Stephanie Hagemeister
ViBreather is an embodied mediation, sending vibrations along the spine which respond to user's inhales and exhales, enabling a radical experience of the subtle body.
Description
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist, and Holocaust survivor. Increasing unconscious awareness allows more opportunities for choice in re-action to life events rather than the typical automatic reactions. I am interested in breath awareness because I believe it to be key for becoming aware of the unconscious. Breath unconsciously moves through the body until attention is brought to it, when it can then be consciously manipulated, or as in some mediation practices, consciously held attention while allowing the breath to remain unconsciously controlled. The vest is designed to bring the subtle experience of breathing to the external body in a radical way to aid users in attuning to their breath and the way it moves through the body. Furthermore, it encourages diaphragmatic breathing, a technique used to calm an activated central nervous system, and reduce symptoms commonly associated with stress, which may include high blood pressure, headaches, stomach conditions, depression, anxiety, and others. The Intention of Vibreather is to encourage greater breath and body awareness, and ultimately aid in creating an embodied meditative state. Five vibrating motors are placed along the spine over the “chakras”, which according to yoga philosophy are the energy centers of the body, which the motors stimulate.
Classes
Introduction to Physical Computing
