I'm on lunch break. Our Workshop is being held inside a dental school near the Moscone Convention Center. This morning, we introduced ourselves to one another, then to our cadavers. There are 29 students in the class and five cadavers. The students are mostly white and mostly women, but a range of Ages, from maybe late twenties to Mid sixties.
We feel like we already know our teacher, Gil Hedley, because we all had to watch many hours of video of him doing dissections. He's quite a character, and I like him so far. He has a very, very holistic approach. He's interested in the body as a whole, and interested in our relationships with the cadavers. He encourages us to take care of ourselves.
This morning we spent time with the cadavers in their intact state. They've been embalmed, and are several months old, typically. The color of the skin, the texture of the body, even the shape of the body, when embalmed, is quite different from when it's in its natural state. I was quite engaged at first, then found myself fatigued and Restless. I took Gil's invitation to self-care seriously, and wandered around the room while he was talking. Tuning in on and off. At lunch time, we covered the cadavers with the white cloths they had been covered with when we arrived, and I felt a sense of relief. I wonder what it is that is stressful for me about being with the cadavers? Or maybe I was just ready for lunch.
While some people had trepidation about seeing the cadavers, my initial trepidation was about needing to work together with people I did not know. However, after this morning, that trepidation has passed. We have a team of six working on one cadaver, a tall and broad older male we have named Zinc.
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