Week 3 of Intercultural practices MA is about Leaning. Leaning from a metaphoric perspective and leaning from a physical perspective as well as emotional.
To be honest, I never thought of leaning as anything really, I never even thought of questioning or thinking about the aspect of leaning. When googling the words “to lean is to”, this is what google generated “Simply put, Lean is about efficiency, moving material, information, and ideas through a process in a smooth, well-organized manner while removing waste and decreasing costs along the way.” “to incline, deviate, or bend from a vertical position. He leaned back in his chair. b. : to cast one’s weight to one side for support. Lean on me as we walk.”. Leaning can be used in a positive or negative context, to lean could mean to be dependable or it could be to support, it all depends on how you view it.
From an emotional standpoint I think it is very important to allow one-self to lean. Leaning in the sense of depending on others when needed so one can reciprocate. Leaning to give support to others is also needed to be part of a well functioning society. To give and receive is what I feel ‘Leaning’ means from an emotional perspective. From my own personal life, having a long distant relationship with my husband, having him work in a country and coming to visit us when he can, also allows us to lean on each other emotionally and physically, and sometimes one is dependable and one is supporting and at times its in reverse.
From a physical aspect, to lean is to actually put weight on something strong that will attest to the weight that it has been put on. To deviate from the norm of standing up and bending towards something else. Looking at physical aspects around me and analyzing how some products and building materials and physical world around me are designed to be leaning on the other is absolutely fascinating.
Today’s session inspired me when we had a co-class with Performance MA, as it allowed me to feel and view my body and how simply leaning forward on the desk in a subtle way can have an experiential experience. It was interesting as well doing a one minute exercise for 3 objects, one minute each, where we had to portray the act of leaning. Watching the students and doing the exercise myself had a very interesting affect on experiencing my body by using my mind.
What it feels to lean and what it means to lean is something we need to think about. It has so much relevance in our everyday life that we take for granted.