PRĀṆIC GRID by Annika Kappner

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PRĀṆIC GRID explores the collective imagination around analogue and digital connectivity through the body, using energy grids as a main motif. The guided meditation questions how alternative imaginaries of the interconnectedness of life are related to our experience of digital connection and vice versa. Fusing Yogic techniques with collective imagery of ecosystems and networks, it seeks to (re)activate forgotten and dormant experiences of oneness with life, while embracing the contemporary sense of the individuated self and related use of technologies. It is an invitation to explore experiences of connectivity beyond the physical through the somatic and inner imagery; to nurture and imagine alternative futures integrating different types of intelligence beyond linear thinking.

PRĀṆIC GRID is part of Deep Planetary Sensing, a participatory research project comprised of soundwalks, guided meditation performances, installations and workshops to reconnect with our individual and collective bodies, and to enter into conversation with the planetary body. It researches forms of embodied knowledge in relation to our planet, as mediated by contemporary technologies and related cultural constructs. It proposes to access other ways of knowing and relating with technology and our planet through the somatic (e.g. embodiment). In 2019/2020 the project is supported by the Creative Industries Fund and the Amsterdamse Fonds voor de Kunst.

The soundscape is developed in collaboration with composer Eric Maltz (US/DE) in a continuous dialogue.

Listen here

Choose a space and a time during which you won’t be interrupted. Turn off your phone, make sure no one will walk into the room while you are doing the exercise—an abrupt interruption will jar your nervous system. Drink a glass of fresh water and dim the lights if possible or place a soft folded cloth over your eyes.

The exercise can be done laying down or sitting.

• laying down: Lay on your back on a flat carpeted surface, extend your arms and legs outward from the torso evenly and symmetrically. Support your head and neck with a thin cushion if needed.
• sitting: Sit comfortably and erect on a chair. Rest your hands in your lap.

Cover yourself with a blanket if you easily cool down. Close your eyes and turn your attention to the flow of exhalations and inhalations.

Exhale fully a couple of times releasing any tension. After emptying yourself completely, inhale deeply: let the air flow back and fill your lungs.

Soften the rib cage and it will become almost completely motionless, observe the navel region rising with each inhalation and falling with each exhalation.

Continue observing the breath until its pace and depth feel absolutely comfortable and relaxed (your breathing will be a little faster and will feel higher in the torso if you are sitting than it does lying down). As you observe each inhalation and exhalation, let your mind relax.

When you are calm and centered, bring your attention to points 1 through 61, as outlined below, mentally reciting the number of each point and pausing there for the duration of one breath. Visualize the image of a grid in front of your inner eye. Each point you turn your attention to lights up. Use the image to aid you in remembering the path your attention should follow.

1— Point between the eyebrows 2— Hollow of the throat 3— Right shoulder joint 4— Right elbow joint 5— Middle of the right wrist 6— Tip of the right thumb 7— Tip of the index finger 8— Tip of the middle finger 9— Tip of the ring finger) 10— Tip of the small finger 11— Right wrist joint 12— Right elbow joint 13— Right shoulder joint 14— Hollow of the throat 15-26— Repeat points 3-14 on the left 27— Heart center 28— Right nipple 29— Heart center 30— Left nipple 31— Heart center 32— Solar plexus (just below the bottom of the breast bone) 33— Navel center (2 inches below the physical navel) 34— Right hip joint 35— Right knee joint 36— Right ankle joint 37— Right big toe 38— Tip of the second toe 39— Tip of the third toe 40— Tip of the fourth toe 41— Tip of the small toe 42— Right ankle joint 43— Right knee joint 44— Right hip joint 45— Navel center (2 inches below physical navel) 46-56— Repeat points 34-45 on the left side 57— Navel center (2 inches below the physical navel) 58— Solar plexus 59— Heart center 60— Hollow of the throat 61— Center between the eyebrows

Now feel how the points connecting create an electrical grid that illuminates your body. Feel how the air you inhale runs through this grid. Feel how this grid connects you to all other life forms using and emanating oxygen. Feel this continuous exchange through the air flow moving in and out of your body. Feel how this connects you with your immediate and extended surroundings, humans, animals, plants, minerals, machines, networks.

This exercise will help you to focus and concentrate the mind and to reconnect with your physical and your energy body. In the beginning you may find it difficult. There are a few options to start with. You can increase the pace at which you are traveling through the body. Instead of focusing on each point for one full breath, try exhaling at one point, and inhaling at the next. Alternatively, the moment you find yourself daydreaming or drifting off towards sleep, you can stop and try again the next time. Visualizing the grid will help you, over time, to remember the 61 points and connect to them easily.

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This text was published in Coded Bodies Publication in 2020