PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, CULTURE, AND HABITAT: THROUGH THE EYES OF A

MOUNTAIN MAN

A thesis submitted to the faculty ofSan Francisco State University

In partial fulfillment ofThe Requirements for

The Degree

Master of Science in KinesiologyPhysical Activity: Social Scientific Perspectives Concentration

by

Joshua Bryon Leeger

San Francisco, California

March 2011

1

Copyright byJoshua Bryon Leeger

2011

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CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL

I certify that I have read Physical Activity, Culture and Habitat: Through the Eyes of a

Mountain Man by Joshua Bryon Leeger, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria

for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree:

Master of Science in Kinesiology, Physical Activity: Social Scientific Perspectives

Concentration at San Francisco State University.

___________________________________ Susan Zieff Professor of Kinesiology

___________________________________ Mark Gorelick Professor of Kinesiology

___________________________________ Claudia Guedes Professor of Kinesiology

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PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, CULTURE, AND HABITAT: THROUGH THE EYES OF A

MOUNTAIN MAN

Joshua Bryon LeegerSan Francisco, California

2011

Abstract

Health is correlated with physical activity in the United States in both the social and

biomedical discourses. Efforts to influence health via physical activity have largely been

unsuccessful. Mick Dodge, a “mountain man” living in Washington State, USA, has a unique

practice and philosophy of physical activity. The researcher utilized participant-observation to

collect data. Ethnographic interviews and audio and video recordings were conducted to

understand how Mick embeds physical activity into his life. Mick’s praxis grounds action in a

sensuous approach to the body as holistic and continuous with the physical environment, in

contrast to the disconnected and decontextualized ideas of the body promoted within and

through mainstream culture. This paper examines and offers an analysis of Mick’s approach

to physical activity as an alternative to mainstream approaches (specifically those found in the

academic discipline of Kinesiology) and to physical inactivity among the broader society.

I certify that the Abstract is a correct representation of the content of this thesis.

___________________________________________ ___________Chair, Thesis Committee Date

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I would like to thank the entire faculty and staff, as well as my fellow students in the

Kinesiology department at San Francisco State University, without whom this work would not

have been possible. Special thanks go to Dr. Susan Zieff, whose effort and patience with this

work and this student surpass any expectations.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables ............................................................................................................... vii

List of Figures ............................................................................................................ viii

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1

Personal Background and Involvement............................................................. 3

Method and Data Collection.......................................................................................... 9

Data Analysis .................................................................................................. 10

Results ........................................................................................................................ 12

Mick’s Biography......................................................................................................... 14

Early Life ........................................................................................................ 15

The Barefoot Sensei ........................................................................................ 21

The Map ...................................................................................................................... 22

The Relationship Between Animal and Terrain .............................................. 29

The Sity ....................................................................................................................... 31

The Hut ....................................................................................................................... 36

The Wild ...................................................................................................................... 43

Flow ................................................................................................................ 43

Returning ......................................................................................................... 45

Discussion ................................................................................................................... 46

Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 50

References ................................................................................................................... 53

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LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Mick’s Paradigm ..................................................................................................... 29

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LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Shape Magazine Cover ............................................................................................ 3

2. “The Map” ............................................................................................................... 24

3. “The Animal Stick” ................................................................................................. 41

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Introduction

This paper is an ethnographic study of Mick Dodge, a 60 year old man who lives in a

tent on Whidbey Island, in Washington State, U.S.A. But Mick is much more than just any 60

year old man living in a tent. He is also “the Barefoot Sensei” to those who train with him.

He has spent the last 15 years living intermittently in his tent and in the woods of the Olympic

National Forest, teaching and preaching his philosophy and practice of physical activity.

Mick’s unique philosophy and practice of physical activity, intimately connected with his

views of culture and civilization, offer alternatives to the mainstream perspective, and suggest

new approaches to the problem of physical activity participation and adherence in U.S.

culture. It is the purpose of this paper to present Mick’s perspective.

Physical activity and health are related conceptually and physiologically (Hardman &

Stensel, 2009). The ways in which they are valued is culturally determined. In the United

States, physical activity and “health” are observed and practiced differently than in other

cultures. Many countries around the world do not value physical activity as gym-based or

even “exercise”-based, some have a higher percentage of people involved in physical labor for

their work, others rely on walking or cycling as their main means of transportation. These

behaviors are “physical activity,” yet might be considered “work” or “transportation” by

participants making measurement of physical activity behavior in large populations extremely

challenging (Shepard, 2003). Physical activity is also practiced and engaged in differently

within sub-cultures within the larger U.S. culture (August & Sorkin, 2010). “Health” has

similarly diverse connotations in different cultural settings (Lidler, 1979; and Hamilton 2010).

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Ideals of height, weight, body shape, and physical ability, vary from one culture to the next.

In the U.S. the concepts of physical activity and “health” are valued as means of population

management and control, and as methods of achieving aesthetic or social ideals which are also

typically gendered in specific ways (Lee et al. 2009; Urla & Swedlund, 1995). These ideals

usually reflect dominant-class values (Azzarito, 2009). These ideals differ within sub-cultures

in the United States, and by socioeconomic status (Adler et al., 1994). Physical activity is

culturally determined (Volkwein, 1998; Christakis & Fowler, 2007; Sekot 2010).

As a culture, we in the U.S. spend a great deal of time and money promoting and

advertising ideals of the fit and healthy body (Bauman, 2009; Maibach, 2007). The “health-

club industry” includes physical infrastructure such as gyms and health clubs, as well as media

and other interests. In 2009, the U.S. gym industry was a $19.5 billion dollar industry with

29,750 health clubs and 45.3 million members. The health industry grew in most Western

nations in 2009 (IHRSA, 2010, pg. 21), but the U.S. far outstrips any other nation in health

club revenue, number of clubs, or number of members (IHRSA, 2010, pp. 26-27). The ideal

body promoted to U.S. citizens is lean with low bodyfat, thin, muscular, and active (Schooler

& Ward, 2006). As a result of the reductionist and isolative nature of Western culture the body

lives in a setting devoid of context - typical fitness-magazine covers display “fit” bodies

against a white background, or with some “ocean” water behind them. The body displayed

has also almost always been manipulated in some way by a computer to display greater

perfection (or less imperfection) (Lindner, 2004; Williams, 2007; Zieff & Veri, 2009).

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The “fit” body, embodied, and decontextualized (Shape Magazine, May 2009)

Within the field of Kinesiology, the functioning of the body is the primary object of

study, with an emphasis on the discovery of principles that lead to “optimal” functioning of

the body. Kinesiology, and the subdisciplines it encompasses, is only one of many diverse

scientific disciplines concerned with the health, fitness, and well-being of the body, based on

cultural ideals. Fields such as psychoneuroimmunology, pharmaceutical science, and genetic

science share a similar goal - the health of the human body.

Political and social-hegemonic trends in Western culture create medicalization (and

pathologizing) and surveillance efforts with regard to the body (Wheatley, 2005; Murray,

2008). The populace is both deprived of an ability to intervene on its own behalf through a

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proliferation of governance, and simultaneously given total responsibility in matters of their

own welfare (McDermott, 2007). One of the primary focuses of current physical activity and

health research is the study of exercise and exercise adherence as means of combating “non-

communicable diseases” (WHO 2008) such as diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. NCD’s are

those diseases arising from lifestyle choices and in the hegemonic structure of society,

particularly in class divisions, that are not spread through “classical” means of disease

proliferation such as viruses or bacteria. However, this label is misleading. These diseases are

communicable. They are spread through the cultural values that support their appearance

(Maguire, 2006). These are also called “diseases of Western civilization,” since many studies

have shown the correlation between the appearance of these diseases, and the adoption of

Western (especially American) eating and movement habits by indigenous populations

(Gittelsohn, et al. 1998; Willows 2005; Snodgrass et al. 2006; Witkowski 2007).

Physical activity research aimed at increasing physical activity participation and

physical activity adherence ranges from prescriptive measures and policy recommendations

(often based on exercise physiology and biomechanical studies) (Whaley et al. 2006), to socio-

cultural approaches aimed at creating communities of support (Brownson et al., 2001),

psychological theory aimed at improving motivational states (Deci & Ryan, 2004), to

behavioral approaches that attempt to affect the built environment of human populations

(Sallis et al., 2009). Many interventions are successful to some degree, and for some amount

of time. Very few, if any interventions have achieved overarching success in changing PA

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behavior and adherence over the long term in American populations (van der Bij et al., 2002;

Brownell, 2010; Prochaska & Prochaska, 2011)1.

