Three Beliefs About Meditation

Photography: Cristian Hurtado
Author: Manuela Ramírez, political scientist and coordinator of monitoring and evaluation of the project La voz de dos murales of the Prolongar Foundation.

During these months of confinement I was remembering (and longing for) some of the mindfulness and meditation exercises worked by the Foundation in different scenarios in which I had participated. As a result of this, I was curious to learn more about these topics to put into practice in my home. Apparently I was not the only one, Google Trends recorded an increase in searches for the words “meditation” and “yoga” and their correlation with words such as “anxiety” and “depression” during the first half of 2020 compared to searches for the same terms at the end of the second half of 2019, before the global lockdown resulting from the COVID-19 [1]pandemic. 

Although more and more people around the world increase their interest in the subject, even, they are encouraged to practice some meditation technique, still on a personal level I found some resistance to practice it. Because of this feeling, I wanted to identify some beliefs I had about the practice and dig deeper into how true they are. In this blog post I share some findings and reflections on this.

  1. You have to be experienced to enjoy the benefits of meditation: this belief comes from the idea that meditation is an ancient practice full of complexities and mysteries that can only be mastered by experienced people like Buddhist monks or yogi masters. In reality, all people can meditate and there is no single way to do it. Scientific studies have been carried out with people who do not have any experience in meditation techniques and it has been found that, after a period of training, they begin to experience different benefits of this practice.  

The changes reported in these studies occur at three levels: cognitive, physical and psychological. These three levels are interconnected and influence each other. On a cognitive level, meditation practices have reported changes in attention levels, emotional regulation, and self-awareness [2].  

On a physical level, the reduction in the production of the stress hormone (cortisol) [2]is reported. There are also studies that point to perceptible changes in the thickness of the brain’s [3]cortical structure, which has the potential to slow down the process of cognitive decline and prevent diseases associated with it. 

Finally, at the psychological level, a greater regulation is reported in the automatic thought system, allowing the practitioner to anchor himself to the present moment leaving those repetitive thoughts, usual in episodes of anxiety and depression [3; 4; [5]. Additionally, some studies such as that of Weng, H. Y., et al [6] have pointed out effects on feelings of compassion in practitioners. 

  1. When meditating you have to seek to put the mind “blank”: there is a belief that to meditate you must look for a state in which the mind is in complete silence. This does not work like this for practical purposes. The journal Nature [2] suggests that there are three stages that a person goes through in their practice or acquisition of the ability to meditate: 1. An early stage where the individual encounters the opposite of a “blank” or “silent” space. He must face a current of thoughts, often offline, that appear non-stop in his conscious mind. 2. An intermediate stage in which the individual begins to regulate this current of thoughts through attention without judgment, in other words, observes his thoughts and lets them pass through his conscious mind, often supported by the breath as an anchor to the present moment. 3. An advanced stage in which the individual easily manages [3]to enter deep states of concentration. The brain is like a muscle, one can train it to make it stronger. It is through the exercise of observation and non-judgment that the practitioner can advance at his own pace, not necessarily seeking to put the mind “blank”.
  2. It takes long periods of meditation to get results: some people insist that they don’t have enough time to devote to meditating, but it really doesn’t need to have a high duration of meditation. Studies such as the one conducted by Tang, Y. et al [4] suggest that 20 minutes a day of meditation has a significant impact on attention, self-regulation, and decreased cortisol production. The digital platform Headspace has also carried out research in this regard. Economides, M. et al., note that just 10 days in a row of the program is enough to reduce stress by 14[7]%.

As you can see, it is worth refuting these three beliefs. Understanding where these (and many others) are born from and how they correspond (or not) to the effects of meditation practice can be critical for people to not only approach these techniques but to persist in their practice. The important thing is to try: for my part, with this search, I managed to expand my knowledge about meditation. I am left with the task of persisting in practice; this is definitely the best way to keep learning.

Bibliography.

[1] H. Ashish Jindal et al (2021) Global change in interest toward yoga for mental health ailments during coronavirus disease-19 pandemic: A google trend analysis. International Journey of Yoga. 14, 2, 09-118. DOI: 10.4103/ijoy.

[2] IJOY_82_20 Tang, Y., Hölzel, K., Posner, M., Ⅰ. (2015). Mindfulness Meditation and Behavior Change. Nature Reviews | Neuroscience , 16, 213–225. DOI:10.1038/nrn3916.

[3] Tang, Y.-Y., Ma, Y., Wang, J., Fan, Y., Feng, S., Lu, Q., Yu, Q., Sui, D., Rothbart, M. K., Fan, M., & Posner, M. Ⅰ. (2007). Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(43), 17152–17156. [4] https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0707678104 Brewer, J.

To. Worhunsky, P. D., Gray, J. R., Tang, Y.-Y., Weber, J., & Kober, H. (2011). Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(50), 20254–20259. [5] https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1112029108 Marchand, W.

A. (2014). Neural mechanisms of mindfulness and meditation: Evidence from neuroimaging studies. World Journal of Radiology, 6(7), 471. [6] https://doi.org/10.4329/wjr.v6.i7.471 Weng, H.

And. Fox, To. S. Shackman, To. J., Stodola, D. E., Caldwell, J. Z., Olson, M. C., Rogers, G. M., & Davidson, R. J. (2013). Compassion Training Alters Altruism and Neural Responses to Suffering. Psychological Science, 24(7), 1171–1180. [7] https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612469537 Economides, M.,

Martman, J., Bell, M.J. et al. (2018) Improvements in Stress, Affect, and Irritability Following Brief Use of a Mindfulness-based Smartphone App: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Mindfulness 9, 1584–1593. DOI: 10.1007/s12671-018-0905-4.

