Telescoping awareness : a phenomenological investigation informed by the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali and Nancy Stark Smith's The Underscore

Abstract

Awareness was found to be a common focus between different dance improvisational practices. This led the researcher to question how awareness can be studied rigorously and what behaviours are to be practiced for awareness to be nourished. Nancy Stark Smith's the Underscore was chosen as the key improvisational dance practice due to its applicability as a research tool. The Yoga Sutra is an historical text attributed to Patanjali (3rd Century AD). In the Yoga Sutra, cognitive processes and behaviours to be engaged in to attain a state of liberation, Kaivalya, are presented in 195 concise yet detailed aphorisms. Only five aphorisms were chosen for thorough investigation in this study. Research on the Underscore and the Yoga Sutra were then used to structure a two week phenomenological investigation in which the researcher partook in a forty-five minute session, everyday, for fourteen days. Quantitative and Qualitative recordings were kept daily. After the two-week research period, the data was coded and clustered into themes. The results are discussed in chapter four and focus on two main discussions. Firstly the benefits of following aphorism II.1 by structuring the study based on discipline, self-study and orientation are discussed in terms of promoting behaviours that lead to a detachment from the identification with thought. Secondly, two initiators of movement are differentiated. Namely, movement from mind and movement from awareness. The experience of movement from awareness is then likened to the state of samadhi. The limitations of the study as well as the potential for further research are then outlined in the concluding chapter.