Spirituality 16.pdf

7/29/2019 Spirituality 16.pdf

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Spirituality - lesson 16: rocking motion

the rocking motion might be overlooked among the many distractions of everydayevents yet it is with us throughout our lives, and occasionally through the aid ofdesigns to shift your body backwards and forth is a natural instinct for anumber of different situations; fear, pain, grief, loneliness, anger and stress.

a prenatal reaction to rock or sway is undoubtedly related to when a foetus is

being carried in the womb and is subject to a gentle rocking motion that themother is unaware of. subconsciously, in times of high anxiety, it is possible forone to revert back to or rather mimic the sensation of being carried in the womb.rocking is therefore a universal soothing technique that spans across everyculture. from being rocked as a baby and child, humans seem to never loosetheir sensitivity to rocking motion. whether by the gentle lapping of waves on aboat, a swing in a playground, or hammock in the garden most people would beable to find relaxation and comfort. the motion of rocking makes blood pressurefall and respiration slow. the physical act taps into a pleasure centre located inthe brain that produces endorphins and thus creating a therapeutic affect. it is aself comforting system in which smooth, rhythmic changes in linear motion act as

a natural stimulant to the central nervous system. interestingly rocking also helpsstimulate our ability of balance, by activating the system within our inner ear. this


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also goes some way to help us be alert and attentive.

spiritual rockingmost of the time we think of prayer as a static activity. some orthodox jews use arocking motion called shukkeling when praying on the ha'shem. there are mixedexplanations of this tradition; some believe that at the beginning of the productionof scriptures there were few books for everyone to read so the rocking motion

reflects an old custom of taking it in turns to look at the pages. others might saythat the motion of shukkeling is a way of enhancing concentration or that thewords are igniting the soul like the lighting of a wick and so the body moves like aflame.

in some cases rocking is a proportional physical and spiritual response to prayer.ust as we might nod our head or tap our feet in time with a piece of music, somefind that the saying of prayers stimulates a physical rocking motion.

the spiritual society of the shakers has the most impressive rocking tradition.rockers are part of all life stages - a cradle for the new born; a rocking horse toy;a rocking stool for work in the household of the community; a rocking chair forleisure time, social meeting and reading of spiritual texts;an adult-size cradle forill, weak or aged invalids. the gentle rocking movement helps to calm their spiritand prevent from bedsores. the rocking motion closes the circle of life, from birthto death!

timelineone of the first illustrations of the rocking motion can be found in a current symbolin alchemy: the rebis - the 're-born' or hermaphrodite - is standing on a half-moon(top image). the king and queen, the two are one. the rebis is cursed to foreverroam the shores of the lake, but is known to have knowledge of things well

beyond its domain. alchemy is the 'maternal darkness' and compensates forchristianity's 'paternal light' and the goal is to become holy oneself, light and dark


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made one.

cradlethe cradle is thought to have originated in europe around the early 1500s. earlydesigns were made from a half log, which was hollowed out to provide a secureresting place for the infant. slowly these gave way to a box like structures,mounted on curved sections for rocking.


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eventually such designs became more and more elaborate and of course came

to incorporate different types of materials. in some instances the cradle androcking chair are combined, this type of design is known as the nanny-rocker andis thought to originate in 18th century america.


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rocking horsechildren, familiar with the cradle don't have to wait long until there next rockingdesign experience. the rocking horse is also thought to originate from europe,probably in germany during the 1700s though these were not the first instances

of popular horse toys. since the middle ages 'hobby horses' consisting of a fakehorse head placed at the end of a long stick were cheap ways to keep childrenentertained, they were followed by barrel horses in the sixteenth century, a logbody and four smaller log legs complete with a fake horse head - these humblewooden horses were then given semi-circular base thus becoming a rockinghorse. throughout the 18th century these designs became more elaborate andfigurative - with the horse's head and body looking more and more 'lifelike'. thenext significant development came with the swinging base, which was invented inthe USA in 1880 and popularized by a number of companies.


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rocking chairsthe rocking chair is a distinctly american passion, its origins, however, are lessclear. adding skates or rockers to the bottom of chairs probably evolved from thecradle and the rocking horse, which both predate the rocking chair. apparently noone thought to apply the idea to furniture for adults until the eighteenth century.the word 'rocker' originated in the 15th century and indicated the personresponsible for rocking the cradle. in the 18th century it also meant an orator whoput others to sleep. anyway, it was not until 1787 that the earliest dated citation 'rocking chair' appeared in the oxford english dictionary for usage.

in the early 18th century, skates were sometimes applied to existing chairs,converting them to rockers (a solution which was popular over the last ten years

also). over the following years rocking chairs developed into their own genre, withwooden and wicker designs common across europe and the USA. slowly they


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have become universal and several alternatives rocker styles have emergedwhich bounce on springs and wobble on round bottoms. for a comprehensiveoverview of rocking chair evolution from origins to early 2000s see our'illustratedhistory of rocking chairs'. here are some more recent rockers:

the rocking hot dog by n. klunder and j. hayon, 2009 -more

'walker' by oliver schick-more
http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/rocking/origin.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/eng/education/rocking/origin.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/eng/education/rocking/origin.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/eng/education/rocking/origin.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/7796/jaime-hayon-and-nienke-klunder-american-chateau-room-one.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/7796/jaime-hayon-and-nienke-klunder-american-chateau-room-one.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5121/oliver-schick.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5121/oliver-schick.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5121/oliver-schick.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/5121/oliver-schick.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/7796/jaime-hayon-and-nienke-klunder-american-chateau-room-one.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/7796/jaime-hayon-and-nienke-klunder-american-chateau-room-one.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/eng/education/rocking/origin.htmlhttp://www.designboom.com/eng/education/rocking/origin.html


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the murakami chair by rochus jacob - 'I was looking for opportunities to generate energy through activities we naturally do.the final result is a rocking chair that enables the user to experience production and consumption of electricity in a gentle andrewarding way. more
http://www.designboom.com/weblog2/cat/209/view/contest/view.php?contest_pk=28&item_pk=33866&p=1http://www.designboom.com/weblog2/cat/209/view/contest/view.php?contest_pk=28&item_pk=33866&p=1http://www.designboom.com/weblog2/cat/209/view/contest/view.php?contest_pk=28&item_pk=33866&p=1http://www.designboom.com/weblog2/cat/209/view/contest/view.php?contest_pk=28&item_pk=33866&p=1

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Spirituality 16.pdf