Given that physical activity and fitness are cultural values, and given the scientific

support for physical activity, why is the American populace increasingly unhealthy - both from

the perspective of media-driven ideals, and from the perspective of scientifically-validated

knowledge about health and well-being? Mick Dodge’s perspective offers unique insight into

this question.

Personal Background and Involvement

It is important that the reader understand my personal background and involvement

both in physical activity and in natural/ecological studies. The personal background of an

individual is the framework through which their experience is filtered, and through which their

energy is expressed (Smith & Holm, 2011). It is impossible to understand an individual

without understanding their history. This understanding will help to reveal the reasons I

pursued this study, and help to expose my own bias in this research.

I’ve been involved in sport and physical activity for as long as I can remember. I

played pee-wee soccer as a 5 year old, league football as a 12 year old, and participated in

cross country and track and field in high school. In college I briefly participated in crew.

From the time I turned 12 I was involved in some form of martial art. More importantly,

perhaps, during that entire time I went to parks, pools, ran, biked, played with friends, and was

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1 Another useful reference is Hillsdon et al.’s (2004) “review of reviews” of physical activity interventions in the U.K.

generally very physically active. High school also marked my introduction to weight training.

The possibilities of transforming one’s body captivated me, and that habit of strength training

lasts to this day. In 2001 I became a massage therapist and personal trainer, and began

working in those fields, but returned to the ranks of corporate America late in 2002.

In the winter of 2006 my father suffered an aortic aneurysm. Luckily, it was

diagnosed in time to save his life. During five days of that Christmas holiday I sat with my

father in the ICU of Ann Arbor hospital. I had been increasingly disappointed with my

corporate job, and the lifestyle it demanded. I felt disconnected from myself, chasing money

rather than anything that held any deep meaning for me. Confronted with my father’s

mortality I was forced to confront my own and made myself a promise to follow my deeper

interests of the human body and ecology.

So, in the summer of 2007 I attended Tom Brown’s Tracker School, a wilderness

survival and primitive skills school located in Tom’s River, New Jersey. On the first night

Brown asked the class “Who here would die for what they do?” Two of the one hundred

attendees raised their hands. They were a fireman and a member of the military. Brown

looked at everyone else intensely. “I don’t understand,” he said. “You will spend the majority

of your life at your job. You are going to die doing what you do. So it should be something

you think is worth dying for.” This left me in a state of shock and deep introspection. During

his lecture on the final night Brown remarked to the class, “The biggest problem facing

humanity is the disconnection of man from nature. We cannot survive without nature. And

unless we begin to participate in it again, we cannot truly appreciate our part in it, and how

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important it is to our survival.” Brown was echoing a large body of popular and scientific

literature descrying the fate of humanity and the natural world (Little, 1997; Carson, 2002;

Rees, 2010). I left with a conviction to leave my job as soon as possible, and to attempt to

heal that wound between man and nature.

A search for a new career path led to my pursuit of a master’s degree in Kinesiology at

San Francisco State University. During my studies, I read the books of author Frank

Forencich “Exuberant Animal” (Forencich, 2006), and “Play As If Your Life Depends On

It” (Forencich, 2003). Forencich is the founder of the company Exuberant Animal. He

understands fitness from an evolutionary-biology standpoint, citing differences between

modern human habitats and lifestyles from the historical habitats and lifestyles as the main

reasons for our current health crisis of “non-communicable diseases” - obesity, diabetes, and

cardiovascular disease. Underlying all of this is Frank’s assertion that play is the best type of

physical exercise for human beings. While play is often seen as “whimsical” or non-serious in

many circles, the concept of play has gathered significant attention in research for many years.

Play as a necessity for the health and development of human animals has also been extensively

documented (Brown, 1995; Dubbeldam, 2001; Berry et al., 2008; Bodrova & Leong, 2008;

Sattelmair & Ratey, 2009).

I reached out to Forencich after having read his books, and was invited by him to

attend the first Exuberant Animal seminar held at the Sleeping Lady conference center in

Leavenworth, WA. It was a three-day event, attended by 35 people from around the country,

all of whom had various levels of experience and interest in human ethology, health, and

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fitness. I had never previously met anyone in attendance that weekend, including Mick. Mick

and Forencich had recently formed a friendship, and Mick was, unbeknownst to me, scheduled

as a guest speaker at the conference.

Mick showed up during the first lecture in what is his usual clothing - jeans cut off just

above the ankles and rolled up to the knees to expose the tattoos of tree roots that extend from

his bare feet up his calves, suspenders, a couple of long-sleeve knit shirts, big bushy beard,

long greying hair held back by a piece of cloth, a bear tooth around his neck on a leather

thong, and a recurrent devilish grin and twinkling eye. My first reaction was to speak with and

learn more about him. Having gone to Tom Brown’s school and been involved in the

outdoors, I was immediately fascinated by Mick. He appeared to be a true “mountain man.”

I spoke with Mick several times during that initial weekend-long conference. At the

end of the weekend, Mick gave a half-hour long talk of his own, outlining his philosophy for

the 35 people in attendance. Mick described U.S. civilization as a method of control, control

mediated on practices of separation and insulation. Most importantly, Mick suggested that the

modern human condition - the health consequences of which Forencich and other guest

speakers had discussed that weekend - was only resolvable one way, through a reconnection

with Nature.

I was deeply moved by his words, they resonated strongly with my own experiences

and beliefs. Mick’s conceptual paradigm, having been constructed through his readings,

thoughts, and experiences over the past thirty-five years, reflected theories in the social

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sciences - of civilization as disconnection from nature, of culture as a force of domination -

sometimes supporting those theories, and sometimes refuting them.2

I pursued a friendship with Mick. Forencich had recently purchased a computer for

him, imploring him to put his message out into cyberspace, and Mick had begun to exchange

emails with people, including me. I traveled to Washington State on several subsequent

occasions, for Exuberant Animal events, and to spend time with Mick. I began to see

connections between Mick’s philosophy and my own studies in sociocultural perspectives of

sport and physical activity. I became interested in what made Mick different from the average

American, and decided to find out.

Method and Data Collection

My methodology was ethnographic, within an anthropological theoretical framework.

“The purpose of ethnography is to understand the behaviors and attitudes of a cultural group”

or, I would add, an individual (Collingridge & Gantt, 2008). My anthropological background

supports the idea of reality as a social construct (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999, pg. 48). My

approach was informed by Geertz’ definition of anthropology (and ethnography) as “thick

description” - that our interaction with other cultures is always colored by our own

experiential framework or lens, and usually amounts to an “enlargement of the universe of

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2 Significant figures in the discussion of the evolution of Western culture and specifically of that evolution as stemming from and recreating a paradigm of separation and domination are John Zerzan, Jared Diamond, and Derrick Jensen.

human discourse” (Geertz, 1973, pg. 3). In other words, ethnography is “story-

telling” (Sparkes, 2002).

I also lean theoretically toward a symbolic or semiotic understanding of culture, in

which culture is largely defined by a non-conscious and non-specific agreement upon the

meaning of symbols (Cohen, 1985). As Cohen remarks “People become aware of their culture

when they stand at its boundaries: when they encounter other cultures, or when they become

aware of other ways of doing things, or merely of contradictions within their own

culture” (Cohen, 1985, pg. 69). Mick offers a unique view into U.S. culture, standing as he

does at the very precipice of that culture.

I followed standard ethnographic research methodology of observation and data

collection (Fetterman, 1998), going into the field with my subject for open-ended observation.

I participated in Mick’s daily life for short periods of time (five to seven days) on three

different occasions. I created semi-structured interview questions (Appendix A), and spent

isolated time with Mick in interview and discussion, gathering over 16 hours of audio

recordings. I kept a detailed diary throughout this process, amounting to fifty pages of

handwritten notes. I also traded written correspondence with Mick via email, amounting to a

total of 114 pages of material exclusively written by Mick. Finally, I made two video

recordings of training activities, thirty minutes in length each, a standard practice in modern

anthropological research (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999).

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Data Analysis

My analysis of the data uses the approach described by Scanlan (1989) of Inductive

and Deductive Content Analysis (Scanlan et al., 1989a, 1989b, 1991) to generate an

understanding of the major themes in Mick’s thinking as demonstrated through his words. My

initial data-gathering process was colored by a deductive stance, as I had already decided

(based on my initial interactions with Mick) on the preliminary themes for my research

(Culture, Physical Activity, and Habitat). I followed a deductive/structured process “using a

predetermined set of themes and categories to organize the quotes” (ibid.) in my analysis of

the written material. The predetermined themes were identified during my initial

interactions with Mick. This may have biased my observations with respect to Mick’s actual

meaning (Elo & Kyngas, 2007, pg. 109). The inductive analysis process which followed the

deductive analysis helped to limit my personal bias through a thorough and recurrent

familiarization with and analysis of the data.

