RUNNING HEAD: The Logic of Metis 1

The Logic of Metis

Miquella Young
Arizona State University
THE LOGIC OF METIS 2

The Logic of Metis

What I brought into these experiences as creative preparation was my morning
meditation, a bowl of oatmeal and berries, a mango, and a joyful mood. I had read through my
notes and the workbook definitions before beginning so that the information would be clear in
my mind. My goal in these activities as the creator was to be as objective as possible. In these
creative acts I have been inspired by my mentor, Ned, who regularly engages in mindful analysis
of his present moment experiences. As I created these writing exercises I envisioned the power
flowing from my holistic body-mind towards the technological device being used: my phone as a
recording device and my laptop. The most important thing to me as I am creating is that I follow
my heart, no matter if it takes me to a painful, neutral, or enriching space. My history with this
creative writing medium includes guided meditations, both spoken out loud and written for
assignments in my mind-body-energy therapies course. For me a successful outcome for this
assignment would be just one realization of embodied awareness that I take with me into the
future of my creative process.
In the think aloud experience, I ate my dinner at Chipotle. I talked through the process of
settling into my seat and taking a bite of my burrito bowl.

“How am I going to eat and speak at the same time? Ok, I slide my thumb on the soft plastic
fork. I put my fork into the left side of the bowl, scooping from the bottom up, careful not to let
any of the food spill out of the sides. I see the freshness of the lettuce on top, but that cold air is
blowing right on me. The bowl is colorful. This chair feels firm and supports my back. I bring
my left hand to my mouth, by bending at the elbow and lifting from underneath. At the same
time I am moving my upper body, mostly my upper thoracic and cervical spine as one unit on a
lateral plane to meet my fork before the fork no longer hovers above the bowl. I breathe in
lightly. I lightly press my tongue to the top of my mouth before moving it outwards and
simultaneously open my mouth according to the medium size bite that I am about to take. My
feet are crossed underneath my chair, right over left. I close my mouth down around the fork and
slide it out of my mouth as I move my upper body back to rest on the chair back. My jaw is
moving from left to right with a little crunch sound from the lettuce every time my jaw retracts. I
see the colorful bowl in the lower left quadrant of my vision and the rest is taken up by the shiny
grey table and muted brown floor. I am still chewing. It feels uncomfortable to chew with my
mouth open as I speak these words. Flavors of spice are flooding my mouth. I don't know which
ones but I really like how they grilled these veggies. I wish I asked for more. The only way to
describe this food right now is Chipotle. It is easy to chew. It's mushy now. There's not much
left to swallow. It slid down my throat very quickly. I am breathing in. Now I am breathing out.”

In the next three paragraphs, I share my embodied experience through writing a first
person observation of the moment(s) I am inhabiting.

In this moment I am in my living room with Meredith and Emily. I take a deep breath in
and fill my lungs with space. I feel my torso expand in all directions. The air moves smoothly in
and out of my nostrils. My legs are comfortably outstretched in front of me. The right is at a 90-
degree angle towards the window. The left is bent in to lightly meet my right inner thigh with the
tips of my toes. My belly expands with ease in my leggings and my sitz bones weigh heavy,
grounding me into the floor that supports me. I bring awareness to my torso which energizes and
straightens slightly with each inhale. My shoulders relax with each exhale. They fall forward a
THE LOGIC OF METIS 3

bit towards my computer. My neck feels slightly strained as it hangs forward to glare at the
screen. I release the tension I am holding in my lips and around my eyes.
My awareness expands to outward sensation around this body. My arms, shoulders, feet,
and chest are cooled by the air flow emanating from the fan almost directly overhead. My legs
are warmed by the tight compression of my cotton leggings. My torso is tickled by the lose fabric
of my tank top. My shoulders and upper thoracic are caressed by my stray hairs, moved by the
breeze above. My soul is brightened by the laughter that just emanated from my belly and throat
until it resonated in my ears. Meredith just scared herself by bumping into the shelves while
mopping the floor. I listen to the song "Home Movies" by KAMI on my speaker which hangs in
the kitchen next to me. I feel my body getting antsy as I move my feet back and forth to the song.
My head bobs.
The environment around me is tidy and welcoming. The primary focus of my vision is
my computer screen. It is bright white on the page, surrounded by the back frame and keyboard
of my laptop. It reads, "lenovo" in the upper left corner. The edges are tilted up and rest on my
thighs as I sit on the floor. My hands lay ornamented on the keyboard with three silver rings
containing my aquamarine birth stone. My wrist bears my fitbit, complete with the leather strap
that holds it snuggly in place. My pinecone necklace hangs freely in front of my sternum. My
peripheral vision includes my shoulders, legs and hips. The backdrop behind my computer
screen is our red-brown toned paisley carpet. The white tile underneath it has just been mopped. I
dare not look up at the multitude of other stimuli that lie around my body in this moment. I retain
my attention on this paper.
In the speak aloud activity, I found it difficult to be completely descriptive of the
moment. Even though I had the intention to use creative strategies like committing to speak
objectively, I had many thoughts that were prescriptive. Some judgemental realizations that I
came to after describing my experience were, “I am chewing longer than I normally do. I feel
like I am really paying attention to my food. I should eat like this all the time. I have been
breathing shallowly that whole time. Why didn't I notice that while I was chewing? Maybe I
shouldn't have gotten the chips, this is a lot of food. I bet this is too much sodium for my body. I
can always save them for later. I think I'll do that. I am returning my attention back to my food. I
am grateful for this food, let it nourish my mind, body, and spirit. I wonder where it came from?”
This embodied speaking experience felt like a slowing of time. I have done mindfulness
meditations before, but this felt even more in-depth. The difference was the objective lens. I did
not feel clouded by judgements, good or bad, while I was taking those bites. I didn’t feel like an
observer of my body as I often do in mindfulness activities, where my mind and body are
separate. I felt like my mind and body were closer to being one, experiencing the moment in
synchronicity.
In the embodied writing activity, I found it much easier to remove judgement from my
experience. I naturally organized my description beginning with my internal experience. I began
with the breath as I would in a meditation exercise. I moved to my sense perception where the
body and environment come together; my internal and external experiences meet. The last part of
this exercise I simply noticed what was most external, including my reactions to external stimuli.
I found the creative strategy of stopping to be most helpful in this activity. I took time to come
up with rich vocabulary to describe my experience and organize it in an appealing, almost poetic
format. Most of this experience described states of being that are in constant flux, like the
position of my legs. Positions like this one and the curvature of my back changed slightly with
every passing moment.
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I found the think aloud activity more challenging because it seemed unorthodox to
describe the part of my experience that my body already fulfilled without conscious thought. I
realize now that this verbal articulation is important in describing more complex movement and
activity patterns. Creative acts especially are complex. This activity will be foundational in
understanding the space where rhetorical moves happen. I learned more from the think aloud
exercise because I noticed the amount of judgements that are still present in my thought process.
In totality, this experiential view of the present moment was already familiar to me. What this
process did was help me realize that the mind and body are always yearning to be with each
other in the present. I still have a lot of work to do in blurring the boundaries between these two
worlds. For now, I have created outcomes of this paper, a new perspective of the mind-body
connection, and my understanding of the logic of metis.