Intense Embodiment

Abstract

Dr Helen Owton is a lecturer in psychology based at the School of Social Sciences at the University of Northampton, UK. Her current research focuses on the lived experiences and sensuousness of sporting embodiment through the exploration of creative methodologies (e.g. poetry, narrative, art, autoethnography). AbstractIn recent years, calls have been made to address the relative dearth of qualitative sociological investigation into the sensory dimensions of embodiment, including 'intense embodiment' within physical cultures. This article contributes to a small but developing literature utilising phenomenological sociology to examine sensuous embodiment in this domain. Drawing upon data from three autoethnographic and autophenomenographic research projects, in this article we explore some of the richly textured 'sensuousities' of our lived experience as a distance running-woman and a boxing-woman respectively. Given that the social sciences in general have been accused of a high degree of ocularcentrism, here we address the relatively unexplored haptic sense, particularly the 'touch' of heat. Heat has also been argued to constitute a specific sensory mode, a trans-boundary sense, with elements more commensurate with the olfactory than with the haptic. Our findings suggest that 'lived' heat', in our own physical cultural experiences, has highly proprioceptive elements and is experienced as both a specific form of the haptic and as a distinct perceptual mode, dependent upon context. Our analysis coheres around two key themes that emerged as salient from the data: 1) warming up, and 2) thermoregulation, encountered in lived experience as strongly interwoven.

Cultivating Health in Martial Arts and Combat Sports Pedagogies: A Theoretical Framework on the Care of the Self

“…Care of the self, then, might include personal hygiene, massage, healthy sleeping patterns, regular hydration, walking in the fresh air and taking a holiday from work. In martial arts, this could include the various forms of massage and bone setting that accompany specific traditional medicine and healing systems (see Zarrilli, 2000;Cynarski, 2012), or the regulation of temperature during training and warm-ups/cool-downs, boxing workouts, standing postures in traditional Chinese martial arts and even using thermoception to maximise the execution of a mixed martial arts technique (Allen Collinson and Owton, 2015;Allen Collinson et al, 2016).…”

Lived experiences of undergraduate physical education students studying gymnastics and dance education

“…There has been a growing body of work inspired by phenomenological positions which aim to understand the essences of experiences of sport and physical education (see e.g. Wessinger, 1994;Nilges, 2004;Ryba, 2007;Standal and Engelsrud, 2013;Allen-Collinson, 2014;Apelmo, 2018). These have been accompanied by a number of theoretical orientated publications which have shared the potential insights for both teachers and pupils of using phenomenological theories to understand learning in physical education (Thorburn, 2008;Brown, 2013;Stolz, 2013).…”

Sensing Athletes: Sensory Dimensions of Recreational Endurance Sports

“…As our research on triathlon and road cycling shows and as studies on sport and the senses illustrate (Hockey 2006;Spinney 2006;Allen-Collinson and Owton 2015), there cannot be a universal approach to the senses in sport. Certain experiences can be more superficial than others, depending on the activity and context.…”