Malvika Jha, a Visiting Artist Shares Her Experience
While in the space, a much-needed sense of calm hit my body
While in the space, a much-needed sense of calm hit my body
My body recognized immediately that I was in a safe space and could approach the terrain and the people around me with openness. I was well aware of what survival mode felt like as a sensation in my body but didn’t remember what being at ease meant. I had joined Open Invitation with the intention of reconnecting with my body and relaxing my nervous system from the anxiety it had been building over quite some time.
Meeting everyone from the Open Invitation circle opened avenues of deep interaction for me both within a community and individually. It was a complete psychedelic experience on the first day when we went to the rocks with the architecture students. I decided to make my way deeper into the forest as it was something that evoked fear in me. I managed to walk and navigate by using the rocks as I am the kind of person who gets easily lost in urban spaces. Earlier conversations with everyone that day made me feel comfortable to be kinder towards myself while trying something new. I allowed myself the space to move around in the forest as it rained. It was evening time and I almost felt like I was asleep and awake at the same time. I managed to get back to the group by the time it had started pouring. Making our way back, I was able to have conversations with the students and realized that we were all in a lucid state to an extent. This realization was intense due it being of a collective experiential nature. It was refreshing, especially after the pandemic, to feel that level of connectedness with a group of people.