My relationship with reconciliation

I wonder if the person reading these words has ever wondered what reconciliation has to do with me? And am I part of the reconciliation process? Before turning to a quick and possibly already familiar answer to you, I invite you to take a moment to let these questions pass through your body and mind.

Reconciliation is a word repeated over and over again in the media, on social media, public and private activities, and in everyday conversations. Different personalities and civil society organizations name it as a necessary condition to advance in the construction of a lasting peace.

I have constantly met people who, explicitly or implicitly, believe that reconciliation is an exercise in which the only ones involved are those who have somehow been part of the armed conflict or have suffered its affectations. In my case, this perception was transformed when I accompanied the second phase of implementation of the Art to Rebuild project of the Prolong Foundation and I had the opportunity to recognize the multiplicity of paths and the different possibilities that exist in reconciliation.

Next, I would like to share three key elements of the Art to Rebuild reconciliation model that allow us to broaden the understanding of reconciliation and that are fundamental to understanding the role that each of us can play on the way to it.

1. Reconciliation is in the transformation of our daily habits

Beyond restricting reconciliation to a process that is resolved in a meeting room or in a political event, Art to Rebuild proposes that reconciliation is generated in everyday life, in the behaviors, thoughts and emotions through which we relate to others.

During the workshops it was not necessary to resort to the experiences lived in the conflict to identify how distrust, prejudice or even violence were present in the lives of each of the participants. It was precisely in their experiences as mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, neighbors or friends where this type of behavior occurred. When any of the participants referred to habits that did not generate individual or collective well-being, they usually referred to family experiences where conflicts were resolved by shouting or to their community relationships where prejudices marked relationships with their neighbors.

Paying attention to how our daily relationships may be reproducing violence, prejudice and distrust is the first invitation to engage as actors of the multiple reconciliations. Thus it is possible to recognize that in our daily actions we can change the forms of behavior to which we have become accustomed after having lived for so many years in the midst of armed conflict.

2. Reconciliation is a conscious process

“The more conscious we are, the more choice we have.”
Oren Sofer

As people we generate patterns in which our body and mind learn to respond in the same way to similar situations; for example, always shouting in response to a comment. Transforming these habits requires dedication, intention and attention, it involves pausing and reviewing our emotions, our thoughts and giving the body and mind a moment to explore different responses to the moment we are living.

Taking that pause and paying attention is an invitation that is repeated over and over again during the Art to Rebuild process. Through exercises of conscious breathing and body attention, we expand our attention and we are increasingly recognizing our repetitive behaviors and identifying the moments when we can act differently and break the patterns we have reproduced.

At the end of one of the workshops, one of the participants shared with great amazement how after putting into practice the breath and the pause in her day to day her life has been transformed: “Now I no longer respond screaming in my house and my children ask me what happened to me that I no longer scream at all times. Our relationship is much better.”

3. We all have a role in reconciliation

“We’ve all been broken.”

One of the most important proposals of the process was the experience of the Japanese practice of Kintsugi as an opportunity to repair a piece of ceramic with gold leaving its fractures visible.

Experiencing this metaphor was an opportunity to find that even though we have lived different histories, we can identify with a fracture, either because we have ever been broken, because we are at this moment or because we have generated a fracture in someone else. It doesn’t matter if in the repair process some took longer or if the fractures of their parts were larger or deeper. Seeing others preparing, recognizing each other in breakups, opens the door to more empathetic relationships in which for a moment the differences are blurred.

The second phase of Art to Rebuild is not yet finished. The final stage remains in which what happened in these months of meetings and exploration will be shared with the rest of the country and the world. This moment has a fundamental place in the process: it is the invitation that the model makes to the community to approach reconciliation. After reading these three elements I hope that when you have the opportunity to see the result you will find many more answers to the question at the beginning: what does reconciliation have to do with me? And am I part of the reconciliation process?

References and bibliography

Sofer, O. (2020) Say what you want to say: How to have close and sincere dialogues through nonviolent communication. Editorial Urano.

Author: Eugenia Echeverry, political scientist, anthropologist and facilitator of the Prolongar Foundation.

What Andrés, a former paramilitary, teaches us about reconciliation

 

Author: Federico Mejía, political scientist, anthropologist and monitoring and evaluation consultant at the Prolongar Foundation

After having completed the first phase of Art to Rebuild, at the launch event of the project’s micro-website, Andrés*, a Person in the Process of Reintegration (hereinafter PPR) who participated in the project, apologized to the audience as a former member of the paramilitaries. After a difficult personal process traversed by anger, he recognized and made public his responsibility.

Although most people in Colombia conceive of reconciliation as a psychological and political process (Rettberg and Ugarriza, 2016), individual and social, it is not easy to understand what manages to cross the inner dimension of people to manifest their transformation in the collective. I want to share then three elements that I consider essential of the process that Andrés lived and that are useful to understand how the actors responsible in the war – who in turn may have been victims at other times – manage to initiate transformations in their lives and offer an act of reconciliation to society; for example, a “pardon.”

1. A time for pain and anger

Although Andrés recognized himself as a responsible actor in the war, his life was marked by pain and anger at the events he experienced in the past. According to Alderdice (2015), reconciliation is usually concentrated in political-economic measures that do not encompass the “unfinished business” of people and their individual transformation. Having caused deep wounds in others, the pain of PPR people can be a great “unfinished business”.