The Inductive Content Analysis process, utilized by Scanlan et al. (1989b, pg. 68), is

as follows - First, the researcher becomes highly familiar with the data (in this instance, the

audio recordings of my interviews with Mick) by listening to them several times, paying

particular attention to recurrent themes in the subject’s responses that are “‘a statement made

by the subject which was self-definable and self-delimiting in the expression of a single,

recognizable aspect of the subject’s experience’ (Cloonan, 1971, pg. 117).” These statements

are organized into inclusive, thematic “clusters”, which are narrowed down into organizational

categories (Scanlan, 1989b, pp. 68-73). I followed this process precisely with one exception.

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Since there is only one subject in the current research, no frequency analysis of thematic

content against other participants (ibid., pg. 73) was made, as there is no comparison data-set.

This analytical process was also undertaken on the 114 total pages of written data

(Mick’s personal journals and email correspondence between Mick and I). While Scanlan, et

al., followed an inductive/emergent process that “allows the themes and categories to emerge

from the quotes” (ibid., pg. 68) for their entire process (which was all interview-based).

In this way I was able to move from purely subjective ideas about themes in Mick’s

discourse that I had gathered through our initial interactions, to gather rigorous data, and then

to use an inductive process to discover the themes central to Mick’s discourse. By applying

the inductive findings through a deductive process I was able to discover thematic trends in the

written material that were truly representative of Mick’s discourse, separate from my

preliminary ideas, and finally to organize those findings based on the overarching categories of

the original research question.

The inductive/deductive content analysis revealed thematic trends based on word-use

and word-frequency. These analyses were useful, but several written drafts based on those

themes as structural elements seemed limited in the amount of insight they provided into

Mick’s thinking. Repetition through the analysis and writing processes led to a familiarization

with the data that exposed an underlying theoretical framework in Mick’s thinking, which is

the framework ultimately used as the structure for this paper.

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Results

The analysis procedure was an iterative process through Mick’s written and spoken

word. In order to analyze the over 50,000 words, and 16 hours of recorded material, I re-read

the texts and listened to the recordings many times. I performed a word-count analysis of

Mick’s written work, which helped to inform my understanding of the themes that arose from

the textual analysis process. The words “foot,” “training,” and “land,” were most often used,

which guided my understanding of repeated thematic ideas in the text. Knowing that these

words were used most frequently by Mick required that I pay attention to these words and his

use of them. Mick’s use of the words is prosaic, not straying from dictionary-definitions of the

words. It is in the context within which he uses them that deeper meaning is found. These

words helped to shape my understanding of that context. The word-count analysis provided

an initial window into important foci in Mick’s discourse. The inductive/deductive content

analysis offered three major themes in Mick’s communications, which were (in order)

Training, Civilization, and Story. These are the broad categories that Mick’s discourse follows

the most.

The word-count and thematic analyses revealed a deeper underlying structure to

Mick’s thought. Mick has a specific philosophical framework of culture that divides human

activity into the three “terrains” of Sity, Hut, and Wild. A terrain, for Mick, is both the literal

physical landscape of a particular area, and the thoughts and behaviors that are possible within

that area. This framework defines Mick’s understanding of human thought and action, why it

is different in different environments, and what is possible in each terrain. Each terrain has its

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own method of communication, attitude and affect, and even its own economic structure. The

habits within each terrain define that habitat, and vice versa. As Mick understands it, one must

use the methods appropriate to the habitat one finds oneself within. The Sity, Hut, and Wild

are used as the organizational structure of this paper. This structure allows for an exploration

of Mick’s thought from the perspective of the framework through which he views the world,

rather than from the standpoint of individual topical or thematic areas. The themes of

Training, Civilization, and Story, then, will be explored in this paper within the terrains of

Sity, Hut, and Wild.

The paper begins with a brief biography of Mick. A biographical background will

help the reader to understand some of the reasons behind Mick’s actions and choices for

physical activity. Within the biography I have created two sections, “Early Life” and “The

Barefoot Sensei,” to clearly demarcate those transitional stages in Mick’s life.

Following Mick’s biography is a section on Mick’s Map - the structure he has created

to describe his view of civilization and human behavior, and the primary source of the

structure for this paper. Mick’s map describes the Sity, Hut, and Wild terrains, a structure

which revealed itself as truly representative of Mick’s praxis after the inductive and deductive

content analyses. Within the Map section a section describing “The Relationship Between

Animal and Terrain” helps to outline more clearly the continuity Mick describes between

animal and habitat. The section describing the Wild has two subsections. “Flow” describes

Mick’s experience in the Wild terrain via a modern theory of engagement. The section title

“Returning” emphasizes the most important aspect and most difficult of Mick’s philosophy.

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Because as much of my understanding of Mick has come through a careful reading of

his words as it has through participation with him, I have quoted him extensively in this paper.

In order to understand Mick and his philosophy and practice of physical activity, it is

necessary to understand his personal history.

Mick’s Biography

Mick Dodge, the subject of this paper, is a 60-year old white male living in

Washington State, USA. He comes from a line of loggers, woodsmen, and servicemen, and is

himself an armed services veteran, having served three tours of duty during the Vietnam War.

Mick has lived in the mountains of the Olympic Peninsula for the past thirty years. He is the

image of the classic “mountain man,” with long greying hair and a full beard. He wears a bear

tooth around his neck, and often wears clothing he himself has made from animal hides. Mick

is known as “the Barefoot Sensei” to those he trains because he has been traveling and

training, often barefoot, throughout the greater Seattle area and beyond for the past fifteen

years promoting his unique philosophy of physical fitness and culture.

Early Life

Mick Dodge was born in the thickly-forested Hoh river valley, in Washington State.

He is a fourth-generation Hoh resident his grandfathers were loggers and woodsmen there.

Mick’s most often recounted moments of his childhood are times spent with his grandfathers

in the woods. The two men were friends with one another, and Mick tells stories about

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walking in the woods with his grandfathers, learning to climb trees with them, learning crafts

like wood- and leather-working, playing and wrestling with them, and of them reciting poems

as they walked. Mick’s own physical and oral tradition, his conception and use of language,

and of some of the poems that he creates and recites, stem from these experiences. Mick also

learned to distrust civilization from his grandfathers, as he remarks - “My great grand fathers

and mothers ran from civilization as far as the could, landing in the Olympic Mountains,

hacked a living out of the woods” (Email communication from Mick Dodge, December 10,

2010).

Mick’s father spent thirty five years in the Marines, fighting in three wars and

receiving twenty nine decorations, earning a purple heart in each war. During Mick’s

childhood, he was stationed in Japan. Mick would spend summers in WA, and in the fall,

return to Japan to live with his father and attend school on the military base. Mick has stated

that this made him feel like an “outsider” in every situation, except for when he was with his

family. “In Japan, I was the blonde haired, blue-eyed kid from the States,” he told me once.

“In the States, I was the blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid from Japan” (M. Dodge, personal

communication, August 5, 2010). Mick was always an outsider, having to adjust to new

environments in order to survive. This early experience might have influenced Mick’s later

actions. Certainly his time in Japan provided many cultural references that weren’t available

to him in Washington, such as the concept of the Yamabushi spiritual mountain man, and of

Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy.

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Mick was subject to another difficult dichotomy in his upbringing. His grandfathers

“did not care for wars, or the city, or preachers” (M. Dodge, personal communication,

November 15, 2010). They disapproved of his father’s participation in the military, and would

later advise Mick against going to war.

In Japan, Mick’s father put him into many different karate and judo dojos, moving

him to a new one as soon as Mick grew comfortable with the one he was in. Why he did this

is a mystery, but it may have been an intentional effort to keep Mick in a state of learning

adaptation, and avoiding complacency. This early training has had a lasting effect on Mick’s

personality, and informed the structure and substance of his current training and teaching

methods. Mick frequently references “O-Sensei,” his favorite karate teacher, who had only

three fingers on his right hand due to a war injury. O-Sensei would often remark “There are

only three things!” holding up his three fingers. At one point, Mick asked him ,”But O-Sensei,

why is it always three? Why not ten or five?” O-Sensei responded “Because I only have three

fingers on this hand! That’s as high as I can go!” (M. Dodge, personal communication,

August 5, 2010).

These early experiences are the source of Mick’s frequent use of the word training.

Physical training and the psychological discipline needed to continue training in ever-

changing circumstances were formative experiences for Mick. They are the experiences he

speaks about the most when talking about this stage of his life. Training became a passion for

Mick. His current teaching methods use the structure, gravity and levity he experienced in

these early days. Mick will often remark that there are “only two things,” or “five things,” to

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remember. He sometimes refers to the “hara,” the middle of the belly, a term used in karate

and Japanese martial arts.

