“It gets complicated when don’t allow for the complexity” – Frey Faust
“The map is not the territory” – Korzybsky
“All models are wrong. Some models are useful” – Box
Biotensegrity is a complexity science that seeks to describe and understand how different biological organisms are structured and function. This includes different parts of the body from micro to macro and how they interact and self-organize to create the whole, which is far more than the sum of its parts. In other words, biotensegrity is another model or map of the body in its complexity, continuity and interdependency.
It is a theory that proposes that the same structural principles apply at all levels or scales. The principles of biotensegrity are fully compatible with the theories of Newtonian mechanics (such as the concept that forces travel in straight lines across the shortest possible distance) and evolution (that which holds that nature favours efficiency).
To understand biotensegrity we need to first understand tensegrity since biotensegrity is the application of tensegrity design principles to the human body. Tensegrity is a design principle in which the form of a structure is dependent on the balance and integration of continuous tensional forces and discontinuous compression forces.
Biotensegrity is a combination of bio+tension+integrity.
Biotensegrity embraces the paradox – in other words it invites us not to create division of opposites but to play with the polarities.
- Tension and compression
- Inwards and outwards
- Stability and movement
- Parts and whole
- Mass and space
- Integration and differentiation
- Hierarchy and heterarchy
- 3D and omnidimensional
- Linear and nonlinear (curves and spirals)
Recommended Resources
Books
- Yoga: Fascia, Anatomy and Movement *by Joanne Avison
- Biotensegrity – The Structural Basis of Life* by Graham Scarr
- Living Biotensegrity – Interplay of Tension and Compression in the Body* by Danièle-Claude Martin
Websites
Podcasts
- Liberated Body Podcast with Brooke Thomas
- Interviews with
Other
- Resources page coming soon
- Embodied Biotensegrity online course coming fall 2017
- Fascia Releazer*
*We are a participant in the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