From the beginning of the workshops, Andrés shared the helplessness he felt in the face of the inefficiency of the State, the injustices he had gone through during his life in Urabá and the barriers he currently faces as a PPR. Initially, it was essential to emphasize that despite the difficulties, he could change the way he reacted to situations. While the limitations were real, he was based on the negative and the impossibility. Although it was not easy to contain his claims and feelings, there Andrés was able to express a pain that had not been welcomed and that finally found a safe space to be released. Additionally, since in our work we do not focus on the deeds that people have committed in the past, he did not have to justify his actions and could feel accepted and respected.

Towards the end of the healing stage of the trauma began to take place a change in his perspective. I remember using the act of chewing as a metaphor to refer to the processing of the past. For him, just as chewing something transforms and loses its flavor, so memories and memories at some point stop hurting. With this analogy, Andrés has been able to internalize the following: although what happened is not forgotten, the way we remember it can change. And just as the memory changes, so do we change with it.

2. A time for empathy

“Empathy to revive a lifeless conversation.”
 Marshal Rosenberg

In addition to actively participating in the project’s 19 workshops, Andrés was chosen as the only PPR guide to the Encuentros Improbables museographic experience. In total, 10 people prepared through body language and communication sessions to be mediators. While we knew they would convey a message of reconciliation to society, connecting their expertise in Art to Rebuild with a new audience, we didn’t expect this to be a key to bolstering their agency.

During three itineraries, with more than 600 visitors, Andrés was able to express how he saw reconciliation, focusing on his resources, his process and his reconciliation with the other people in the project. In response to his work as a guide, Andrés received messages of empathy that he perhaps did not expect. In these they stressed the courage he had for having decided to go through this process, urged him to persevere and gave him to understand that in society he found support; it was a key moment to understand what he had done and what he could do for the future. 

3. A time to be heard

Finally, when Arte Para Reconstruir had finished, Andrés was part of the conversation launching the project’s website. In addition to having been invited for the first time to an event to promote reconciliation, he was in a place that valued his testimony as a contribution to peacebuilding. There, for the first time, he apologized publicly and voluntarily as a former member of the paramilitaries: it was his way of offering something to society and deciding on a different path. So, in addition to finding a place for pain and empathy, I would like to emphasize that he needed an audience willing to listen to him, without the objective of judging. 

As Andrés says, “when you do not encounter obstacles, nor stigmatisms, nor accusations from society, from other people, because that also helps you to forgive yourself and heal internally.” Sometimes, as a society, we forget that we inhabit a transitional scenario that is full of tensions and fears, which hinders the possibilities that the actors responsible in the war have to accept and remedy the actions they have committed. Therefore, while we legitimately expect ex-combatants to assume their responsibility in promoting reconciliation, it is necessary to create safe spaces for dialogue, free from the dynamics of stigmatization and antagonism promoted by the armed conflict.

* To protect the identity of the PPR participant, the following text makes use of a pseudonym chosen at the discretion of the author.

References and bibliography

Alderdice, John. (2015) Reconciliation and psychosocial understanding. Bjpsych International, Vol. 12, No. 3. pp. 55-58. 

Rettberg, To. & Ugarriza, J. And. (2016). Reconciliation: A comprehensive framework for empirical analysis. Security Dialogue, Vol. 4, No. 6. pp. 517–540.

Rosemberg, M. (2013) Nonviolent communication: a language for life. Buenos Aires: Gran Aldea Editores.

Vacuum and interval

Author: Renata Serna Hosie, Director of Methodologies at the Prolongar Foundation

Just as silence houses all the voices of time,
the vacuum stores energy in all forms.
Maria Eugenia Manrique, 2018

A long time ago I knew the weight and the need for pause: the space of time to digest and let the experience reveal to me. That which is between and which allows me to relocate within myself and be connected to my experience.

I wish the void would encompass more space within me. Give an imperative place to the pause. Occupy the space of potential without knowing in advance. Being able to nest and take sides without taking it.

I remember that a long time ago we danced moved by a text by the philosopher Chantall Maillard (2011):

“(…) during those intermediate periods that allow the decantation of experiences. Intervals are just as important to building the journey as black fades and digressions in cinematic narratives. They are the pauses that allow us to assimilate the facts between plane and plane, and they are everything that seems superfluous or irrelevant to the action contributes, however, to create the atmosphere without which the story would not make sense.”

Only when I lived it from the body did I understand the void as a potential: a space to welcome and not to fill. Remembering myself through the text and the dance I recognize my inclination for what it suggests and enunciates without being fully exposed and for the spaces of silence and recollection. A need that with the passage of time manifests itself in a more imperative way than optional.

Reviewing the subject, I am not surprised to understand the nihilistic perception that the void has had from the West: a place of lack, of nothing, of loss and desolation. Perhaps it has to do with what Maria Eugenia Manrique (2017) mentions as the “excessive merit that is given to materialism, individualism, productivity and competitiveness, values that are considered essential” and that in part lead to rejecting any type of vacuum. In contrast, from certain philosophies such as the Taoist, emptiness represents an opportunity to experience ourselves in a unique way and go to meet our own human capacities. The void is that space where the potential resides.

My work at the Prolongar Foundation has shown me the main and significant place of silence, interval and emptiness.

