The Desire Project
what is the
desire
project
”
Recognizing the power of the erotic within our lives can give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world
A. LOURDE
”
For Longing
JOHN DONOHUE
Blessed be the longing that brought you here
and quickens your soul with wonder.
may you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire
that disturbs you when you have settled for something safe.
may you have the wisdom to enter generously into your own unease
to discover the new direction your longing wants you to take.
may the forms of your belonging – in love, creativity, and friendship –
be equal to the grandeur and the call of your soul.
may the one you long for long for you.
may your dreams gradually reveal the destination of your desire.
may a secret providence guide your thought and nurture your feeling.
may your mind inhabit your life with the sureness
with which your body inhabits the world.
may your heart never be haunted by ghost-structures of old damage.
may you come to accept your longing as divine urgency.
may you know the urgency with which God longs for you.
The Desire project was envisioned and created by Brinda Jacob-Janvrin in 2017 and looks at how we hold desire in our bodies. Of the firm belief that reclaiming and having agency around our desire is a path towards true empowerment, this project invites us to explore sensations, emotions, images and questions around desire, longing, and belonging.
The intuitive body is central to our explorations for its capacity to bridge the conscious and unconscious, the inner and outer experience. Authentic Movement practice is the language used for accessing deep layers of inner knowing, feeling, memory, sensation, and possibility organised in the living library of the body. Longings, fears, emotions, and unrealised impulses are allowed to emerge from the body-mind-consciousness and be integrated.
Dreamwork is another potent source through which we access the unconscious material and expand on it through active imagination. Dreams are a healing medium through which we can witness the various stages of transformation, particularly if they are followed over extended periods of time.
The Desire project is both an exploration of a personal journey and creative process as well as an offering and an invitation to the community. It currently manifests as workshops, residencies, spiralling into desire and art and movement installations / performances.
1.
workshops
- Bangalore, August 2019
- Bangalore, September 2019
- Bangalore, January 2020
2.
residencies
- Bangalore, October 2017
- Bangalore, October 2020
3.
Spiralling into Desire
An experimental hybrid documentary film – work in process
4.
Art & movement installations/performances
Wish you were here
- Bangalore, March 2018
- Spain, September 2018
Spiralling into
desire
the film
‘Spiralling into Desire’ brings together mover Brinda Jacob-Janvrin and filmmakers Roohi Dixit and Ziba Bhagwagar to document the Desire process. In this exploration of the authentic movement process, the camera is the witness and the relationship between filmmaker and mover is one of deep compassion. The embodied presence of both the mover and the witness allows for the transformation of the soul into substance. Spirit and matter are no longer separate and we’re in the presence of deep mystery.
Spiralling into Desire traces a woman’s descent into her deep body to access and retrieve her true autonomy and draws parallels from the first epic poem ‘The Descent of Inanna’.
The movement x film collaboration in its current iteration of 15 minutes, is produced by the Studio for Movement Arts and Therapies Trust, in collaboration with Zero Rules, and is supported by Goethe Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore.
Spiralling into Desire is envisioned as a 60 mins movement x film collaboration. We are actively looking for various sources of funding to make this possible. If you would like to contribute to our crowdfunding efforts do click here.
why
desire
?
”
There are many kinds of power, used and unused, acknowledged or otherwise. The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling.
A. LOURDE
We live in a world where our Desire has been for so long feared, projected upon, objectified and distorted. Often the first step taken by any person/organisation/entity seeking power and control is to suppress and even crush desire, especially women’s desire. As a result, most of us have lost our connection to the true form of our longings and desires.
Read More
We live in a world where our Desire has been for so long feared, projected upon, objectified and distorted. Often the first step taken by any person/organisation/entity seeking power and control is to suppress and even crush desire, especially women’s desire. As a result, most of us have lost our connection to the true form of our longings and desires.
Through social and cultural conditioning, our erotic intelligence has been relegated in the shadow or limited to the realm of superficial pleasure, sexuality and sensuality. As we sexualise, repress or project our erotic essence outwards, we disconnect from our innate body wisdom and disassociate from the essence of who we are. From this place, we often make choices that are not in our well-being. These choices are often dangerous to us while serving the Other/System/Patriarchy.
Reclaiming our Eros is a form of activism in itself
The Desire project is an invitation to move into our bodies and explore the sensations, emotions and imaginations around our desire and longing. When we move into our bodies and begin to feel desire as energy, we can move away from our thoughts, ideas and judgements around desire. This erotic awakening invites us to
- Engage with and have agency around our desire which leads us deeper and deeper into our unique process.
- Let go of our fixation on the external Other and move from power struggles to empowerment, from entrapment to freedom.
- Unravel imposed programming & conditioning so that we can show up in the world fully resourced with the right psychological, sexual, somatic & spiritual tools to ground us into the deep knowing that who we authentically are, is enough.
- Find our authentic voices, and live our authentic lives with discernment, joy, compassion and pleasure.
- Move away from the patriarchal notion of ‘either/or’ and towards the Feminine approach of ‘yes, and.’
what is
authentic
movement
Authentic Movement is a simple but powerful practice in which the mover moves with her/his eyes closed in front of a witness. The mover waits to be moved and follows this movement that is suggested by their body, as opposed to performing or moving for the witness. This facilitates a journey into the inner world of the psyche. Authentic Movement practice is extremely helpful within the context of psychotherapy, medicine and meditative practices and is a potent source for artistic expression.
Read More
According to Dr. Tina Stromsted, a dear teacher of mine and one of the pioneers of this form, “through the process of Authentic Movement, we are reconnected with deeper instinctual resources and spiritual intelligence that dwell in the molecular structure of the cells and recover unlived parts of our nature on intrapersonal, interpersonal and transpersonal levels. During a time when many of the patriarchal power structures that have given meaning to our existence for thousands of years are crumbling, Authentic Movement allows practitioners, within the context of a healing relationship, to discover a new paradigm that offers guidance from an inner source.”
what is
dream
work
Dreamwork is a broad term used to describe the exploration and incorporation of dreams in psychotherapy and in personal process.
I have been engaged with Natural Dreamwork since 2015, and this process has been instrumental in guiding and clarifying the desire process for myself.
”
MAYA LUNA
I no longer consent to the idea
That the unkempt longings
Of my soul
The unbearable heat of my
Desire
The immaculate fragility
Of my skin
Should be neatly sorted
Fixed
Sewed shut
Or understood