Paper short abstract:

Contemporary courses on mindfulness and deceleration connect bodies, objects and emotions in affective atmospheres. Creating spaces of belonging is one of their elementary methods as a part of self-care practices, drawing upon and aiming at being independent of the surroundings at the same time.

Paper long abstract:

Rolling out the mat, placing a meditation cushion on it, making a singing bowl sing: these are some typical practices in courses on mindfulness and deceleration, connecting bodies, objects and emotions in affective atmospheres. These courses offer to help people to reconnect to the body and the self and aim to establish new ways of dealing with everyday constraints by conveying practical skills like meditation, Feldenkrais or forest-bathing. Habits and routines are often closely connected to specific objects, evoking new or reframing already existing relationships with them. Some objects (like smartphones) are rendered invisible or become ‘non-existent’ during the courses while others (like singing bowls) are brought into focus and sometimes even manage to cross the border between course setting and home, thus connecting extraordinary and everyday life. Creating spaces of belonging, collectively and individually, through objects is an elementary method in the courses as a part of self-care practices. Here, a sense of belonging is related to and evoked by specific surroundings and objects. At the same time, belonging is portrayed and mediated as something that can be found in oneself, establishing a non-material approach to belonging as well.

I have conducted ethnographical research in different courses in Germany, Switzerland and Austria and can therefore draw upon empirical data. In my talk I will focus on the role of objects in people’s stories and practices of belonging and their connections with emotions, biographies and the perception of atmospheres.