Precisely, the last stage of the Art to Rebuild project, Phase I, consisted of a museographic experience that we call Improbable Encounters. As a strategy and resource to count, mobilize and sensitize visitors, we built panels in the middle of the route that invited them to stop. Almost imperatively, they invited a pause. A space to breathe consciously and thus silence the mind:

The repetition of these panels in the museographic exhibition, are an attempt to lead the visitor to assimilate and decant what he is experiencing and so that he has the opportunity to build a response from his feeling; observe what one’s own experience reveals to him. We wanted the exhibition to mobilize the visitor, cross it, permeate it and not leave it intact. For that it was necessary to understand that it is in the intervals when the information makes sense, becomes its own and revealing.

Margarita Schultz (2016) states that we live in “crowded times and spaces: everything is covered and sounded”. It stirs and disturbs me to think that hyperstimulation leads to a decrease in the acuity of perception and perhaps also to an indifference to the environment. As a defense mechanism, perhaps unconscious, the amount of stimuli generates an impossibility of rapport with presence, a kind of anesthesia (Schultz, 2016). In addition, I perceive that the amount of stimuli, added to the accelerated pace we carry, leads us to move and respond automatically, to use words interchangeably or to repeat ourselves. A repetition that, instead of deepening, stagnates and blocks.

Finally, in addition to the example of the exhibition, I would like to highlight that in the workshops we do in Prolongar, we continuously invite people to connect with that own, intimate and appreciative place of emptiness or silence. Or, if it is alien to them, we invite you to inhabit it little by little and give it meaning. Give and create space internally so that something new can emerge; there, in a new response, a new thought, feeling or in a new possibility of action, lies the potential. This is also a way to break the patterns and cycles of violence. Get out of the automatic and disconvinced – from the only versions and identities.

References and bibliography

Manrique, Maria Eugenia. (2017) Art, nature and spirituality. Taoist evocations. Editorial Kairós.

Schultz, Margaret. (2016) Sense of pause and response of art. Universidad de Chile, Journal of Philosophy.

Maillard, Chantal. (2011). Belgium, Editorial Pre-Textos, 2011.

Building peace from the arts: in search of a field of knowledge and practice

 

Author: Lina Pinto García, member of the Board of Directors of the Prolongar Foundation and interdisciplinary academic trained in biological sciences, anthropology and journalism. She holds a PhD in Science, Technology and Society (STS) from the University of York (Canada) and is currently part of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Development Studies (CIDER) of the Universidad de los Andes as a postdoctoral researcher.

In Colombia, the news reminds us daily of the importance of continuing to bet on the construction of peace with the aim of overcoming a long and unfinished concatenation of violence. With the peace negotiations and the agreement signed in 2016 by the government and the FARC, the efforts of communities, organizations, institutions and individuals to understand and remember what has happened to us, identify those responsible, heal the wounds and dignify the victims have multiplied and diversified significantly. In this transitional context, resorting to art has become important for many of these initiatives, mainly because such a strategy contemplates the use of non-verbal languages and appeals to the mental/cognitive and emotional sphere of people.

The Prolongar Foundation is one of the organizations that has most seriously and consistently explored the contribution that methodologies based on creativity and the arts can make to processes of memory and reconciliation. His most recent book, Art to Reconstruct: An Exploration of the Multiple Possible Reconciliations, is an aesthetic commitment to publicize the conceptual and methodological developments that the Foundation has accumulated in recent years. It describes a working model where, through artistic practices and languages, victims and ex-combatants of the armed conflict go through reconciliation processes at the individual and interpersonal levels. Likewise, the methodology is nourished by the work of Jean Paul Lederach to generate so-called improbable encounters, since they carefully bring together groups of people considered adversaries under the logics of armed conflict in order to resignify the past and transform relations.

With whom does this work dialogue?

The Foundation expects the book to become “an important reference for the formulation of public policies and civil society projects that seek to integrate” the worlds of peace and art (Fundación Prolongar, 2020, p. 136). Additionally, the work emphasizes the need and the great challenge of building adequate monitoring and evaluation instruments that allow accounting for the results of this type of methodologies in reconciliation processes. With this, the text indicates that peace through art is a field of work scarcely systematized in Colombia, which suggests that there are few cases in which we have a detailed description and a theoretical and conceptual analysis of the methodologies used. Likewise, there seems to be a greater concern for exalting the successes than for documenting the trial and error processes through which evaluation methodologies and instruments are refined. 

Without the above, it is difficult to generate a dialogue between the different experiences developed throughout the country that allows both collective learning and the transfer of practices and knowledge from one organization to another. Likewise, without delving into the judicious documentation of these experiences, it is unlikely that conversations and exchanges will be established between the lessons learned in Colombia and initiatives from other contexts also affected by stories of armed violence. Hence the importance of finding and becoming an intellectual home – a field of knowledge and practice – that allows local experiences to be articulated to broader networks and discussions about the what, why and how of art-based peacebuilding.

In dialogue with the Humanities in Health

The Health Humanities could offer a fruitful space to promote exchanges on the therapeutic use of the arts and humanities in the pursuit of individual and collective well-being in a transitional context. This is a field that has been gaining strength over the past thirteen years through interdisciplinary, inclusive, compassionate, and non-hierarchical ways of putting creativity, imagination, and art at the service of health (Crawford, 2020). In the Humanities in Health, aesthetics, experiential, social relations and interpretive methods take on much more importance than quantitative and/or biomedical ways of improving and evaluating the physical and emotional state of people and communities. Starting from a creative approach to public health, this field proposes a broad and non-disciplinary way of conceiving care, health and well-being, which departs from conventional and medical-scientific ways of understanding these areas. In addition, when applied to post-conflict scenarios, the Humanities in Health offer the possibility of individually and collectively exploring traumatic and violent experiences that, by definition, are complex, difficult and demand attention to nuances (Meineck, 2020). 

