Hush: a mindfulness practice / reduction and non-doing as civic engagement

August 2014

 

Hush was part of The Marfa Dialogues' exploration of climate change. Led upon plain white sheets lain across grass, this participatory, imaginative mindfulness practice was based around the questions “What do you notice?” and “What are you willing to give up?” I collaborated with yoga and meditation figure, Jee Moon, to craft a meditation that awakens creative imagining.

 

Situated within the eco-urban setting of Tower Grove Park —both human-made and natural— Hush will allow for participants to observe the tensions, as well as possibilities, between the two.

 

“Mindfulness means being awake. It means knowing what you are doing,” explains Jon Kabat-Zinn, venerated American doctor known for his studies of mindfulness. Hush allows for St. Louisans to examine more deeply their own lifestyles and practices, and their relationship to their environment, and ultimately to climate change.

 

Different from “action-oriented” civic engagement techniques, Hush explores the power of “non-doing”. The practice leads participants to consider a question fundamental to confronting climate change: What are you willing to give up?

 

Read my contribution to the Marfa Dialogue blog here.

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photos by Carly Ann Faye (Hilo)