Mick’s uncles and father all were military men, and when the time came to defend his

country, Mick enlisted as well. His views of the military and its purpose changed with time

and experience, but he believed in the beginning that he was doing the right and honorable

thing to defend his country and its values, and thought that he would come home to be

respected and honored as his uncles and father had (M. Dodge, personal communication,

August 2010).

Mick’s experience in Vietnam, and a natural tendency toward creativity, along with

the seeds of doubt planted in him by his grandfathers, led to a revaluation of authority. In

combat, officers who seemed incompetent to their soldiers were often ignored, with real

leadership placed in the hands of soldiers with experience. In 1970 Mick began his second

tour, this time as a drill sergeant. During his time as a drill sergeant, Mick was in charge of

the “fat camp” - the improvement camp for recruits not meeting the Marine’s standard

physical fitness requirements. Mick tells the story of a high-ranking officer coming to visit, to

congratulate the drill instructors on their success in turning out transformed troops. He saw

the success-rate bulletin board which also measured the number of recruits who went AWOL

after their training. As the number of AWOL recruits increased, Mick and his colleagues knew

they were succeeding at their own hidden agenda. They’d instilled self-confidence, self-

awareness, and self-directedness in the troops who had decided to abandon their military

service. As Mick remarks:

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I went into the belly of the beast many years ago, thinking i was protecting our people,

refusing to accept the guidance of my grandfather, and found out that i was not

protecting any thing.  I was nothing more then the strong arm of the greedy. . . I was

good at being a Marine.  I had been trained since i was a child.  After my baptism in

war, i continued on training Recon Marines.  I learned a great deal in those times.  

Took years for me struggling against my sole connection to the land what i was doing.  

I am a slow learner. (Email communication from Mick Dodge, June 10, 2010)

Once back from Vietnam, Mick worked as a mechanic in Washington State. He began

recreational running as a way to escape negative feelings and emotions he felt. Movement

started as a cure from pain for Mick, but his exuberance led him to injuring his feet. He

experienced an overuse injury in both feet, and the doctors casted them, leaving him immobile

for some time. It was while reading a National Geographic magazine, and seeing the pictures

of native Africans running barefoot in the desert, that he realized that what had injured him

was the shoe itself.

When I came back from the war, I ran to escape. I ran into the woods, letting the

movement heal me. But then my feet started to hurt. I went to the doctor and they

said the solution was to put casts on my feet. So I had to stay out of work, stay home.

One day, sitting on the porch, I was reading a National Geographic magazine. I saw

this picture of these people out in the African desert running around barefoot. I

looked up at my feet, propped up on the porch railing, and then down at my shoes, and

27

then back at the picture. I looked at the casts again, my shoes, sitting there by the

steps, and these guys running around barefoot. After a few times, I figured it out. I

hobbled inside and grabbed my hunting knife and cut those casts off my feet, and

didn’t wear shoes again for a long time.

I went back to my job at the factory. But they had a rule, you had to wear

steel-toed boots. I cut the soles off my boots, so they couldn’t tell I was barefoot. I

started running into the woods barefoot, going on the paths my grandfathers had

shown me when I was a kid. Then, I started going off the paths, and getting deeper

and deeper. My friends thought I was losing my mind. Hell, maybe I was. Then, I

started seeing everything as a shoe-box. I was in the factory, and I looked around, and

I realized, SHIT! I’m just in one giant shoe-box. (M. Dodge, personal

communication, November 22, 2009).

This is the reason for the frequency of the use of the word “foot” in Mick’s discourse.

The foot became the starting point for his break from everything he had known and associated

with prior to injuring his feet. Mick began to see and associate everything from U.S. culture

with the shoe - that is, with notions of conformity, domestication, constraint, and

unnaturalness. He returned to the factory, which required steel-toed boots for safety, with the

soles of his boots cut off, so he could remain barefoot while working. He returned to running,

only now in the woods, without shoes. His runs into the wilderness became longer and longer.

Mick’s understanding of the conformity and restriction of society, which he associated with

28

shoes, expanded to a wider notion of the shoe-box. He recognized his own house, at the time,

as a giant shoe-box, insulating him from nature, keeping him subordinate within a culture of

domination and domestication.

Once i followed my soles into remembering and a practice of recovery.  I put as much

distance as i could between myself and my senses connected to greed.  I trained as

simple and as naked as i could.  After many seasons i then followed my soles back

into the waste land, but with a knowing . . . The most dangerous thing i look out for

now is the cage and jailer.  I have killed and destroyed for domination.  I have revolted

against domination and been locked up in jail.  What i learned about the cage is this.

I know when someone is trying to control me and lock me up.  I know how to

defend myself against this.  I can survive in the three terrains and know how to run.  

What is a challenge for me is when i am locking myself up.  When i am the jailer.  It is

a old story, buddha, Jeramia Johnson, John Muir, John Chapman, you name them,

they have done the walk and found the same.

The thing about tapping into living naked and touching openly into the wild,

is that the wild is easily trapped, especially when we trap ourselves.  So keeping the

attention, slowing down and watch out for the cons, are three skills that i focus on.  

The wild is gentle and very open, easily conned, easily trapped.  i cannot repeat it

enough. (Email communication from Mick Dodge, June 10, 2010)

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The concept of the “shoe-box” encapsulates Mick’s ideas about civilization. To Mick,

civilization (which he calls “the Sity,” for reasons which will be explained below) is the

process of the insulation, domination and domestication of the individual. It is achieved by

separating, isolating, and insulating the individual from their habitat, other individuals, and

from themselves. The term “shoe-box” for Mick refers to every aspect of Sity behavior and

thought.

The Barefoot Sensei

Mick used the survival skills he’d learned from his grandfathers - about the plants and

animals of the Olympic forest - and the skills he’d learned in the military, to sustain him

during longer and longer periods in the woods. Above all else, his own desire to get deeper

into his experience, and his curiosity and wonder itself, were motivators. He describes one

trip in particular where he came across a herd of elk and tracked them for some time. He

stayed out, immersed in this experience, training his body with the land. One night, sitting by

the fire he’d made, he suddenly realized, laughing, “man, I used to live in a house.” He

realized he couldn’t remember how long he’d been gone. Mick got up and started hiking back

to his starting point, not sure he could remember where he’d left his van. He was so far out

that he ended up hitch-hiking to get back to his starting point. The man who picked him up

didn’t say much until they were close to the town where he’d agreed to drop Mick off. He

looked at Mick and said “You’ve been out deep, haven’t you?” Mick looked at him and said,

30

“I guess so. Do you know what year it is?” (M. Dodge, personal communication, August 6,

2010).

During his time in the woods Mick’s beard and hair grew long. He let them go as wild

as the natural connection he was experiencing. He ate native plants that he knew from his

upbringing and from encounters with other “mountain men” and local Native American

populations. Mick also trapped and hunted animals from time to time. At one point, though,

he gave this up, and began to get meat either by waiting for larger game to finish with a kill

and leave it, to become satiated to the point where he could scare it off, or by eating road kill

that was not contaminated.

The Map

It was during his travels between the wilderness and back into populated areas that

Mick came up with the concept of his Map. The Map sums up Mick’s ideas about culture and

the human animal’s relationship to its habitat. Mick realized there were “three terrains” that

had come to exist in U.S. civilization - The Sity (or “Sitting Wall”), The Waste Land (which

would become The Hut), and The (Gated) Wild.

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The Map - Image Courtesy Mick Dodge, 2009

Mick explains the creation of the Map:

The map came to me after making my way through three mountain ranges, the

Olympics, Cascadia and the Sierra Nevadas.  I would train in mountains, train through

the Open Fenced Lands, and then enter into the Waste Land of the cities, some times

on the road some times making like a coyote.

In time it became apparent to that there were three basic terrains that i was

footing my way through.  In the last of the wild places, i trained with the elements and

other animals.  In the Open Fenced lands, i trained with many wonderful people that

were making their way off the grid, growers, old hippies, gatherings of all sorts, and

then in the city i always entered with one vision in mind, to observe and listen to

stories . . . The Gated wild represented by the mountain:  I call it the gated wild

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because there is no free land any more.  Myself and others have tried to live in the

wild, but always the guns and badges show up run you off . . . The Open Fenced

Lands:  It seems to me that most never see the fences in the open fenced lands.  But

just go on foot from the city or the gated wild, and try to foot a normal course, stay off

the road, and you run into one fence after another, people refusing to let you cross

their land . . . The Waste Land:  The reason that i call it the waste land, is because

when you enter the city walls you see "waste lines", fat, and there is more fat in the

city then just body fat.