Undoubtedly, what the book Art to Reconstruct raises resonates with many of the approaches and ways of thinking and doing proposed by the Humanities in Health. Perhaps this field can offer a space for thought, practice and exchange for the contributions of the Prolongar Foundation and organizations that carry out related work to dialogue and transcend their bets and achievements. In my opinion, the construction of peace through art in Colombia could find in the humanities in health a generous and creative intellectual home to continue growing and contributing to the difficult and necessary task of overcoming violence. 

References and bibliography

Crawford, P. (2020).Global health humanities and the rise of creative public health. In: Crawford P, Brown B, and Charise A (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Health Humanities. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY.

Prolong Foundation (2020). Art to Reconstruct: An Exploration of the Multiple Possible Reconciliations. Bogotá: Punto Aparte Editores. Available in: https://fundacionprolongar.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Libro-FP-Versi%C3%B3n-Digital.pdf (accessed October 15, 2020).

Meineck, P. (2020). Post-conflict resolution and the health humanities. In: Crawford P, Brown B, and Charise A (eds) The Routledge Companion to Health Humanities. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY.

Measuring the Immeasurable: Reflections on the Challenges of Measuring the Impacts of Body- and Emotion-Centered Artistic Practices

Author: Nathalie Méndez, Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor

Regarding the emotion generated by the launch of the book “Art to Rebuild: An exploration of the multiple possible reconciliations“, the interest aroused by the publication and the project that gave rise to the book has been great. As mentioned in one of Ted Talk’s most viewed playlists, “Powerful art makes people talk,” the use of art as a creative and transformative engine of dialogue processes between communities on relevant issues such as racism, freedom and inequality is booming worldwide.  

Artistic practices can move us deeply emotionally. However, the question is different when we try to tell someone what we saw, heard or felt when going to a museum, a gallery or even the same museographic experience of “Art to rebuild”. Undoubtedly, the place from which we tell the stories is different from that of other people. Similarly, the challenge of measuring the effects of diverse artistic strategies on the people who participated in them is no less, as is communicating their results to other actors. These actors are, for example, those to whom we must be accountable and even citizens who are unaware of the existence of these strategies, who of course, also have their own criteria and subjectivities.

The body as a stage for constant visible and invisible changes

One of the basic questions of the book is “how to measure the intangible and the subtle changes that are generated from artistic languages?”. When I thought of the word intangible, the first thing that came to my mind is that it is what is not seen. Clearly we tend to forget very quickly one of the most beautiful phrases of The Little Prince (even when this is one of our favorite books), “the essential is invisible to the eyes”. When rethinking the term, common sense makes us look in the dictionary, where the intangible is defined as something that cannot be touched.

Many times the internal change of a person can be touched and felt, and sometimes not, so, in addition to intangible, the process has the challenge that many of its results are immeasurable (understood as what is difficult to measure but not impossible). In this type of process, the body as a vehicle of social transformation is not only the starting point of healing, but the scenario where daily changes occur. Emotional, cognitive and physical changes were evident throughout the “Art to Rebuild” project.

“the process has the challenge that many of its results are immeasurable”

Thus, the process of measuring the immeasurable must have started from a point of view inverse to the common place of the social sciences, where initially some categories based on the literature are defined, then some indicators, measurement instruments, questions, formats, prints, photocopies and at some point, the process ends with a person answering the questions that the researcher has.

From my experience evaluating “Art to Rebuild”, the process is reversed at the right moment when some of the facilitators, with their experience in the matter, emphasize that “many of the people, due to their war wounds, cannot see or have amputations”. This is when the “logical” process of social research ceases to be “logical.” Although from the beginning instruments sensitive to the specific circumstances and conditions of the participants were designed, it was a challenge to transversalize an approach focused on the participants, since there are certain pre-existing logics from the social sciences that do not necessarily start from the individual as a center. Distancing ourselves from these logics and creating innovative measurement bets is one of the great contributions of this project. And that is when a path of creating instruments to measure results begins with a central emphasis on the person, his power and essence.

As a result, it was possible to innovate in the way of approaching the evaluation of artistic programs and strategies where the person is the starting point and final point. Through abstracting their reality and reading how the body of those who participate is telling us a story, it is that we can generate questions and methods of observation that nourish the report of formal indicators that dialogue with relevant categories for the project.

Sensitivity and diversity in measurement as a source of knowledge

After the review of different sources and national and international references, academic and non-academic, the alternative that proved to be effective for the project was to design diverse instruments using the methods and learnings of the behavioral sciences, where through surveys it is possible to measure conscious perceptions and cognitive dispositions of people. At the same time, ethnographic observation of the dynamics of the “Art to Rebuild” workshops was carried out, which allowed us to see the changes reflected in attitudes, behaviors and body postures themselves as an essential place for healing. You can see these changes at the end of chapter 2 of the book.

Ultimately, the transformations observed in empowerment, healing, and trust, some central categories for monitoring and evaluation, arose by capturing the gestures, postures, and verbal and nonverbal dispositions of the participants. This writing is then an invitation to discover and rediscover these varied measurement techniques as strategies with the ability to grasp complex issues such as healing and reconciliation. Thus, talking about different languages of measurement contributes to strengthening art as a vehicle of dialogue in our society and can lead us to obtain sensitive, contextualized and realistic evaluations of what we call the immeasurable.

