This week home learning began and we took it as an opportunity to continue our "after school, unschool" sessions. We go outdoors or crank up the music at home to de-tune from learning fractions over a screen and move to get the whole body thinking and feeling. Moving in the open air and with the music dissolves and helps us release much of the tension that builds up.

I've been thinking about movement a lot. As well as unschooling with Tomas, I've recently been working to develop my own movement practice. About a month ago I joined Jungle Brothers a space and community that is so much more than a gym. JB had been on my mind for a couple of years but starting my PhD this year I knew it was going to be challenging and I would need to be both mentally and physically strong to get through it. I'm so glad I made the decision to join "the tribe" and I will say more about movement in a future post.

In addition to Jungle Brothers, the coaches and fellow tribe members, I am sending special thanks to Ash Johns and the Finding Your Freedom + Healing is Happening programs/communities that I learn from and I am witnessed in. Also muchas gracias to the SUR-SUR collective of female artists I am now a part of connecting Australia and Uruguay. I am forever amazed that despite the various differences in time-zones and that the five of us lead busy lives we have managed to have regular zoom meets. Our last SUR-SUR meeting on Friday the 16th of July we continued to dream aloud what we hoped for our collective as we begin to define and secure resources for the various projects we'd like to make happen.

And so in this moment I am feeling grateful for the work and the communities that support me (and that I can in turn support) during these challenging and uncertain times. What's emerging for me is that the collective is the bridge: that reclaiming, remembering and connecting can't happen solely with the individual. Might seem obvious and maybe I already knew this but understanding and knowledge definitely hit differently when you begin to integrate the lessons.    

The research (and the revolution) continue. 

this week began by being invited to and attending my first (zoom) meeting with the Basquadé Inchalá Community of the Charrúa Nation in Uruguay. it was very moving to hear other peoples stories about their connection to their Indigenous heritage through land, customs, family and the pain of oppressed narratives, the silences and denials. it was for me so very healing to share my story, to be witnessed  and to realise that my story was very similar to many others. of the I think 15-17 people who were able to join the meeting, about 5 or 6 of us were either living in Australia or had lived here for some time or had family living here

>> la tierra tiene memoria/the land remembers <<

I asked the trees once, why should I have such a connection to this place? They answered: our land masses were once joined you know? and so I went to the internet and the internet said "Ancient eucalyptus discovered in South America" and "A detailed eucalypt family tree"

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this week has required me to be more like water. to let go of the plans I had made, cry, embrace the rain from my balcony, flow with changes in the schedule and routine, deepen into fluid (even if that fluidity is looking less than graceful) consistent movement and the power of daily practice.

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the week in images below. we have been using and learning some of the Aboriginal names for the plants, birds and trees we often see. as I am learning Guaraní, Tomas is also using some of the Guaraní or Charrúa words we know. our tongues remember the taste of the sounds. the text I mention in the caption of the last photo below "D'harawal Dreaming Stories" is available via this link dharawalstories.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/burragorang1-1mb.pdf