The Sitting Wall:  This is the wall the road that cuts across all of these three

terrains.  People sit and are moved along this wall, cutting off the land.  Just walk

along the road and you will see the amount of death, no different then the Romans

standing behind walls and throwing spears. (Email communication from Mick Dodge,

May 13 ,2010).

For Mick, the City is the “Sity” - spelled with an “s” because the populace of the Sity

is “s”edentary. It is also the “Sitting Wall” - the boundary between sedentarism and action.

Mick’s “Waste Land” became the “Hut” - a middle zone, where people from the Sity could go

to train and re-ground, without the shock of being in the Wild. The Wild, or Gated Wild, is the

most remote terrain. Mick himself isn’t too sure how many people are actually suited to

participate in the Wild. At the very least, it takes a good guide to introduce someone from the

Hut into the Wild.

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Mick’s description of wilderness is particularly telling. He says that he has never

come across a place where the mark of human beings isn’t present in some way. In the next

passage from that same communication, he describes ways to use the map. This quote is also

a good example of Mick’s use of wordplay.

There are so many ways to use the 8 compass.  Take the words greed, need and seed.

We are born, gifted with our sensory seed.  There are basically 8 of them, freedom of

movement, water, food, wind, song, vision, touch and the rooting of place.  In the city

with their domestication and domination these 8 sensory needs of all animals has

evolved into sensory greeds, a selfishness.  The restriction of freedom of movement,

the controlling of water, food, wind, noise, vision and touch.  It became a practice of

mine to use the map and explore a persons story.  I would observe their body and life

and look for the seed, need, and greed. (Email communication from Mick Dodge,

March 15, 2010).

In the Spring of 2008, Mick heard an NPR broadcast featuring Frank Forencich, the

owner/creator of the group called Exuberant Animal. Exuberant Animal’s mission at the time

was to promote play as an avenue of fitness for adults. Forencich takes an evolutionary-

biological/ethological approach to the human animal, citing a mismatch between evolutionary

history and modern environment and activity as a primary cause for what he calls “the

primate’s predicament” - obesity, heart disease, and related diseases of civilization (Forencich,

2003; and Forencich 2006). Forencich’s ultimate message and finding was that, as homo

34

sapiens - capable of choosing what type of physical activity we engage in - play is the best

option for many reasons. Play, according to Forencich, provides all of the benefits of any

other type of exercise, plus it avoids the pitfalls of modern exercise methods, which are

typically repetitive, low in variation of movement and intensity, and do not create enjoyment

in their participants.

Mick traveled into the city specifically to hear Forencich’s talk. He describes himself

as “jumping up and down” during the interview, because he was so excited to hear someone

voice the message he’d been thinking about for so long. Mick tracked down his number and

called, but Forencich had already left for a mission to Africa, to hunt with the San bushmen in

South Africa.

It was by chance that Mick was in Truckee, California, presenting his new Map to a

small group of interested people there, that someone mentioned Forencich was in town giving

a talk. Mick tracked him down, and the two shared their philosophies of culture and physical

activity. He and Forencich began a lasting friendship, and began to work together on

Exuberant Animal. It was during this meeting - finding a kindred spirit in the effort to re-

ground the human animal - that Mick realized his vision could be communicated to a wider

audience.

. . . the map did not reveal itself to me, until after my Ascetic and Bard training and i

was on foot as a Nomad.  Then i ran into Frank down in Tahoe.  I had been sharing the

map for some time, and i heard his call to form tribe and he called me the Barefoot

Sensei.  I realize then that the next step was to share the practice.  To be more then a

35

Nomad in the pursuit for animal exuberance.  But to share the training and mentoring.

(Email communication from Mick Dodge, March 13, 2010).

The Map is a representation of the reality Mick experiences, and is a way for Mick to

create communication within and through those different terrains.

In stepping out from the Wild in order to begin to share his message of reconnection

and re-grounding with earth, self, and others through movement, he has had to confront

technology and modernity full-force. This culture shock caused frustration and anger in Mick,

who felt that others should be able to see the domination and sedentarism inherent in city-life.

Mick found himself in the position of people he had run into in the past, people touting the

“earth-first” movement, and was forced to confront his own prejudices about those people and

their methods. He also was easily frustrated by others who promoted ideas similar to his, yet

who ended up only to be pursuing money, fame, or notoriety. From Mick’s perspective, they

had no concern for the land, or the grounding of the human animal in habitat.

As a Nomad i can remember one thing.  I could almost puke when i saw some one

always talking about themselves as i am doing now.  In walking mountain, the women

were always trying to put me on the dvd, trying to build a website...An example is a

flick that [X] sent me on the Master Barefoot Running Course.  The shit makes me

sick.  They are nothing more then a bunch of shoe-box runners.  Where have they

footed, what lands have they run in.  It turns my stomach.  You want to meet a

barefoot master, enter the wild, journey with a bear, coyote or any other bare foot, and

36

do not think that i am a barefoot master.  I am a long way from it.   What makes me

sick about this fucking machine, is that a some city kids that are well adapted to this

machine think they are some kind of masters. (Email communication from Mick

Dodge, March 13, 2010).

It was November 24th, 2009, when I was standing in the house located on Whidbey

Island, where Mick has his semi-permanent tent established, that Mick told me about the

different personality types in each habitat or terrain. I was writing furiously in my notebook

as he laid out the way people in each segment consider currency, story, action. While I didn’t

insert any words into Mick’s paradigm, I did organize it into the chart below, which, I would

later learn, was disagreeable to him.

Table 1 - Mick’s Paradigm

For Mick, the structuring of his organic thoughts into charts resembles the regimented

lines of a Marine squadron being trained, inherent in the regimentation of U.S. culture itself.

This type of thinking and expression is indicative of and inherent in the Sity terrain. It

represents separation, insulation and isolation. It also represents regimentation (another form

37

of domination and separation). My placing of his schema into the chart above was typical of

“shoe-box thinking.” I had taken his organic thoughts and separated them into distinct

categories, caged them in, restricting their freedom to have multiple meanings or nuance.

The Relationship Between Animal and Terrain

For Mick, the terrain and the animal are intimately intertwined. Mick has remarked

that in his experience it takes three days to fully accommodate to a new terrain. When he

travels from the Wild into the Sity, three days later he is habituated to Sity-life. Because he

has so much experience in the Wild, and can relate to that mode of being so easily, he is wary

of becoming accustomed to the Sity terrain. The danger for any animal is of unconsciously

becoming civilized, simply by being in the terrain of civilization. In the same way when most

Sity-folk go camping they simply transport the Sity into the Wild - in tents, portable

electronics, canned foods, bottled gas, and the like - thereby never experiencing the Wild at

all.

Mick related a story to me of taking a group of people out into the sand-bars, along

the Hoh river, to train. They were preparing to go to sleep, and the mosquitoes were very

thick. Mick said, “Sleep up here, off the bank, where the sand is dry, but the wind is still

strong. It will keep the mosquitoes away. Dig a shallow pit in the sand to sleep in.” The

people dug their respective pits, and off they went to sleep. The next morning, everyone was

complaining that they were cold during the night. Mick couldn’t understand it. He’d been

very warm, to the point where he’d needed to remove the tarp covering him at one point in the

38

night. He asked one of the people in the group how they’d set up their sleeping-pit. They had

taken their tarp, and put it beneath them, to separate themselves from the sand while they

slept. Then they’d taken the other half of the tarp and wrapped it up over their body. Mick

had done the opposite! He had slept directly on the dry sand, and covered his body with the

tarp, creating an air trap, which grew warmer as the night progressed, simply from his body’s

heat. Mick realized then that even the ways of thinking are opposite in the Wild from the

ways of the Sity (M. Dodge, personal communication, August 6, 2010).

The mentality of the Sity is extremely dangerous in the Wild. Individuals die

every year thinking that the type of sense-making that works in the city will work equally well

in wild or survival situations. On the other hand, taking the ethic of the Wild into the Sity is

equally dangerous. It is entirely different from the morality present in the Sity context.

Behavior that may be acceptable in a wild habitat (nudity, asocial violence, etc.) are not

permitted in cities, and have serious consequences. We witness these consequences whenever

a wild animal makes its way into a city or environment with a large human population. The

animal is hunted, and removed (living or dead). A wild animal does not subscribe to any sense

of justice or morality that is held in a city.

