※ Herbal Extractions and Embodied Absorption

Context

Late October–early November 2025.

In late October and early November 2025, I made tinctures, infused oils, salves, kolonia, and layered aromatic blends for studio movement tests.

The experiments came directly out of my butoh practice. I wanted to work with plants as material collaborators whose scent, texture, and physical presence could alter attention, posture, breath, and spatial awareness—not as symbols standing in for those effects.

The guiding question:

What happens when plant matter inhabits the body—chemically, sensorially, and intentionally?

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Extraction Work

Parallel preparations were produced using:

• Alcohol tinctures (6–10 week macerations)
• Low-heat oil infusions
• Solar infusions
• Beeswax salves
• Kolonia-style aromatic waters
• Resin dissolutions and layered recombinations

Botanicals included patchouli, jasmine, lemongrass, mugwort, rose, bay, lavender, and various resins and roots. I selected them for aromatic persistence, felt impact, and their relationship to movement. Strict correspondence systems were secondary.

Each batch was logged with ratio, solvent, duration, and temperature.

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Studio Testing (Solo)

Applications were tested through:

• Skin absorption (pulse points, sternum, lower back)
• Inhalation during stillness
• Diffusion in enclosed studio environments
• Pre-movement and mid-practice reapplication

Observed effects:

• Changes in muscular tone (particularly jaw, hips, diaphragm)
• Altered breath depth and pacing
• Increased tolerance for sustained stillness
• Subtle shifts in balance perception
• Emotional texture changes (grounding, volatility, softness)

Certain resin blends produced density and downward pull. Florals amplified sensitivity and subtle tremor. Bitter-root preparations altered posture and grounded the pelvis.

Movement became slower to initiate but more internally articulate.

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Testing with Butoh Practitioners

Select preparations were shared with friends and fellow butoh practitioners during informal studio sessions.

Testing conditions included:

• Shared movement practice
• Silent co-presence
• Sequential scent introduction
• Direct skin application (with consent)
• Environmental diffusion in rehearsal space

Feedback centered on:

• Perceived changes in time perception
• Increased micro-movement
• Shifts in interpersonal spacing
• Heightened awareness of breath and sound
• Emotional memory activation

Several participants described the oils as “viscous” or “weight-bearing.” One resin blend was described as “structural,” altering the feeling of verticality.

No effects were treated as universal. Variation across bodies was notable and important.

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Absorption and Relation

This phase made empathy feel less like projection and more like permeability. Scent crosses the apparent boundary between room and body. Oils remain on skin. Breath carries aromatic compounds inward.

Questions that emerged:

• What does it mean to host plant matter inside one’s tissues?
• Where does agency sit in shared metabolism?
• How does absorption change perception of self-other boundaries?

The useful question was simple: what do the plants do?

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Environmental Impact

We also tested the preparations in enclosed spaces. Participants described sound as closer, light as more diffuse, and stillness as easier to sustain. People adjusted their distance from one another as new scents entered the room.

Scent changed the room without adding a visible object.

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Performance Relevance

These experiments are feeding into:

• Pre-performance somatic calibration
• Environmental preparation for audiences
• Ritualized movement entry protocols
• Recovery and grounding supports

In performance, a preparation could work as a small material score: applied before movement, introduced at a threshold, or used to support recovery afterward.

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Ongoing Questions

• How do repeated exposures change long-term movement vocabulary?
• Do certain botanicals reliably influence endurance?
• Can biometric data correlate with subjective reports?
• What seasonal shifts affect extraction potency?
• How do collective bodies metabolize shared scent differently?

I still do not know which observations will repeat outside these particular bodies, rooms, and batches.

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Notes

All experiments prioritize safety, consent, and reversible engagement. This is not product development. I am testing what changes when plant preparations become part of movement practice.