 or 4 am regularly for a few weeks during the summer.

Now, the protests are not as visible, first having been channeled into the park forums all across big city neighborhoods after the park was evacuated and cordoned off by the police, followed by several separate events like the ‘staircase painting’ protests and those against the road project cutting through my alma mater Middle East Technical University in Ankara. However, it is still a common feeling, amidst continuing distress about the deteriorating institutions of the secular Republic, that once the ‘Gezi spirit‘ has been awakened, Turkey has not been and will never be the same again. We certainly hope for positive change, as the local elections of March 2014, presidential election later next year and the general elections of 2015 approach. Although the AKP still has a wide supporter base, especially among the conservative Anatolian hinterland, the emerging voices of dissent from high-ranking members of the AKP and the rupture between AKP and the Fethullah Gülen movement (the influential ‘imam’ exiled in the US) are all interesting signs we are watching as signals of more change to come. We shall see. Sorry this is a big load of Turkish politics, but it’s what life in Turkey is like for intellectually and socially aware people- more urgent than ever an issue in our consciousness..!

This all said, it is true that daily life does indeed go on despite all politics. Coming back to how my year has been on a personal level, I can describe it as the partial realization of a long-awaited ‘sabbatical year’, where previous structures were dismantled, and I have had quite a free daily rhythm. Something very welcome, particularly in the early months and when the weather got better in the Spring. Having no regular job (except for the odd small freelance planning job for my old employer or thesis editing), I spent the first part of 2013 focusing on my ‘house project’, finalizing the renovation and then the furnishing of my new flat in a historic building near the Galatasaray High School on Beyoğlu’s İstiklal Avenue, overlooking the neo-classical palaces of the French, Italian, Dutch and Russian Consulates and the Tuscan-looking landscaping of historic Pera’s diplomatic quarters, as well as a side view of the Hagia Sophia and Galata Tower. The apartment has no elevator, which means a steep climb of four levels up to the flat, and I sometimes don’t feel like going out at all! I have developed some nice relations with my neighbors, both in the building (I became manager of the flat and mobilized the neighbors to have our basement cleaned, after which we are now working on some repairs on the façade and interior shared spaces) and on the street (a lady feeding the street cats, the grocer, the ‘bakkal’ (corner shop/ drugstore), the frame shop, the vintage/ costume boutique owner, two real estate agents and the parking lot attendant have become occasional chatting stops on the more leisurely days). However, the streets, both mine specifically and those generally in Istanbul, are seldom easy terrain to negotiate- the steep slopes, the badly-maintained sidewalks/ street surfaces, the often aggressive metropolitan pedestrians and unruly motor vehicles, especially the less well-behaved men who take women for granted as easy targets for mild visual and verbal harassment, all keep one on the alert against possible mishaps. I walk a lot now, which is great after limited facilities of this in Abu Dhabi, and use the more pleasant modes of public transport such as the ferry across the Bosphorus (usually from Karaköy to Kadıköy to see my sister in Moda, but sometimes also Kabataş and Beşiktaş), the tram and the metro. Even though I have set up/ been living my daily life in a comfortable circuit mainly confined to Beyoğlu, even that can be quite tiring, and I cannot foresee how long it will last, given my current transitional year not expected to go on forever!..

Which brings us to the Fall 2013 Semester, when my rhythm changed and I started a post-doc at the Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations of Koç University, one of the more established and well-reputed private universities of Istanbul (the Koç companies group have also earned the ‘çapulcu’ reputation, as they sheltered injured protesters and are now under all kinds of weird audits by the government). I applied for the senior archaeological site management fellowship at RCAC in January and was awarded it in April, as a non-residential, one-semester fellow. I am working on a site management plan for the town of Mudurnu, which was also one of my PhD case studies. A lot of traveling there, meeting local officials/ stakeholders, running after official letters of endorsement, researching methodology, etc. Not sure if it will be a successful plan, but a worthwhile process which I am thinking of following through after my fellowship period as well, to get true results, which takes time. Hopefully it will be possible to devote the necessary time, either by arranging funds to pay me a fee, or doing it free but at a more leisurely pace beside other work.. The group of fellows at RCAC, about 30, are an interesting mix of international + Turkish doctoral candidates or post-doc researchers, and the environment of scholarly debate, regular seminars, field visits and some accompanying drinks in the evenings, are intellectually nourishing. I am grateful for this step into academic life in Istanbul that RCAC has been providing.

