Moving Language is a verb-oriented language mode that loosens the traditional subject-object structure embedded in many Western languages. Drawing from linguistic relativity, Indigenous knowledge systems, the theoretical work of David Bohm, and phenomenological insights from thinkers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty and David Abram, it proposes that a shift in how we speak can lead to a shift in how we perceive reality. Moving Language is an invitation to experience ourselves not as separate agents acting upon a world of objects, but as expressions of one undivided movement. Through grammatical reorientation and poetic practice, Moving Language encourages deeper ecological and spiritual awareness, and a renewed sense of reciprocity with the more-than-human world.

A easy way to start using Moving Language?

As you go through your day, try to focus on movement rather than on the separate objects you see. Yesterday, I went for a walk and said to myself: walking is happening (through this body). I heard all kinds of sounds—birds, flowing water: listening is happening, chirping is happening, flowing is happening. I actually had some pain in my back: feeling is happening. As I walked, I experienced how I was constantly pushing against the earth, but the earth was also pushing against my feet: pushing is happening. A fresh breeze stroked my cheeks: blowing is happening, stroking is happening, feeling is happening. I was actually very tired, but by letting everything simply happen and allowing the ‘I’ to dissolve, this so-called body became lighter and started moving with more ease and grace: swaying is happening. Barking is happening, growing and blooming is happening, unfolding of the road is happening, shining of the sun is happening… I landed in an experience of one undivided unity of interflowing movements. Light and free.