Transforming imaginaries about care

Author: Lucía Carbonell, general assistant of Art to Rebuild

Care is a value that crosses and gives meaning to the way we relate both internally and with the people who participate in the projects of the Prolongar Foundation. In the midst of a situation that has exposed human vulnerability and interdependence as has happened with the current pandemic, care is being the protagonist, not only in daily conversations, but also in discussions and public decisions. Therefore, I take advantage of this medium to reflect on the social imaginaries that we have configured around care and the challenges that the context of the pandemic has presented us and that force us to question and transform them.

Care has historically and culturally been associated with the private sphere and individuality. When we talk about care, we usually refer to a sum of activities or resources for the well-being of the body, which we continue to understand as a private matter. An example of this is the frequent use of the word in advertisements about skin or hygiene products.

In everyday life we also relate care to the assistance to people in illness or disability, to niñ@s and / or ancian@s. This association is accompanied by the identification of certain people as responsible for such 'assistance': women. It is enough to do a brief search in the Google image search engine of 'nursing', 'elderly care' or 'child care' to find that most of the images represent feminized people as responsible*.

Care is also generally related to household 'chores'. This imaginary is also fed by prejudices about care such as minor tasks or 'dirty work', which also place it in a feminized field. Women have been and continue to be responsible for care at home through unpaid work. As evidenced by the report Unpaid Care in Colombia: Gender Gaps by UN Women and DANE (2020), in Colombia, "78% of the annual hours allocated to all unpaid care in homes are performed by women" (2020, p.2).

This is how we associate care with the family environment and our 'closest circles'; it is a value that we relate little to public and masculinized spheres. As some academics such as Buckingham (2010) and Soto (2013) have expressed, public space is not gender neutral. Today we continue to reproach women who dare to 'walk alone' in certain areas or at certain times, prejudice that expresses our association between male bodies and public space. Similarly, political scenarios are also a masculinized sphere, which is expressed in the inequality against the participation of women in public entities: the Colombian Congress, for example, has only 19.7% of women (Legal Affairs, 2019).   

This is related to the feminization and privatization of certain emotions that we associate with gestures and acts of care. Tenderness, love, affection and, in general, affections, which we consider 'feminine' attributes, we reserve for 'our loved ones'; our families, friends and couples. For the person we come across on the street, tolerance and sometimes respect remain. Moreover, in the political sphere there is even less scope for affections. It is hard for me to imagine any political agenda that promotes and defends tenderness as a mobilizer of society, instead of the iron fist, honor or order.  

However, the pandemic raises the need for people, regardless of gender, to assume the role of caregivers. Care, far from being a naturally feminine characteristic, is something that concerns all human beings. In addition, the pandemic has made it visible that care is not only limited to the body and individuality. The conjuncture suggests that the body of each person is not isolated, rather, it is in constant interrelation with other bodies. This makes it clear that processes at the individual level are related to the interpersonal and collective level, so care is transversal to social life.

Perhaps, the most perceptible thing at this time is the relevance of care on an interpersonal level; our most immediate relationships are affected by our actions. Also, our behaviors affect people we don't know, for example in a supermarket or on the street. Likewise, in the workplace we face challenges in the face of the care of the teams in the face of the new dynamics of teleworking. From Prolong we recognize the importance of self-care, and therefore we insist that working on mental health and its relationship with corporeality is a priority (see article Welcoming the pandemic). But we also emphasize the importance of care at the relational level, so we promote the strengthening of relationships and communication at the community level and in work teams. This is a process that we have even promoted internally in our organization, when facing new challenges in the face of the care of the team in the midst of the current conjuncture.  

Thus, the pandemic has exposed the need to transform our imaginaries in the face of care. In the midst of this conjuncture, the need to stop considering care as a minor task is becoming evident. In the same way, the context raises the need to generate cultural transformations that allow us to expand our imagination when we talk about care to 'deprivatize' it, to stop associating it with feminized spheres and people, and thus strengthen our relationships at the interpersonal and collective level.

To conclude, in this historical moment that we are going through as humanity, I invite you to reflect on the imaginaries we have around care, through the following questions: What emotions or sensations do I associate with care? What actions do I consider acts of care? Which people do I consider to be caregivers and what gender do they identify with? In what aspects of my life have I found that care is vital?

*Screenshot of 'Aged care', 'childcare' and 'nursing' searches on Google.

 

References and bibliography: Legal issues (March 4, 2019)

Women's participation in Congress is less than 20%, the report reveals. Taken from: https://www.asuntoslegales.com.co/actualidad/participacion-de-las-mujeres-en-el-congreso-es-inferior-al-20-revela-informe-2835360 Buckingham, Shelley.