Mick’s hope is to dissolve the separation, isolation, and domestication inherent in Sity

thought and action by bringing people through the path described by the Map. Individuals

from the Sity will be brought into the Hut area, where they will be taught how to train with

their bodies in (and as) habitat. They will be able to take their shoes (and any other clothing

they want to remove) off and physically re-ground with the earth and natural elements. From

39

this “comfort zone,” the individual can be led for short stints into the Wild, to experience the

connection and logic of that terrain. Mick’s hope is that after a person experiences the Wild

and returns to the Sity, they bring that logic back to the Sity with them.

The Sity

Mick describes the terrains as physical elements, similar to the body itself.

Civilization is a process that, as it currently stands, is destroying both bodies - the human body

and the “body” of nature:

The Sensuous organic flow of the mountain is getting smaller, destruction of our

internal body organs and organizing processes and the outside organic world is in

crisis. The elimination of countless numbers of wild creatures from every habitat you

walk into. People who passively allow this to happen, not to mention those who want

it and promote it for economic greed are cut off from their senses, separated from

“making sense”, and are a good distance down the road to insanity. Most people do

not seem to feel or understand, or care much about their part in the destruction.

Perhaps they are overwhelmingly preoccupied with deep physical and mental

problems. For the environmental crisis is rooted in the physiological crisis of the

modern individual being cut off from the largest sensory organ of the body, the

muscle, and what the muscle senses is effort of movement. This makes the quest of

the native body crucial. It is the calling of our times and the movement disciplines are

responding and it is time for these movement disciplines to share in big way, catching

40

the attention of the passive, inviting them to engage through movement and form, to

stimulate the inherited connected movement with the land and develop a practice of

recovery. We must come to feel and move better in our bodies in connection with the

diversity of the land in order to recognize what is happening to our thinking, knowing

and believing, and how to bring us back to our senses. We have forgotten that our

thinking and feeling are formed in place, in habitat. This is where we form our daily

habits. It is so simple, easy to understand as i gain distance from my domestic

footing. (Mick Dodge, Foot Journal Three, pp. 1-2)

The Sity is the terrain where Mick found human animals who are “sedentary, sedated,

separated, serious, and selfish” (Email communication from Mick Dodge, December 11,

2009). The terrain of the Sity is defined by an ethic of ease. People are cut off from their own

bodies, from muscle, from effort. The Sity is also the Seat of Power; it is the place where

social power is centered. The Sity is a domesticating force. “Civilization and domestication

are about two things: divide and conquer, or conquer and divide,” Mick says (M. Dodge,

personal communication, August 5, 2010). The process of separation from self and from

others, and of the controlling nature of that separation, can be referred to by the words

“domestication” and “civilization” (see Zerzan, 2008, pg. 119; and Foucault, 1982).

Domestication is the process of the un-wilding of an animal or species. Domestication is

entwined with enculturation and acculturation, both of which select for certain traits in

individuals, and reject others.

41

Mick began his presentation at the Exuberant Animal conference in Leavenworth with

the story of his transition from shoe-wearing patriotic citizen-soldier to barefoot wanderer. He

stressed that the nature of civilization’s problem as one of disconnection from nature, and of

that disconnection as part of the process of civilization. Beyond that discussion, however, lay

a deeper discussion, which Mick only intimated at in that initial presentation - that of the rift

between the individual and their own capacity for thought, freedom, and development - the

question of individuality:

Arguably, the biggest risk I face is psychological. I must become willing to look

ridiculous in a culture of straight-lines and plodding mechanical machinery. Even in

simple movements of exuberance and joy I am radical, noticeable, and deeply counter-

cultural. An introvert who strongly dislikes being the center of attention, I was at first

terribly uncomfortable hanging upside down from a tree in the park. But it's another

edge I'm learning from and growing into, as I become more comfortable in the earth's

skin. (Ecotherapy Newsletter, Fall 2010, pg. 4).

The process of civilization as it is done now is contrary to the existence of natural

ecosystems (Rees, 2010). While it is not a main theme in terms of word-frequency,

civilization as trauma underlays Mick’s thought, and is central to his understanding of

civilization.

For hundreds of thousands of years, until the beginning of civilization about ten

thousand years ago, humans walked in direct contact with the diversity of life, living

42

in tribal societies, which produced the sensuous flow of the land into a tribal

consciousness, sensible ideas, guiding principles concerning living together

successfully on a diverse and healthy planet. The invasion of the civilized march

spreading the Spell of Separation into one tribal locale after another has been swift

and deadly that we may speak of the trauma of colonization and the deeper

confinement of the civilization. (M. Dodge, Foot Journal Three, pp. 2-3).

Civilization, for Mick, is the creation of the “city walls;” the division between the

man-made and natural habitats. It is the primary disruption or trauma between man and

nature.

The development of the individual stride is a combination of our tribal step forced into

alignment of repeated patterns modern structures captivating our muscles. From

childhood the little animus forms into a path way of becoming a modern person, a

creature of insulation, sensing from the machine, learning to become a responsible

technological sitizen. (M. Dodge, Foot Journal Three, pg. 3).

The “patterns” of civilization, its physical patterns, such as buildings, paved

walkways, etc., as well as its mental patterns, such as linear or analytical modes of thought,

force the individual into conformity.

The trauma of civilization is responsible for the derangement of our senses and

reason. The inner dialogue of the feet, heart and brain, the hallmark of self-

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consciousness has separated, cut off from reflecting the thoughts of the land, which is

the native mind. The void of the organic, the voice of reality is being silenced.

Modern people have trouble hearing the native voice, soundless to the interaction of

old ideas lose touch with the balance of the individual, tribe and land. Reason has

been cut off at the roots of the feet, a shallow walk unable to determine what is of true

value in life. (M. Dodge, Foot Journal Three, pp. 3-4).

These patterns create a cultural forgetting of connection with the Land, which is the

primary connection for any organism. Within civilization and its modes of control, thought

becomes deranged.

Life requires effort, but our civilization has removed much of the effort needed for

life, and has built an ethic that supports ease - and this ethic is definitive of the city habitat,

and everything that comes from within it. “Walking, moving the body, chopping wood

carrying water, gathering food, has all become a choice.  You no longer have to get on you feet

to move” (Email communication from Mick Dodge, April 8, 2010). The habitat continually

re-shapes the animal and its behavior (and it’s structure - see Gilbert & Epel, 2009). Human

beings have managed to shape their habitat to create a habit of sedentarism.

It is easy to sit in the walls, machines and technology, and seek to become

comfortable, having machines to move your around and block your movement, to

have your water brought to you, to have your food brought to you, to have a oxygen

bottle to to breath with, to block out the sound of noise with music or some other

44

distraction, to get use to your eyes become linear, and to remove the touch of your

mem-brain with artificial clothing and weather systems.  There is a difference between

our sensory needs and our sensory greeds.

There is a concept that you might of heard about, most do not like to apply it

to the human domesticate animal.  It is called carrying capacity.  To care and carry are

of the same origin in meaning.  From my perspective from the edge of the "sitting

wall".  People in the "sitting wall", have things carried to them, and are carried

around, and so they lose their touch with carrying from their 8 sensory needs, and so

they lose touch with the sensous organics, the flow, and the sharing with all of life.

So training with the word "carrying" capacity and caring for the land is good

training concept.  But it requires discipline of "effort" and simplicity. (Email

communication from Mick Dodge, April 11, 2010).

The Hut

The Hut is the terrain situated between the Sity and the Wild. It is what Mick

originally called “open fenced lands” - places commonly considered “wild” by city residents,

but found by Mick to be riddled with fences. It is the area where people from the city can go

to experience nature, without the complete shock of total immersion in the Wild. The Hut

differs from the Wild in this way - the Wild is an area without even the thought of electricity

(or tools requiring it), or consistent and predictable temperature and weather. The terrain of

the Hut is also the key to the Map. It is the intersection between the Sity and Wild and is the

45

place where change (and healing) can begin to happen. Mick’s efforts in the Whidbey

community and online are focused on bringing people into this area to experience wilderness

through movement practice. Mick has lived predominately in the terrain of the Hut for the

past two years. His semi-permanent tent is on a piece of land on Whidbey Island, owned by a

friend who believes in Mick’s message and purpose, and who has offered to support Mick in

this way.

Movement and physical activity in the Hut area are characterized by learning and

discovery. The participant can largely go barefoot, and is strongly encouraged to do so.

Dangers of the city, like broken glass and other debris, are not present in the Hut terrain. But

other dangers are, the biggest being the city-dweller’s habitual lack of awareness of their

surroundings. The hyper-sensitivity of the habitually-shod foot to natural terrain (both natural

features and temperature) is experienced by many as “pain” at first. Mick agrees that it is pain

that the participant is feeling - the pain of their separation from the earth. But he is quick to

point out that as the relationship between foot (and animal) and earth continues, the pain fades,

and natural movement and sensitivity to habitat take its place.