Academic/ professional life has also provided occasions for trips abroad, namely a study tour of the University of York Conservation Alumni Association to Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in April, and the annual conference of the Scientific Committee for Vernacular Architecture (CIAV) of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in Portugal. (I am glad to have been accepted as a member of ICOMOS Turkey this July, and hope to make the best of that responsibility/opportunity). I also traveled to Abu Dhabi in March for some remaining personal business and to see friends, which was nice in terms of letting me feel I could return now and then and continue that piece of my life over there. But in general the trips have been quite expensive, and now more of a luxury compared to the financially comfortable Abu Dhabi life! It has been nice to catch up with friends abroad who visit Istanbul/ Turkey, though, both from Abu Dhabi and elsewhere.

Apart from the fellowship, my longer term professional plans involve being a part-time freelance consultant and part-time lecturer at one or two universities, based in Istanbul with short-term business trips as needed. I have a few connections and options under discussion, none of which have been confirmed yet. This does not throw me into panic, as the whole philosophy of going on a sabbatical type of year was not to rush but to explore, be strategic and find the best fit for what I aspire to and can best manage to do. This new lifestyle, preferably, will have more time for art and creative pursuits in it. So far, the main activities on this front have been joining a weekly life drawing group, formed maily by art-loving Istanbul expats (see https://www.facebook.com/groups/467712729916411/) and participating in an art exhibition organized by the Chamber of City Planners in Ankara with a cement + olive seed installation (see photo).

(…)

I will leave you at this point… Again, may you have a blessed New Year, 2014..!

Mutlu, sağlıklı, başarılı, sevgi dolu bir Yeni Yıl dilerim!

Ege

(Well, now that all hell broke loose in Turkey, and everyone is wondering not ‘whether or not’, but ‘how much’ hardship 2014 will bring to the country, let us add an extra wish to be optimistic and keep the chin up, no matter what!)

 

Yavaşla, sakin ol, topraklan, kök sal, merkeze gel, nefesin ve bilincin açılsın, enerjin aksın, farkındalığın artsın, güçlen, canlan, uyan, harekete geç…ama farkındalıkla..

The Race to Slowness
Engage in the oft-missing luxury of unhurried movement. Life is so fast, especially modern life. We get out of balance with the speed, intensity, complexity. Slowness is something we miss, at a deep level, something we crave.

1. Improve Lymph Flow
Going at slow speed activates the pulsing lymph flow in the entire body, because it resonates with the slow, rhythmic way lymph likes to move. An enormous flow of lymph fluid can move through your body. Optimizing your lymph flow will increase the many valuable tasks that the lymph does, such as clearing up cellular wastes, draining toxins, reducing inflammations, fighting infections, preventing illness and generally cleaning up the interstices of your body. Going at Tai chi speed activates the lymph flow in the entire body. Lymph likes to pump through the many nodes and vessels of the body at a slow rate: a six to 8 second pulse is ideal.

2. Notice More
The more you can discern in a relaxed state, the more you empower yourself. Practicing any movement slowly allows you to notice more within the movement. You enhance awareness of sensations, your breath, where your mind is, and different aspects of your body. Going fast, you skip over things. There is so much to notice in your body that you never have before. The more you can, in a relaxed state, notice, the more you empower yourself. Take time to enjoy the scenery, to partake of the pleasures of movement. Learn and assimilate what you notice.

3. Allow Time to Connect More of your Body Together
In Qigong and the internal martial arts you practice using all parts of the body. You don’t want any portions of your body languishing, lazing, hiding. You want complete movement everywhere. Slowness allows the ignored or left-out places a chance to engage in the movement. These shadow places are areas of pain, chronic problems, lowered function, and trauma. Getting them involved in the healing movement is quite empowering on many levels. Parts and places are better; and the whole is better

4. Ground, Root and Center
Three of the most important principles of Qigong are Grounding, Rooting, and Centering. Each of these are easier to learn and enhance by going slowly. Grounding is when your body’s energy flow is equalized within and without (like the grounding you would do with an electrical wire.) Rooting is relaxing the tension downward to create physical stability. Centering is putting your mind into your lower abdomen (Lower Dantian.)

5. Improve Your Breathing
It is easier to take deep, full, even, long and relaxed breaths when you move slowly. In slowness, it is easier to integrate your breath with your movement. Improving your breathing is probably the most basic and most useful method of a long life of health. Qigong at it’s bedrock level is really breath training. Proper breath training can alleviate, improve or cure just about any chronic illness you can name. Chronic illnesses, whatever they are called, are, in a big way, a failure of whole body, healthy breathing.

6. Switch from Fight/Flight to Relax/Heal
Our stressed out nervous systems are usually unbalanced in some kind of futile fight against the intensities of the modern world. The autonomic nervous system handles the various internal processes of the body like organ function, digestion, blood cell production and internal communications. The sympathetic part of this system is Yang—active and fast and easily overfed by stress. Slow Qigong practice releases the hole of the overworked sympathetic side and engages with the too-ignored parasympathetic side. It is the parasympathetic nervous system where most healing is enabled. The parasympathetic slows you down (think “parachute.”) This is the Yin aspect of the autonomic (automatic) nervous system of the body.