(2010) Analysis of the right to the city from a gender perspective. In Ana Sugranyes and Charlotte Mathivet (eds.), Cities for tod@s. For the right to the city, proposals and experiences. Santiago: Habitat International Coalition, pp. 59-64. Full document available in <www.hic-al.org/>

Comins, I. (2003) From Fear to Diversity to the Ethics of Care: A Gender Perspective. Convergence. Revista de Ciencias Sociales, vol. 10, no. 33, September-December, 2003 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México Toluca, MexicoDANE

and UN Women (2020) Unpaid care in Colombia: gender gaps. Taken from: https://www.dane.gov.co/files/investigaciones/genero/publicaciones/Boletin-estadistico-ONU-cuidado-noremunerado-mujeres-DANE-mayo-2020.pdf

Soto, P. (2013). Between the spaces of fear and the spaces of violence: discourses and practices about corporeality and emotions. In P. Soto and M.A. Villagarán (eds.), Bodies, spaces and emotions. Approximation from the Social Sciences, pp. 197-218. Mexico City: MaporrúaTronto

, J.(1987). Beyond the gender difference. Towards a theory of care. Signs: Jornal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 12, University of Chicago.

Tronto, J. (2018) Economics, ethics and democracy: three languages around care. Gender and care. Theories, scenarios and policies. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional, Universidad de los Andes and Universidad Javeriana.

 

In the footsteps of the pandemic

Author: María Reyes López, art therapist transpersonal and facilitator of the Prolongar Foundation

We have been more than 130 days since preventive isolation began in Colombia due to the pandemic. 130 days of unexpected changes, adjustments, new scenarios and a greater sense of uncertainty. This has generated, among many other things, that some ask on social networks or in conversations with friends: what are your plans after confinement? or what will you do once we get back to normal? The first thing that strikes me is that both questions allude to a different time than the present; they lead us to think about what is coming or what was, what we would like or what we long for and not necessarily what is happening or what we are experiencing here and now.

The pandemic has brought with it experiences of loss, pain and uneasiness. In turn, the vast majority of us have been confronted by moments of uncertainty and anxiety in our day to day. Many times it seems inevitable to follow the impulse of wanting to distance ourselves from what we perceive as unknown or difficult to travel; and it is just in those moments where I consider it of great value to be able to stop and observe what happens to us. Opening space for what we feel to emerge in an authentic way and making us aware of what we need can be a resource available to all.

I wonder if this will be a memorable collective experience, not only because of the obvious implications in our lives, in our economy, health and in the losses that we are forced to go through, but also because of the impacts it has generated in other areas, sometimes more subtle, such as our mental health and our habits. I recognize in the midst of this experience a great opportunity to stop for a moment and ask ourselves: what is the imprint that the changes that the pandemic brings are leaving on us? And I emphasize the word footprint, because I would like to believe and promote the idea that hopefully, an experience like the current one, which has altered so unexpectedly our habits, our rhythms and forms of relationship, does not go unnoticed.  

Exploration: you as the protagonist

I would like to propose, to you, reader, an exploration, where not only your ideas and thoughts about your experiences during the pandemic are present, but also where you invite your hands, your feelings and your creativity to participate. For the following exercise I suggest that you use a navigation map that we use at the Prologar Foundation to approach and understand the different dimensions in which the same situation can affect or resonate in each person: the personal dimension, the relational dimension and the relationship with that wide network of less direct interactions that we could call the collective or community. You can think of it in terms of your relationship with yourself, with your loved ones, and your relationships in your neighborhood or community, for example. Feel free to choose whether you want to focus on any of these areas, or if, on the contrary, you find it useful to create a general map of your present in relation to these three dimensions of your life.  

Start by taking some conscious breaths, placing yourself in the present and perceiving the changes you register in your body as you recall your experiences around the pandemic. Record the sensations, emotions, and thoughts that arise. If you dare, and hopefully you will, the invitation is to create a collage* from magazine images; have a few magazines, scissors, paper and a glue on hand. You can imagine that you are taking a picture of its different dimensions; of your inner world, of your relational world and of the place you occupy in your collective or community. From the magazine clippings that catch your attention and that resonate with your feelings, you can create those "photographs". Allow yourself to choose images that appeal to you, enjoy the process, do not try to analyze it too much and trust your intuition. Give your hands the opportunity to choose colors, shapes and words that resonate with your feeling and emotion, to compose a collage or several, as you need.

Once you are done, the invitation is to take a moment to write and initially only describe in the most objective way possible what you see in the image or images you have just created; be curious, really look at the details. Continue to write about what you perceive this image is showing you about yourself, your relationships with other people, and/or your relationship with your environment. And ask yourself again, or if you can, imagine that you ask the image:

How is the experience of the pandemic transforming me? 

Let yourself be surprised by what comes up and try not to judge your answers. Take it as an opportunity to see, give shape and color to that which inhabits your interior; this will allow you to understand and find better ways to approach it.

I hope that this invitation has awakened your motivation to inquire about the traces that this experience of the pandemic is leaving on you, that you will be encouraged to explore inside and find your own answers. Although there is so much talk about reinventing yourself, remember that many times it is not about that, because just as there is no normality to return to, you will not be able to reinvent yourself or be different by magic. The only way to access a true transformation is through awareness, to be aware of yourself, your environment and your needs; this becomes possible if you stop to observe what is happening in the present.

* "Collage (from the French coller, which translates "to paste") is called an artistic technique consisting of the construction of plastic works through the agglomeration or conjunction of pieces or cuts of different origin, giving them a unified tone. In other words, it's about putting together a work with bits obtained from other sources." Source: https://concepto.de/collage/#ixzz6SmY4Z0EN

 

Embracing the pandemic day by day: how to build a routine for the mornings

 

Author and photographs: Federico Mejía, political scientist, anthropologist and monitoring and evaluation consultant at the Prolongar Foundation

Routines for the mornings open the door to recognize and potentiate what is positive in us

Having explored NON-ACTION and the importance of VIRTUAL RITUALS in previous posts, this time we want to share reflections and recommendations that we consider essential when creating a routine to start the day and that we know are useful to take on the challenges around mental and physical health that quarantine implies. In the current circumstances of confinement, for many people it becomes increasingly difficult to focus the mind and maintain an emotional balance or balance. As Dr. Adrian Bardon, a philosopher specializing in temporality, says, "this whole situation kills our concentration."

