May: Fungi and Fascia! Mushrooms and Mycelium Magic and Healing Webs
Resources:
1. “Puhpowee” - Read Braiding Sweetgrass Chapter on Learning the Animacy of Things and consider Robin’s reflections on webs of communication, her struggles to learn her native tongue, her comments on respecting life other than human and the difference between this and anthromorphism. How do we listen and communicate with plant and fungi worlds and our own internal webs? If you don’t have a copy here it is , along with a reflection on this chapter by Deepika Kahtri
2. Read this chapter from James Bridle in Ways of Being - Animals, Plants, Machines: The Search for Planetary Intelligence - He weaves the work of Simard and Gaglione into a much bigger perspective on mycorrhizal fungi!
3. Explore Paul Stamets work on Mushrooms.
Presentation - Bioneers - 25mins
Presentation with Exponential Medicine - 32 mins
OR
Fantastic Fungi Movie
OR/AND other Fungi enthusiasts…eg a Youtube 30 minute video re Forests and Fungi
OR/AND Fungi The Web of Life on You Tube or BBC Iplayer if you live in UK
There’s a lot out there!
4. What is your relationship with the cultivation, culinary, medicinal and magical aspects of mushrooms?
Netflix’s How to Change Your Mind Chapter 2 on Psilocybin for fun!
Also Michael Pollan has some interesting interviews as he gradually shifted his plant interest to mushrooms and mind expansion. KCRW 2024 or On Being 2022
Fascia
PRACTICE SUGGESTIONS:
1. Explore on the mat imagery of inhale spreading mycelia and exhaling sensing the upward rising energy through the center of the body. Take care not to charge the diaphragm area, the exhale is simply following the natural mushroom concavity that arises with the exhale.
2. Connecting fascia with mycelia - You may want to check out others who are drawn to this exploration in the well being world - eg Julie Merkl’s blog on Fascia and Fungi - Whats the Connection? or Julie Maris’s little blog and I am sure there are many more yogis and health practitioners talking about it. These 2 refer to the movie above.
3. Look at the famous 5 minute video of Gil Hedley (Dr Fuzz) before you practice one day. Consider how far we have evolved in our understanding (still limited as with fungi!) since this video, the work of Anatomy Trains exponent Thomas Myer and many more.
4. Read and explore the Fascial Continuity Exercise on P39 from Mary Bond’s book New Rules of Posture
See Practice Resources on right side of page.
Mushroom as Diaphragm!?
BUDDIES FOR MAY
Catherine and Mary
Sue and Traci
Sandra and Megan
Bonney and Lynelle
Recordings and References for 5/4:
PRACTICE RESOURCES: Hand meditation and hand vinyasa coming soon!
Hands and Breath - Pranayama and Meditation - 26mins
Mudra Element Meditation MP 26mins Create your own mudras and mycelia this month!
Hand Vinyasa - 56mins - This is an older audio recording of a live class with all the glorious imperfections of the live realities!
Mushroom Mycelium of White Champignon
From Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Kimmerer
” I could spend a whole day listening, And a whole night. And in the morning without my hearing it, there might be a mushroom that was not there the night before, creamy white, pushed up from the pine needle duff, out of darkness to light, still glistening with the fluid of its passage. Puhpowee” - which translates from Anishinaabe language as “the force which causes mushrooms to push up from the earth overnight”
