The Study Project in Phenomenology of the Body.

Abstract

The Study Project in Phenomenology of the Body is a freestanding research and networking organization founded in 1987. This article overviews its assumptions, aims, and activities, situating it within me traditions influencing it (including transformative somatic practice and Husserlian phenomenology) and samples its work in progress. The latter focuses on bodilihood as a dynamic process not limited to its current sedimented style, but open to a richer range of possibilities. A phenomenology of the body can help contribute not only to personal growth, but also to the development of an embodied ethics and the transformation of broader historical and cultural styles and structures of embodiment.

Phenomenology, physical education, and special populations

“…My own research, and the research of Behnke (1991), Christ (1980), Johnson (1987), Leonard (1974), Shapiro (1985) and others echo Levin's (1985) notion that mytho-poetic, primordial truths and rhythms are available to and through the body.…”