Shou Sugi Ban is my Somatic Therapist

365 days ago I burned 56 planks of cedar for 24 hours.

Fire taught me more about myself in 24 hours than the previous 5 years.

Here’s Why.

This process is the ancient Japanese technique of Shou Sugi Ban.

It’s burning a char layer on wood that becomes naturally water resistant, insect repellant, and fireproofed. (yes, char is a protective coating against fire)

It’s sexy - I use it for every cabin i design, but its more than just a material.

Shou sugi ban is a collaboration with fire.

Fire is:

• purifying

• illuminating

• terrifying

• empowering

• unpredictable

• invigorating

• revelatory

Fire is a relationship with your shadows and your light.

Architectural historians deem the first act of architecture as fire.

It creates space, connection, and safety.

Yet, of course, we see the destruction that fire is capable of.

I want to speak to conscious destruction.

I operated a flame for more than 24 hours.

When I am the steward of flame, there is no outside responsibility.

The flame consumes my senses.

Fire unites my sight, sound, smell, and sensuality together.

It shows me where I am:

• disembodied

• insecure

• hiding

In my idea of self.

Fire brings to the surface the fears and feelings that I have been avoiding.

It quiets my mind - thoughts that are irrelevant dissolve.

It brings my awareness to my body in ways I was distracting myself from.

24 hours of fire forced me to work through deep fears of growing pains into the man I was/am becoming.

Fire inherently has a sense of passage rites to it.

When I embrace the outer fire, I allow my inner fire to burn outdated stories and attachments.

I let fire consciously destruct the person I was, so that I could feel the spaciousness of the person I was becoming.

Fire taught me where I was grasping, controlling, and distracting myself from shifting into a new dimension of me.

Fire was my facilitator for some deep somatic work.

It brought up deep sensations:

• anger

• grief

• inadequacy

That I had been desperately trying to numb.

My default operating system prior to this time with fire was to repress and avoid undesirable emotions.

Fire showed me that the only way out is through, and that deeper freedom lives just on the other side of the fears I avoid.

Please, do not go out and play with fire.

I’ve been doing this process for 7 years now, and being the steward of a flame is a huge responsibility not to be taken lightly.