be aware of the city

How fast is the city? Can you measure it?

Okay, let’s go to Cologne city center on a Saturday afternoon. Streets are packed with people struggling from shop to shop, carrying huge paper bags and talking about winter sale. Many of them might walk being unaware of their surroundings. But some do realize that something weird is happening here. There are three people, in the middle of the street – just standing or meditating. They don’t talk, have no bags, don’t even look at somebody. They just wait, eyes closed, focused on their own breath. Even though they don’t disturb other people, some of those feel pressed or unsecure about these three humans. What they don’t know is that, these three people belong to a larger group of dancers training group awareness in the city center.

let’s be a group

But, why do people feel weird about us, even though we don’t disturb or contact them? To understand this phenomenon we have to have a glimpse on social psychological aspects of group dynamics. Of course you would not consider yourself to be part of a group when you go shopping on your own, but actually - you are! As soon as we enter a specific environment, such as a supermarket, a train, or a shopping street, we automatically adapt to the given situation, trying to identify with it. The result is, that our bodies unconsciously adapt to walking speed, muscle tonus and the visual perception of those people surrounding us. 
 

Maybe you have realized that people in the city all somehow seem to look alike.

Group identification is an important process in order to create harmony and stability, but also safety within an environment containing many people. So we follow these unspoken rules to prevent ourselves from anger, and to reach our goals within this environment.

what happens if we un-group

There are some interesting observations about that: Once people realize, that you are not respecting the given rules, but still belonging to a part of another group (such as an awareness training group), your behavior will be more accepted, then being on your own.

Many people asked us, if we are a performance group even though we didn’t perform anything. That implies, that acting different is seen as showing something to this group, even though we didn’t seek for any interaction with them. 

Once we enter an environment, we stop our private habits and start acting in a way which is appreciated by others. What did our training group do though? We started to include private movements into our research, such as sitting, waiting, relaxing or meditating. The result was that people around us reacted even more afraid and suspicious. 

My last point concerning this experiment regards concepts we have in society. Our tryout included having three people walk down the street holding hands – all three of them. Society nowadays already got used to homosexuality or love between races, but three people being together is still something most people can’t capture. No need to mention the reactions and observing faces we attracted doing this.

have a coffee break

As a second environment we chose to have a coffee in a coffee shop, but not as most people would. Our rule was: we can only drink, if everyone in our groups drinks. And further, we would always shift the objects on our table and change sitting places, all of these, nonverbal.

My first observation is that, even though we were ten people, not talking at each other, acting really weird - most people would not notice us. We sat next to two guys playing games on their cellphones, and it took them about an hour to realize that something was going on. Our conclusion about this behavior also states that, coffee shops nowadays change into a silent environment where people go on their own, not talking, but maybe reading or relaxing.

My personal feeling about this whole situation was quite unused and disconnected, as I acted completely opposite to what I would usually do in a coffee shop: talk to the people I am in with.

The whole time we’ve been highly concentrated, demanding to focus the objects or other group members trying to engage everyone drinking by lifting their bottles. Compared to other people there, we were in a different universe; our communication happened on another level, integrating features as laughing or views.

A coffee shop is a perfect prove for the division of big groups into smaller subgroups. Even though everyone in there belonged to the environment labeled “coffee shop”, people would split up into smaller groups, such as friends or being a single person.

city can train your concentration

We learned which effects an environment could have on us was, but also how to concentrate within a group, how to be aware of other group members, while acting in a complex and complicated environment.

Critical environments can be a perfect training spot for all kind of groups, such as managers or dancers, who want to improve their communication and listening skills.

So let us transform more shopping streets into meditation hotspots.