Mick’s training involves the story of the Map, the use of the “five grips and grins,”

and training with stick, stone, and wind (as breathing, and as making sound). He has

participants train with stick, stone, and strap (a piece of eight foot nylon strap doubled over

and sewn to create handles). Sole-camp participants train with sticks and stones, making

weaving patterns, throwing, running, or stretching, using the natural implements as both tool

and teacher. The movements done with a stick are very different when attempted with a heavy

46

stone, or vice versa. The stone has a different lesson to teach the body than the stick. When

training with stone, the mover gets a sense of what movements are possible. What will the

stone allow one to do? Exploration, and a sense of playful discovery, are critical to exerting

oneself in this situation. Motivation is “intrinsic” in one sense, but also “extrinsic” - as the

stone itself is “telling” the user how to move. The mover cannot move in the same ways with

a stick as they did with a stone. There are new movement parameters, and new tactile

sensations. The same holds true for straps. The straps are hung over tree limbs in order to

“weave with the trees” in various ways - pulling up or lifting onto the tree, walking the feet

up, or completely inverting the body.

This physical practice involves letting the habitat teach the user how to train.

Traditional Western physical training involves “forms” - rote methods of performing

movements, with specific parameters regarding the numbers of repetitions a participant

“should” do. Mick’s “forms” are prescribed by the tool being used, and the habitat in which it

is used. There is no set parameter for exertion - only that exertion be connected, grounded to

the participant’s experience of their physiology, the habitat, and their physiology-in-habitat.

Awareness in movement is primary in this training. The animal must awaken to itself

as continuous with its habitat. Training itself focuses desire, which Mick says is “fire,” since

desire needs to be tended and stoked as carefully as a fire built by hand in the wilderness (M.

Dodge, Transcribed Journal 2). Desire fuels awareness, which can only be explored through

effort, the “muscle-sense.” The purpose of training is to “make sense” - to use desire to unite

the body and mind in habitat:

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Foot notions come from following your naked soles in order to "make sense" of story.  

By following the naked soles into remembering, recovery, re-storying and releasing

the organic sensory flow that we grip, grin and ground "with" the land until we dance

"as" the land.

The process of connection with the ground, with the Wild within, is the

process of “making sense” - the individual makes sight, smell, taste, touch, breath,

exertion. This is the path of training. The problem becomes how to find those who

will listen. (Email from Mick Dodge, July 22, 2010).

“Craft” is also part of Mick’s training paradigm. The student at first learns to

reconnect through movement using sticks, stones, and straps provided by the Sensei (and trees

and ground provided by Nature). After a time, though, the student should be led to craft their

own training tools - selecting a driftwood staff from the beach, for instance, and planing,

sanding, and finishing it into a personal training tool. Mick encourages individuals to make

their own clothing out of buckskins and moccasins purchased from local hunters or other

outlets. In this way, the mover becomes involved in their own process of the creation of

themselves.

The “Animal Stick” is a hardwood staff with a stone glued to the end. Mick has made

friends with a local stonecutter who water-drills the holes for him. He crafts the hardwoods

staves himself, and finishes them. The most recent Animal Stick he produced is as much a

piece of art as it is a training tool.

48

The Animal Stick (photo by Mick Dodge, 2010)

Mick has also shown me prototypes for training sticks that have the “training

progression” either branded or carved into them. The Map is carved into the stick, along with

ideograms representing a person participating in each of the eight sensory flows. He struggles

with a way to use technologies created in the city environment (such as computers and the

internet) in order to ground people in the paradigm of the Wild. The tools themselves

reproduce the hegemonic structure that produced them, making it difficult not to have one’s

efforts re-interpreted in terms of the tool. Videos on YouTube are watched by people sitting

49

sedentary on their couch or in their chair. Animal Sticks sit on mantels as “folk art,” never

seeing any use.

Beyond the Aesthetic is the Nomad, Mick’s final phase of training. The Nomad is the

individual who has experienced all three terrains, sees each as equal, and recognizes that

movement between and among each is necessary in order for society to progress or evolve.

This movement between and among terrains is nomadic - the individual must move regularly

in order to keep the flow of energy between those terrains open and moving. The Nomad is

also a stage at which the individual has transcended ideas about “right” and “wrong” - they

have experienced a transvaluation of their previous values. What is right in one terrain cannot

be right in another, yet each terrain requires the other in order to survive. The terrains require

each other naturally - the Sity rests upon the Wild via the Hut. Without explicit support for the

Wild, the Sity cuts off its Natural source and eventually withers and dies.

The Nomad has No Mad in them any longer. They do not react to the Sity or Sity-folk

as right or wrong anymore than they do to the weather as “good” or “bad.” The Sity has its

own ethic, and the people who dwell within that terrain cannot but follow that ethic.

As a Barefoot Nomad, skilled in the Barefoot Aesthetics and Bardic movement

practices.  I entered the training path and began focusing on the Sad Foot, Mad Foot,

using movement and form to grip down deep into the primal memory and move the

shit out of my brain patterns that had a HOLD on them.  Have you ever noticed how

in the word "hold", is the word "old".  Upon graduation i entered the path as a

Barefoot Nomad, in the pursuit of of exuberance. It is when i met the Primal

50

Proffessor down in Tahoe, and entered the stride as a Barefoot Sensei, with one foot

ahead, one foot outside the shoes, walls, machines, electronics.  I began the journey as

a Sensei, pulling the cart and realizing the need for a training hall. So i dug my soles

into this island, and have been calling out to others to craft and cultivate a earthgym.  I

have gathered the attention, but few hold on, the grip of the ground is weak. (Email

from Mick Dodge, December 1, 2010).

The Nomad, as a Sensei, must always also move between the different stages of

training, revisiting their own training progression with the mantra “Teach Me.” The best

Sensei is always a student first - seeking ever-deeper depth and broader breadth of experience

- in order to be “one foot ahead” of the student.

Then with the Naked Sole Aesthetics, kinetic movement forms to ground my mind,

with the knowledge and skills learned and earned as a Naked Sole Bard.  I entered the

training as a Nomad.  I applied the kata and mandala's of movement and form to my

Sad Soles and Mad Soles, and learned to burn my flame, and went on a quest for the

Glad Soles, exubeant soles.  I learned of the 8 map.  It was a long time training.  I was

in the foot pursuit for animal exuberance. (Email from Mick Dodge, November 10,

2010).

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The Wild

The Wild is the ultimate terrain in Mick’s hierarchy. Though he stresses the need to

move between the three terrains, the Wild is the most important of the three. It is the place

where rational human thought completely gives way to a “flow” state. The animal is

continuous with its environment, living in the flow of time. This is the state that Mick was in

during his time with the elk herd, one of the first very long stints he had by himself in the

wilderness. The Wild is a physical place, and a metaphorical inner-terrain - the wild that lives

within us all:

This desire to train seems to be some thing that came from my birth. It seems that

others do not have it. They do realize the gift that we have been handed over my the

earth. We are like clay and we craft our bodies into wild being. (M. Dodge, Foot

Journal Two, pg. 2).

The Wild is the root of the human animal, the ground upon which culture and

civilization have been built, and the place that is forgotten or lost (the “blind spot”) in order

for that civilization to survive as it now stands. The purpose of training is to get back in touch

with that Wild, both as a physical place and as a state. The inner Wild is accessed through

experience in the outer Wild.

52

Flow

One story that Mick tells about his time in Vietnam involves a firefight. He and about

12 other soldiers were isolated between a US platoon and a Viet Cong patrol. The bullets were

flying overhead, and Mick looked at his friend and said “Boy, they sure are pissed off about

something!” He and his friend laughed, both at the statement, and at the incongruity between

the levity of Mick’s statement and the situation in which they had found themselves.

It was after telling me this story that Mick shared his experience of the “flow” state,

described by Csikszentmihalyi (1991). In combat, Mick said, you enter a state in which

everything just happens. You are moving through it, immersed in experience, inseparable

from the events around you. Suddenly, when it’s over, you think “what the hell happened?”

Then, Mick says, you either go on, or you get stuck in the fact that you lived, while others

didn’t. When that happens often enough, you begin to wonder about what made that happen,

and you lose the ability to enter that flow-state. You become immersed in ritual - trying to

recreate the conditions that preceded your survival. Some troops, he said, would tie their right

boot first every morning, or wear something special that they’d worn that day, or some other

ritual act (M. Dodge, personal communication, August 6, 2010).

In the Wild, Mick lost the linear, divided, and atomistic notions of the body that were

typical of “shoe-box” thinking. He tracked a herd of elk for a week, and lost all sense of time,

becoming absorbed into the flow of the experience of life. This is the state of the Wild, unlike

the Sity in any way. It is timeless, and though effort is a part of it, participation within it is

effortless. Traumatic events such as the ones Mick experienced in Vietnam are “peak states.”