In response to this problem, routines for the mornings open the door to recognize and potentiate what is positive in us. These consist of a series of actions, movements and / or thoughts that are done in a certain order and at the beginning of the day to find new ways to relate to oneself, others and the environment. It is a way to resignify our own creative energies and transform the patterns established in our body that allow free expression. 

There are multiple practices or possible routines

While there is a growing consensus every day about the benefits of practices that involve body care, many of the routines we try to practice are not adapted to our needs. Sometimes this happens because the pre-established routines of Yoga or meditation – to mention some recurring options on the internet – may not recognize the body in an integral way, with its complex emotional, rational and sensitive dimensions. 

It is pertinent to understand that there are many possible routines and practices, and we can be flexible in the face of the needs and dispositions we have every day. Therefore, to make the most of the potential of a routine to start the day, it is necessary to observe that not all people should perform the same exercises because not all want or need the same thing. We know that this flexibility can be confusing, since it leaves us in a place of many possibilities, where do I start?, what do I choose? 

Initial reading: how I am and what I need

A first step may be to ask ourselves what our physical, emotional and mental bodies ask of us. For this it is important to open the inner space, listen to our thoughts or feelings, and understand what we can or want to give ourselves.

For example, when the mind is scattered and it is difficult for us to concentrate, it can be valuable to perform a meditative type of practice, focusing attention on relaxing. When we need to activate ourselves bodily to start the day with a lot of energy, it may be better to involve the movement of the feet and arms, jumping and even dancing. If we just get up, some gentle stretches of the neck, back and arms above the head are a very good way to make an initial discharge of energy.

An initial reading may consist of discovering a single movement or thought to which one can go in depth.

No need to rush. Grace also consists in giving the necessary time to discover places and feelings that are suddenly hidden. Nor is it necessary to believe that we should perform many movements or sequences. In this type of practice, for its purposes, sometimes "less is more". An initial reading may consist of discovering a single movement or thought to which one can go in depth.

Ultimately, the routine for the morning does not find meaning in the great or multiple movements, but in the sensations, thoughts and contacts – with the ground, the air, nature – in which we can begin to fix and that enable a different way of relating to ourselves and to the body. It is a way of focusing energy on what we really want to give ourselves, both because we pay full attention to it, and because at that moment we have the willingness and openness to discover it.

Thus, when a routine makes sense for each person, it is when it has the possibility to permeate the day. One of the reasons why we have a hard time doing routines in the morning is because it is not easy to see the immediate effects. However, the special thing is to feel how this practice can have an effect later in the day, especially in times of stress or confusion.

The Connection with the Breath

A second element, which can be common to all routines and types of practices, is the attention we pay to the breath. Awareness of how we are breathing is a potential step to observe and understand ourselves emotionally and bodily. It is possible to start any routine with some deep breaths. You can pay attention to the air that enters and exits, and the route that makes inside. Air quality, temperature or breathing speed are other valuable elements to consider. 

It is true that at the beginning it can be challenging. However, as we incorporate it and give it a moment in our routine, breathing can become the pillar to perform it. In a next post we will be more specific about the connection with the breath.

Value also emerges in routine

Finally, it may be necessary to take into account that the benefits of this type of practice are seen in repetition, that is, in effectively implementing the routine in a sustained way. Sometimes, our eagerness to get results can perhaps be an obstacle to continue. Therefore, it is worth remembering that there are processes that need to be nurtured with our care and time.

Unlike many activities or actions that we usually carry out, in the routines for the morning we do not seek to earn something in the future. Satisfaction consists in appreciating that moment that we are giving ourselves and that allows us to place ourselves in the present. From there it is from where you can find the possibility of understanding and assimilating our days in a different way and seeing its effects at other times of our daily lives.

 

Those little things

Today, in partnership with Masuno we are launching a series of small virtual rituals to share joys and sorrows.

 

Author: María Elisa Pinto García, executive director of the Prolongar Foundation.

 

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. I was surprised at something that, despite the obvious, had not been obvious to me: humans are the only animals that use rituals and symbols. The first burials of our Neanderthal ancestors account for one of the most profound modifications that began to differentiate us from other species and is the need to explain our own existence through the imaginary, integrating cosmogonic myths into everyday life (National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico).

 The ritual has several specific characteristics: it occurs in a space away from normal life; communicates through symbols, senses and emotions without necessarily depending on the use of the word; determines and supports change; it gives meaning to the world we live in.

 Today, when that world is not the same, when our fragility is evident in everything we touch, when the things we took for granted are now our greatest desire, and when normal life seems like a perpetual present, it is vital that we create new rituals. Intimate rituals to explain our own existence and purpose. Shared rituals to live in solidarity and connect with others, in this interdependence that is no longer a theory but the forceful reality.

 Today, in partnership with Masuno we are launching a series of small virtual rituals to share joys and sorrows. Rather than exhausting themselves in an exchange, they seek to be the beginning for the creation of symbols woven together, or to create rituals that make sense for each person. We begin by paying homage to what we long for, hoping that from this sharing will arise some hint of tranquility when we feel accompanied.