Ethnography and Healing
My student shared that they started running as a way to cope with depression. They spoke about both their experiences of depression and their experiences of running. To manage the “feelings of depression” in the mind, they found they needed to move their bodies. This raises important questions: What can our bodies do to heal themselves, and what can they do to heal us? How has modern life disrupted the natural rhythms of the body, and in what ways might a renewed connection to the body—and to nature—support healing?