A client of mine had one of their most beloved pets cloned after its physical body died. The new, DNA exact match, looked exactly like the old pet, but the soul/personality was different.
I can easily spiral myself into an existential crisis if I ruminate long enough about the soul-mind-body connection, the multiverse, the Metaverse, the time-space-continuum and the conundrum of it all. So, for this article, I will do what I have fine-tuned myself to do best and I will be present in this mind, in this body, with this soul, and in this intersection of the space-time-continuum in which I currently type.
I sit in front of my dated MacBook Air, writing this article in Notes, with my iPhone SE (nicknamed “my Nokia”) sitting next to me. Though I was a STEM/GATE student, you can infer I am not big on the latest technological advancements, nor do I spend much time in the Metaverse, on social media or in the gaming world, nor do I consume much screen time (tv included) in general.
When I reference the Metaverse, I mean all things where we can create a different reality from the Truth of the current continuum our life is in. Social Media, gaming, virtual reality, tv/streaming, et al.
I like the Metaverse and technology for the fact that you can temporarily “escape” reality, you can front, you can create the denial of whatever you need to. You can make your life whatever you want it to be. It can be an amazing coping strategy for the mundane of this world, the stress of this world, the loneliness of this world. It can provide a lot of information otherwise not easily accessible or available. It can cultivate creativity through shared ideas and inspiration. And, trust me, I love a good FaceTime with the people I can’t physically see on a regular basis. But, I feel like technology and the Metaverse can cause A LOT of harm, anxiety and disconnect; it can leave us in fragmented mind-body-soul Truths and realities; it can leave us in fragmented presence.
The Metaverse and technology have me asking things like: where did the scientific method go? Where did critical thinking go? Where did evidence-based research as credibility go? When did it become okay to plagiarize? Who is a real authority anyway? And, what is Truth anymore?! Another existential-crisis slippery slope.
But back to now; back to this carbon-chain physical body. I spend my days doing what I would explain as biohacking. I am a Structural Integration Practitioner, a mind-body-soul specialist of sorts, a professional listener and a DNA/matrix shifter. I work with individuals to hack the dis-ease in their mind-body-soul. I work with the matrixes of the physical, the mental, the soul, and the epigenetics. Fascia. Somatics. Mycelia. Best Self. Healing generational trauma. All buzz words in the Metaverse; all things I work with in real time. I “fix” knees. I “fix” sciatica. I “fix” scoliosis. But it’s never just about the knee. Pain is the messenger. The messenger telling us there are unhealed pieces of ourselves; parts of our Truth and our soul’s purpose we have been ignoring; habits in our daily life that don’t serve us; generational traumas and real time traumas waiting to be healed. The “knee” asks us how are we standing in ourselves? What steps forward are we not taking? What are we forcing? It’s our choice if we stop to listen.
But there it is: presence. In this technological age, where is our presence? Where is our connection with our body? So often it takes acute pain to remind us, “Yo, Homie, you have a body.”
I’m curious about the future of technology in relationship to the physical body. If you subscribe to evolution, it is said we are still adapting to becoming bipeds (off four legs and upright onto two). Structural Integration is the architecture of the physical body. The main premise is that if you align the body in gravity and “stack the blocks of the body” through the fascia, things that don’t serve the body and mind (dis-ease) scuff off leading to a physically and mentally healthier and more present being who literally and figuratively stands more presently in their self and on/in their feet. When Dr. Ida Rolf created Structural Integration “Rolfing,” technology wasn’t what it is today. I give Dr. Rolf a ton of props because she understood things like the fascia, the psoas, the vagus nerve, the somatic health through the literal position of the body were important long before technology could prove these things. But, technology is now proving these things (I should mention I completely geek out on, and find immense benefit to, Radiology technology).
I have concern, though, about what technology is doing to the evolution of the body. “If you were wearing a crown would it be sitting on top of your head, or would it have fallen off” is a question I ask clients every day, all day long. Where is the horizon? Where is your presence?
For the most part, we are a head down, slumped over, slouched forward and to the side, sedentary society with overstimulated nervous systems and locked up opposable thumbs from holding our devices all day. What is the human body going to look like in a few decades? A few generations? I’d ask if we are going to wind up like those cartoon characters who are brains-in-jars, but to my knowledge the soul needs the body— the nerves, the fascia, the physical matter of it all— as an anchor in this time-space continuum. And, as far as I know, mind-body-soul connection isn’t something a 3D printer, AI, VR, or cloning can replicate…just yet.
I’ll cut the fat— the adipose if you will. I’m 20 years into my practice and I spend my days with people in pain— physical, emotional, somatic, existential pain. What we crave is connection. Empathy. To be seen, heard, validated, accepted and understood. Connection is complicated because sometimes it feels amazing and sometimes it feels like disappointment, rejection, sadness, fear. Ultimately it’s complex whether in the current space-time continuum or in a created reality.
As I mentioned before I do see benefit for how technology can assist this. But I also have concern for our physical bodies and our mind-body-soul connection. Whether we know it or not, we also need/want to find our feet. To breathe more easily. To see the horizon. To actualize in real time those dream lives that are much easier to create in a “faux” reality than they are in “real” reality. From my work and experience with the physical body, I believe being healthy on all levels— in this body and in this moment— takes presence, in real time, in this body, in this continuum and in the Truth and highest alignment of who we are.
What I have seen is technology and our daily screen time habits pull us out of our presence and bodies. It’s the physical, real, current time-space interactions that stimulate a healthy balance and relationship with the “happy” and “nurtured” hormones in the brain and body (dopamine, endorphins, and oxytocin) that we crave and run so low on (and part of why SSRIs and Opioids are so common). We have a disconnect from our bodies, each other, and presence.
I find I am much healthier, much happier and much more alive when my presence is in the present, my connections are in real time and I have a barefoot to two in nature (metaphorically and literally). I may or may not eventually merge with, or get swept into, the Metaverse, virtual reality and AI— maybe some truly fucking cool biohacking technology will emerge. I’m not ruling it out. But, in the meantime, I’ll be here practicing and doing what I love. “Advancement” to me is having the deepest connection with the life energy of the fascia, mycelia and universal matrix as possible; aligned in this body, aligned in this soul, aligned in this moment in time. Head on, eyes on the horizon, connected to our feet and ourselves, with space to breathe. And, I’m curious to see where it all evolves or implodes with technology.
DeNae D’Auria studied Exercise Science/Pre-Med at Arizona State University, Health Psychology at Bastyr University and Structural Integration at the Guild for Structural Integration as well as several other mind-body-soul/somatic certifications/trainings amongst her credentials. She currently practices Structural Integration “Rolfing” and “Biohacking” based out of Santa Monica, California.
Cover photo by: Marina Paganessi
