Body as ally

![CDATA[The body speaks simply, directly and personally to us in a language of preference based on comfort. Many people don't consciously hear or heed their body's voice. This is not surprising in a culture with a catch-cry like "no pain, no gain". Despite having accessed this inner language via the respectful and gentle bodywork called Ortho-Bionomy, and despite having written my Master of Science thesis basing the methodology and praxis on my body's signals, I began writing this abstract without celearly listening to them. My mind, in a manner of speaking, galloped after thoughts without checking how my body felt about them, and ended up stuck in a cul-de-sac. I regrouped, "processed" my "computer-assisted backache", and rested. On my return to the keyboard, I deleted some dead-end ideas and now proceed, hopefully with greater awareness. Reading these words, you may be sneering with disdain, sparking with recognition, or sagging with boredom at my suggestion that the body should be given a say in our ideas. Whatever your response, it involves you body, an integral part of you. Everything we do is mediated in the body. In my PhD I am studying the process of embodiment with a group of co-researchers. This practical and theoretical paper presents a key to accessing your body's inner voice as a radical foundation and ally for education and research. If you wish to, from reading this paper, you will experience a praxis for ethical, integral research. This will incorporate a "hands-on" experience of the body's capacity to communicate preferences as a basis for self-trust and identity.]]