Going on Foot
Mick Dodge (The Barefoot Sensei) is on a 1,000 mile journey, walking across the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest, carrying The Antidote to individuals, communities and health professionals. Follow Mick's progress on the Exuberant Animal blog. |
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Listen to Mick's interview on NPR station KUOW, Seattle, WA February 21, 2009
Mick's vision is expressed in this image, an integrative union of three habitats: city ("sitty"), the wild mountain, and the hut. In this vision, each element has a place and a role to play. The city has its share of riches, but many dangers to mind, body and spirit. The wild mountain offers physical challenge, spiritual exhilaration and profound teachings. In between lies the hut, a pivotal transition point of community, sharing and whole-body education. The figure 8 form symbolizes a continuous educational journey that integrates all three elements. Mick's vision (in partnership with Exuberant Animal) is to establish a series of huts and training practices that bring this integrative experience to more and more people. |
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"What's the first thing that happens when you take your shoes off?" "You start paying attention!"
"Sensei, my feet are just too sensitive to go barefoot outdoors." "On the contrary, my young exuberant, they are not sensitive enough!"
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Read "Walking Mountain Wisdom: Take a Walk on the Wild Side" by Scott Lankford pdf
Read Mick's Poem: "The Law of Movement"
"There are secrets things in these mountains that are revealed through four seasons. They are illusions to the sedentary mind and real to the moving body, hard to talk about, easy to feel."
How far to the secrets of the mountain?
Two Feet!
Run ‘with’ the mountain.
Until,
You run ‘as’ the mountain.
"Exuberance is not something that you can dominate and own. It is a path in the mountain that is engaged with rhythm, endured through exploration and challenges our comfort zones, requiring our full attention. Exuberance has been manifesting longer then any of us, longer then any human animal. It is a state of motion found deep in the primal memory of our muscles through movement with the land and requires a practice of recovery that restores us to our full animus."
"Walk ‘with’ the mountain, until you walk ‘as’ the mountain."