7. Qi Moves like Water
Qi is a vast concept that basically means full, fluid, intelligent, enlivening flow. The Qi of your body connects distant parts of your body into one unit of movement. But it does it within certain rules of motion. “Qi,” it is said, “moves like water;” while consciousness moves as fast as light. One aspect of health, is the full flow of Qi throughout the body. Qi, like water, flows by going under, over, through, or around obstacles in it’s path. Whatever obstacles you may have in your body—whether through tension, injuries, congestion or compression—your Qi has to find a way through. Water and Qi are ever-changing. This takes a moment. With your thinking you can just be somewhere—poof, instantly. With Qi, which is the interconnecting flow of your body, it takes time. If you go too fast, you don’t give your Qi time enough to authentically flow. Going too fast is a mechanical approach dictated by your brain. Going slowly, you give your Qi time enough find its way and to strongly flow. Going too fast is a mechanical approach dictated by your brain.

8. Coordinate Posture, Movement, Breath, Mind, and Qi
Aligning these five factors is Qigong. When all five aspects are engaged in synchronized, mutually-supporting, principle based concert, you are practicing Qigong. For instance, when you begin a move, you begin to inhale. Likewise, when you finish the move, you complete your exhale. All through, the movement is smooth and regular, as is the breathing.

The effects of Qigong can be felt very early in your training. Your body is not doing one thing while your mind is doing another. You are not exercising while thinking about the movie you watched last night. You are not haphazardly breathing while sending Qi to your toe and slumping your torso. Yet, it takes a long dedication to practice and refinement of principles to gain gobs from Qigong. (Remember: practice is fun.) When these five factors are all moving together, in a whole-body synchronization, you are engaging in great self-healing work. You will like what you feel and love not getting sick much (or at all.)

9. Strengthen Muscles
Many of us use faster movements to propel our body into movement. We use momentum rather than strength. Throwing ourselves around with willpower, we drain our internal resources. (This is the story of my first 30 years on this planet.) Slow movement develops a full-muscle strength that is different than that unhealthy explosive power. By actively using more of each muscle in each moment of time within the full extent of a motion, we become more integrated. Your muscles become smarter, stronger, and gain greater endurance. More importantly, this kind of strength, this longer, slower, easier strength leads to more relaxation. The muscles of the thighs (the longevity muscles) are particularly important to strengthen and Qigong (and Taiji) are great at developing them.

10. Relax the Heart and Blood Vessels
Cardiovascular exercise strengthens the heart and strongly pushes blood through the blood vessels. Slow Qigong moves blood through the body by relaxing the heart and vessels. Qigong helps regulate a heart that is often too anxious and working too hard. Moderately vigorous exercise is important for long-term health. Overly vigorous exercise is usually an imbalanced behavior that, if continued, will eventually lead to serious health problems. Besides the physical health issues of heart and blood, over-work of the heart and over-energization leads to unhappy emotional issues. A tense heart is also a heart prone to anxiety.

11. Increase Body Awareness in the Moment
Practicing slowly is moving meditation. It is meditation that doesn’t put you to sleep. You can better access the peace and promise of this moment. If you have heard of the benefits of meditation but cannot seem to sit still for it, trying these slow Qigong approaches. The moving meditation of Qigong brings your focus to the present moment, the place of healing. Moving out of the past, we let go of the dragging hold that past has on us. We can let go of fears that were once valid for us, but are not more. We can release, day by day, the hold of our previous injuries, mental, physical, and emotional. We can better access the peace and promise this moment. For myself, I would much rather move to meditate than sit. Many people extol the benefits of sitting meditation, yet, we in the 21st century already sit so much. Our bodies stagnate and so do our minds. Get off the cushion, off the couch, off the chair and get your calming meditation in as you move your joints, pulse your lymph, massage your organs, and breathe with Qi.

13. Develop Smoothness of Motion
Gaining smoother movement is both a method of and sign of healing. Herky Jerky motions are indications of blocks and rocks and dry spots in your inner environment. When you slow down, you notice the places that are not smooth and fluid. The clicks, and ratchets, and hatchets in our movements; the sticky, stagnant, and stuck places; the rickety, rackety, hacked places. Noticing, you can take measures to bring more fluidity to each spot.

14. Release Tension and Finally Relax
Slowness encourages release of tensions throughout your body, calmness in your emotions, clarity of your focus in the moment and superior whole body, whole being relaxation. Relaxation leads to the healing of stored traumas and a sense of well-being now.