Audio walk for reconnect with your ecosystem
by Claudia González Godoy

 

Hello!

 

We are connected through this audio, a sound piece that will accompany us and guide us through questions, reflections and suggestions, which can trigger various actions, such as:

 

Observing

Listening

Smell

Stop

Moving forward

Stoop

Pick up

Turn around

Back

Lie down

Contemplate

 

Before starting this experience, I would like to invite you to walk towards an environment that has as little concrete as possible and is accompanied by a body of water. This could be a square, a park, a hill, a forest, a river, a wetland, the beach, a mountain range or a valley.

 

The aim is that our journey will lead you to reconnect with your intuitions, so I invite you to explore the outside environment. I use the term "outdoors" to avoid limiting the experience only to the concept of "nature", since you, me and the place you are in are all part of it. Therefore, I propose that you move to a place close to your environment where you can find an aquatic ecosystem and start this process of reconnection.

 

Once you have defined where you are going, prepare your walking kit and the materials that will accompany you on your journey.

 

Some good items to bring with you on your outing are:

 

A logbook

Pencil

A glass jar

A spoon

A bag/box

A small knife

A camera

Headphones

An audio recorder

 

Take a moment to prepare your backpack and make sure you carry everything you might need. Remember that the purpose of this walk is simply to walk and allow yourself to wander freely. As we walk, we connect with the environment through our bodily and intuitive senses, using our primal technologies and activating our intuitive-bodily senses.

 

Now pause this audio to think about what you'll wear, and when you're ready play again.

 

Let 's get started!

 

From now on, you must wear headphones to listen to the audio.

 

Use the camera attached to some part of your body and put REC on your recorder.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Let's go out, start walking freely, you can walk as fast as you want and you can also stop whenever something or someone catches your attention.

 

As you walk, make an imaginary frame with your ears and pay attention to the sounds around you at all times.

 

Do you notice how the sound of the landscape transitions?

 

Walk according to the volumes of the sounds of the landscape

 

I would love to know a bit more about the place you are heading to. Do you know its name? If so, do you know what its name means? If you don't know it yet, maybe you can research it later.

 

If possible, can you take a picture of the place? It would be great if you could draw on the ground, using a branch, where it is on the map, using one of the following coordinates: South-South, North-North, South-Centre, Centre-North, North-Centre or West-South.

 

As you look at the place, can you indicate from where your horizon line starts and where you are looking?

 

I wonder when do we begin to link with the ecosystem, what is the body register of species to connect with each other, how do we recognise the importance of the balance of ecosystems, nature cycles, biodiversity and ecological processes?

 

We humans are an ecosystem in our own right, we are hosts to millions of species that we do not know, we depend on them even for our existence. We also depend on all the ecosystems of the biosphere, but as if we were alien to it, we have ignored its balance and natural cycles.

 

I value very much how in South America, the continent I live in, the native peoples maintain an active link with the ecosystem, because as Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, Bolivian sociologist-activist says "Indigenous wisdom is not only the knowledge that is transmitted from generation to generation, but also an ethic of collaboration and solidarity with nature and with other human beings. Ecofeminism seeks to recover this ethic of collaboration and promote a more just and sustainable way of life, in which women, indigenous peoples and other living beings are valued and respected as active subjects in the construction of a better world."

While listening to this audiowalk, have you noticed any sounds or sensations that were unfamiliar or strange to you?

 

In this place where you are now, how could you move according to the web of interactions between the different species that inhabit it, including yourself?

 

When does a noise begin to feel familiar?

 

Walk into a place where you think there might be more sounds, smells, colors, textures, or tastes in the environment than we are aware of?

 

How might your presence alter the dynamics of the place? Could you move around imagining how the air, soil, and water might change in response to your presence and activity?

 

How does your movement in the territory displace the particles of space?

What will birdsong be like when you are not there?

 

Could it be possible that even the energy you emit through your thoughts and emotions has some effect on the environment around you?

 

I invite you to explore new ways of moving, of interacting with the environment, and of being part of this web of interconnections and relationships?

 

Just as when you enter a body of water and the ripples begin to move in the body of water, what do you think the water perceives by your presence?

