Dear Subscriber First Name,

Welcome to the first ever issue of the ABCD newsletter! We are so grateful to have you here with us in these early stages of our new growth as an association.

The information contained here is compiled by our members and contributors, and reflects their personal and professional interests and activities. We hope that by reading this newsletter, you’ll get to know us as people, not just an organization.  

We hope the content of this and future newsletters inspires you to incorporate elements of Body Conscious Design into your lifestyle, improves your quality of life, connects you to new and like-minded colleagues and friends, and promotes collaborations among us all, which we will love for you to tell us about! 

To new beginnings,

The Team at ABCD

Neuroscientists say it takes a day for every hour of jet lag to re-establish sleep hormones but other "peripheral" clocks that regulate other organs take 3 days for every hour of jet lag. That was news to us. When Galen returned from Europe in early September, she had a 10 hour time change from Greece to California. In 10 days, she could finally sleep, but didn't feel really chipper until Oct 10, which turns out to be exactly 30 days after her return home. It seems these neuroscientists have it right. Travellers be warned! And if you can, give yourself some extra time and space to arrive. 

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Moving Boundaries is primarily for architectural educators who want to bring human experience to the forefront of architectural education. Many of us in social, psychological, and cultural studies have been trying to put humans first in design thinking for the last 50 years, for example, through EDRA (Environmental Design Research Association). 

Neuroscience gives this perspective a fresh push, so Galen has joined this effort. Since in the end neuroscience is about the senses, our work on Body Conscious Design fits in beautifully theoretically (body-mind continuum) and practically (in particular, how environments can support and stimulate the human need for movement), especially if we are willing to explicitly state the neurological causes and effects of posture and movement. 

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Last month, @galencranzconsulting on Instagram hit 100 posts and 500 followers! Cheers to the next 100 and 500, respectively! If you’re not already following her, we’d love to see you there.

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Her work has caught the eye and stolen the heart of our resident artist, Chelsea. Have a look.

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Are you interested in expanding your floor-sitting practice? Sign up for Limber’s new Floor Posture of the Month Newsletter.

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Limber’s new Back Pain Resources Page supports people in pain with evidence-based material. Read on if your back hurts, or if it doesn’t and you want to keep it that way.

The Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) is now accepting proposals for their 54th annual meetings in Mexico City, from June 20-23, 2023.

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Do you need an educational quiz in your life? Do you want to bust some myths about back pain? Take Limber’s new back pain quiz to help you understand what is fact and what is fiction when it comes to back pain. FACT: ABCD’s very own administrator took this quiz and received a score of only 6/10 😳 so we know you are about to learn some new things! 

Chelsea recently linked a bike light to her keychain, and it has been surprisingly useful in numerous applications: climbing up from the beach onto the street, being visible on walking and cycling paths and at intersections after dark, examining the contents of all the Little Free Libraries she passes, and more! Yes, of course you have your smartphone flashlight, but, you know, just in case the battery dies or you forget it at home (or on the beach and have to look for it at night!), this is a handy backup. This is the light Chelsea uses, or find one at your local outdoors store. 

With a mandate to explore the complex interactions between the moving body and the urban environment, Soma-City was co-founded in 2019 by Toronto-based dance educator, researcher, and Certified Movement Analyst Dr. Lisa Sandlos and Los Angeles-based landscape architect​,​ Rennie Tang. Soma-City works across the fields of architecture, landscape, urbanism, and dance to develop strategies for enabling fuller and more dynamic physicality in public spaces. Through workshops and presentations offered at educational institutions and academic conferences, Sandlos and Tang promote the development of design methodologies, practices, and pedagogies grounded in somatic and choreographic principles.  

Soma-City welcomes collaborations with other researchers and educators who are interested in creative exchanges and projects. Currently, Sandlos and Tang are joining forces with Berlin-based sound artist, Dr. Eleni-Ira Panourgia on a creative research project called Sonic Kinesthetic Forest (SKF) which highlights the potential for human beings to be in symbiotic community with nature. More information about Sonic Kinesthetic Forest can be found in their published proceedings from the 2022 European Conference on Arts, Design, and Education.

Through SKF, Sandlos, Tang, and Panourgia are exploring the question: How can ecological empathy and agency be fostered using integrative experiences of landscape design, sound art, and dance choreography? Participants of interactive workshops offered by the SKF team are guided in experimental modes of listening and sound-making, embodied drawing, and somatic-kinesthetic exploration of forest landscapes. One SKF project involved working with graduate students majoring in landscape architecture at Cal Poly Pomona University on a parallel study of trees and bodies. The students were guided in using sound and movement to analyze the sonic identities and kinesthetic qualities of various species of trees. In another SKF project, Dr. Sandlos worked on a performance piece with members of the Guelph Youth Dance Company (ages 9-17).  Co-created with Tang, Panourgia, and videographer Todd Buttenham, Sandlos' choreography is featured in a five-minute video that captures the dancers’ sonic, kinesthetic, and sensory responses to an immersive forest experience: ​Sonic Kinesthetic Forest with the Guelph Youth Dance Company. 

Contact Lisa or Rennie for more information on Soma-City and Sonic Kinesthetic Forest workshops.

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Association for Body Conscious Design

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