At 2000-2700m altitude

Again I read 'Intra-Actions', an interview by Adam Kleinman with Karen Barad, physicist, scholar of the philosophy of science and feminism,  whose approach has significantly shaped my understanding of our relationship to nature, objects and matter in recent years.

On my walks through forests, scree fields, watercourses, alpine pastures and slopes, I have sat under ancient stone pines, on gigantic boulders, in warm grass, been enveloped by fast-moving clouds or soaked to the skin by thundershowers. So deeply involved in the matter of nature, I often could no longer clearly define where my body ended and where the rock began; I couldn't tell whether the ground was in my body or my body in the ground or maybe both were true. It was a strong experience of what Karen Barad describes as sensing 'differences and entanglement from within'.
Over time my body became more and more receptive and permeable. Touching a tree, the ground, a bird's feather or a rock felt at times as an act of both of us blurring with our edges: a resonant intra zone* emerged between us; a place of connectivity and possible action.
I was no longer visitor or guest but had become an entangled part of the environment.

I'm deeply grateful for this enriching time in the mountain world and look forward to sharing some of these experiences in the upcoming outdoor workshops I'm planning to offer in autumn.

* the term ‘intra action’ and 'intra-zone' have been coined by Karen Barad.

© Photo: Bettina Neuhaus