 

I propose you listen for 4 minutes with your eyes open, sitting or lying down, try to stay in a very comfortable position and feel how your body unloads its weight on the ground, imagine your surplus energy draining and going down to the inner layers of the Earth's crust, connect with it .... Ground yourself for a few minutes...

 

Breathe deeply, and stay there listening...

Lay down / take shelter / observe the textures of the ground / listen to the insects, the rustling of the leaves....

touch them, encounter them...

 

Lift slowly and start to walk squatting, at the level of the undergrowth. Try not to make noise, try to be as subtle as possible, don't touch the trees, don't touch the branches....find the routes of the species that inhabit it and cross the forest until you reach a body of water....

 

Have you arrived, I suggest you listen with your eyes closed, lying down in a very comfortable place next to the river. Stretch out your whole body, like a star, receive the warmth of the air and the subtlety of the wind, collect the light and unload all the weight of your body back on the ground.

 

Breathe slowly, calmly, and stay there, listening...

 

Where does your horizon line continue, can you mark it, how far have you gone?

 

How far have you gone, what species are there?

 

You are also a species in that ecosystem, and in an ecosystem there are many kinds of species.

 

What is the tiniest species in the whole ecosystem?

 

Of course you can talk about it...

 

Depending on the territory you are in, you can look for and encounter different types of species  

 

Native species: these are species that originated in that region and have developed over a long period of time. They are adapted to the specific climatic conditions of that territory.

 

Endemic species: These are species that are found in a limited geographical area and are not found anywhere else in the world.

 

Endangered species: These are species that are at risk of disappearing completely, they have progressively declined in population over time.

 

Migratory species: These are species that move from one place to another in search of food or nutrients.

 

Introduced species: These are species that have been deliberately or accidentally transported by humans to an area where they are not native.

 

Dominant species: These are species that are very abundant in an ecosystem and have a major impact on the structure and function of the ecosystem.

 

Invasive species: These are species that are introduced into an ecosystem where they are non-native and have a negative impact on the ecosystem. In Chile, pine and eucalyptus are the species par excellence introduced and there are extensive territories with monoculture plantations, destined for the forestry industry.

 

A foreign or exotic species is a species that is outside its natural range of propagation and has been artificially introduced into an ecosystem. These species may come from other geographical areas and may be from different kingdoms.

Alien species can spread disease, degrade habitat and alter natural ecological processes. In some cases, alien species can become invasive and have a significant impact on the ecosystem and biodiversity of the region.

Some alien species can be beneficial, e.g. as agricultural crops or ornamental plants.

 

Companion species is a species that is closely and beneficially linked to another species in a relationship known as mutualism. They interact symbiotically and cooperate with each other.

 

Donna Haraway uses the term "companion species" to describe how humans and animals can coexist in a symbiotic and beneficial way. For example, humans have domesticated many animals throughout history, allowing for a symbiotic relationship in which humans provide food and shelter to animals, while animals provide labor and resources to humans.

 

In her work, Haraway also highlights the importance of recognising and valuing symbiotic relationships between different animal species. For example, bees and plants have a symbiotic relationship that is essential for plant pollination, which in turn helps maintain biodiversity and ecosystem health.

 

Host species: A host species is a species that harbours another species in its body, providing an environment for the host species to live and reproduce.

 

 Which of these do you recognise yourself in?

 

Wherever you are, let the ecosystem, including yourself, manifest itself freely ....

 

What body technologies do you use to get to know the earth?

 

Now unfold a movement with your body to measure the volume of the air.

continue the movement for 60 seconds.

 

How does the air register your exhalation and that of other species?

 

How do you register the constant transformation of your body and that of other species in the land?

 

How does the water modify its temperature through its surface and underground transit?

 

What is its route through the territory?

What do the water currents mean?

 

You can now try to transform your body into a multisensory sensor to record how the water level rises and how the water flows.

 

how the level rises

How it goes down

how the flow accelerates

how it changes color

it stops or continues

 it warms up or cools down

 

If you are in front of a body of water now I invite you to embrace it and let yourself be touched by it.

Follow its movement, feel its temperature, pick up its texture,

 

Stop the audio guide and stay there for as long as you can with the camera attached to some part of your body...

 

When you leave, return to the accompaniment of this audio walk whenever you want to.

 

Let your body now feel the environment...