53

They can produce the flow state as easily as the focus required during intense physical effort

or athletic competition. The lesson learned from each experience, however, will be

significantly different. The Vietnam veteran may experience post traumatic stress, whereas the

athletic competitor may experience intense elation or sadness, depending upon whether their

team won or lost. The flow state achieved while in the Wild is equally different from either of

those. According to Mick, the greatest thing it produces is connection. And it is the feeling of

the loss of this connection once one leaves the Wild that holds the most importance.

By removing the individual from the terrain of civilization (in the Sity), the pathway

described by the Map opens space for the individual to experience an alternate mental and

physical reality. Part of the process of training is learning the skills of the Wild from a Sensei,

one who has been there. Within the new terrain and with support from teachers who have

gone through the experience the individual has the possibility for envisioning and (physically

and culturally) enacting different strategies than encultured ones, and of carrying those new

strategies back into the Sity terrain. As long as the flow of energy moves through the 8 pattern

- through Sity, Hut, and Wild - the energy from civilization can be used to re-ground the

individual in Nature, and ultimately transform culture. Without that flow, each terrain withers

and dies, cut off from its roots in nature. The populace, cut off, grows sick and fat. Its roots

are in civilization, which has different means and ends than nature.

54

Returning

The Wild is the ultimate terrain in Mick’s training methodology, but not the final

piece of his method. Action, thought, and terrain are united in Mick’s philosophy, and the

ultimate piece of Mick’s philosophy, uniting those elements and the three terrains, is the action

of returning. It is the path back into the Hut and Sity, from the Wild, that connects the three

and heals the trauma of civilization that matters most. While not a physical “terrain” like Sity

Hut and Wild, the return is a critical aspect of Mick’s thinking.

The Map is a winding trail that set the MEME off on a journey, into the hut, a

comfortable place to explore the comfort zones.  Then up into the Last of the Gated

Wild, to touch in a 'make some sense'.  But the journey does not end there.  There is

the return back through the hut and then back into the 'sitting walls', gathering, storing

and releasing. (Email from Mick Dodge, December 13, 2010).

The process of Story is Storage, Release, and Return. Only through this process can

story “make sense” of personal experience, which is rooted in the habitat in which the story

occurs.

Discussion

Mick argues that an underlying feature of Western civilization is the tendency to

analyze, insulate and isolate individual aspects of things. The literature on the dualistic,

atomistic, and reductionist aspect of Western civilization is extensive (e.g. Dumont, 2008;

55

Sprintzen, 2009). In the decontextualized instrumentality typical of this view the health of the

body is sought in decontextualized solutions - instant fixes, pharmaceutical interventions to

individual elements of processes, allowing for things such as an “exercise mimetic” pill (e.g.

Booth & Laye, 2009, for a perspective on the problems with this type of isolated

understanding of human physiology). A philosophy of division among all things (including

body and mind) allows for bizarre sentences like “People live their lives in bodies, and

comfort with one’s body can play a central role in one’s experience and well-being” (Schooler

& Ward, 2006, pg. 27), typical of modern Western scientific discourse regarding health and

physical activity. The abstraction of “the body” as something “lived in,” separate from its

environment, makes sense from the standpoint of the Sity. In the Hut, however, such a

statement is complete nonsense.

As culturally constructed values, ideals of physical activity and health vary across

cultures, and within cultures across historical timeframes. Mick’s ideas of physical activity

stem from his unique personal background and life experiences, which are dependent upon the

historical timeframe in which he has lived. Mick’s approach to physical activity practice

reflect his experiences in Japanese karate dojos, military training, deep thought and study, and

an early-childhood deep connection with nature. His belief in the need to unite human

civilization with nature as a healing process is not entirely unique. As mentioned, Tom Brown

Jr. and many other authors and thinkers have reflected similar sentiments.

The unique contribution Mick offers to the discussion of man’s relation to nature, the

nature of civilization, and the healing of the human animal’s relation to itself and to its

56

relationship with nature (which is, in effect, his solution to physical activity participation and

adherence) is the concept of terrain. Specifically stated as a belief that values and actions are

specific to physical habitat, and that an animal in reality is continuous with its habitat. Many

recent papers in physical activity theory have emphasized the connection between PA, culture,

and environment (Brownson et al., 2001, is a wonderful example). The field has begun to

approach physical activity promotion and interventions from multi-factorial or “ecological”

perspectives. Ecological approaches to physical activity intervention remain grounded within

Western scientific and cultural assumptions about the nature of physical activity and behavior

change. Most of these models and interventions aim at changing or manipulating certain

features of the terrain (such as the built environment, motivational or control factors,

biomechanical leverage or force equations, or physiological output measures), but not the

terrain itself. What is suggested in Mick’s model is that the terrain itself will have to change

in order for wholesale change to be possible. Where diversity is the hallmark of ecological

robustness and stability (Folke et al., 1996), Western scientific approaches and “solutions”

tend to suggest “optimal” or “best” methods for achieving activity or health results

(Macdonald et al., 2009).

Mick’s thinking points to a blind-spot in the approach taken toward physical activity

in U.S. culture. That approach is grounded within the culture itself and reflects atomistic and

reductionist values and historical underpinnings of U.S. culture and scientific thought. Any

methodology built within that framework will be based on methods reflecting and supporting

those atomistic underpinnings. This is the hegemonic nature of culture. Regardless of what

57

research within that context reveals, it finds itself unable to defeat the culture within which it

arises. To do so it would have to defeat the culture itself. It would have to call into question

its own validity (Rees, 2010).

The above offers an explanation of physical activity participation and adherence as

cultural phenomena. In this explanation, “non-communicable diseases” are really diseases of

a specific cultural set of values. The lack of effectiveness of many physical activity and health

interventions becomes clearer. Those interventions are designed, created, and applied in ways

that conform with the cultural-construct itself. That is, they are decontextualized. They seek

to apply fixes on top of underlying systemic processes, without treating the process (the

specific culture) itself. The model of terrain allows the thinking individual to be removed

from culturally-constructed values and to see and physically enact alternative options.

Questioning of physical activity and health values in this way is removed from the terrain

within which those values arise.

The decontextualized and idealized body reflects the idea of the body as separate from

its habitat. It reflects a theoretical framework that supports a scientific effort based upon

averaged-ideals. The method of promotion of this body is carried through culturally-accepted

forms of communication - magazines, television, movies, as well as public policy. The current

mode with which we are enacting (or not) and advertising or promoting physical activity in

this culture is failing to produce a healthy population. While calls can be made for “ALL

health professionals” (Brown 2006, abstract) to encourage physical activity within

populations, these professionals are only part of the culture within which they are situated. In

58

the case of modern-day United States this culture includes agribusinesses and automobiles

(petroleum concerns) and associated lobbying groups, large monetary investments in gyms

and gym-culture, entertainment and other media groups, fast-food restaurants, and vast social

and economic disparities. All of these interests and entities are interrelated within a series of

relationships impossible to influence via single-method or even “ecological” approaches. The

underlying and guiding philosophy of the culture will always usurp efforts “against” it. This

can be seen in the common “mainstreaming” of counter-culture movements (Heath & Potter,

2006; Williams 2007). This effect is so reliable, that many marketers seek to create a

“counter-culture” of their already relatively mainstream product (Belk et al., 2010).

Conclusion

The hallmark of the survival of the animal over time is adaptation. The support

system of the human animal is culture (Donald, 1991; Lock & Peters, 1999; Richerson &

Boyd, 2005). Culture, however, creates a rift between the human population and the natural

world (Marx, 1981; Lewis, 1993; Foster, 1999; Eagleton, 2000). The manner in which we are

currently doing culture is the source of physical activity, health, and social-disparity problems.

The call for physical activity change is actually a call for cultural change. Mick’s lessons lead

to the need for self-conscious acknowledgement of the created nature of culture, and of the

actor (as citizen, buyer, member, individual, animal) as continuous with that culture, as creator

of that culture.

59

Mick still struggles with “returning.” His immersion into the Wild terrain and the vast

differences he sees and promotes between that Wild and the Sity make it difficult for him to

function in the Sity environment even for short lengths of time. My own experience through

the process of this research has led to an appreciate for Mick’s perspective and approach, and

the realization that his approach is his own unique and deeply personal perspective of life.

What might separate Mick from others more than anything are the very distinct, drastically

divergent, and sometimes violent experiences that have informed his views and behaviors, and

the unique ways in which he has crafted those experiences into meaning.

60

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