志异 Draft by Drama box december 2013 (english) | Page 12

12
f e at u r e
m e m o r y x s p ac e
dr af t vo l 2 is su e 2

I believe that the body is
capable of remembering. In
the book Body Aesthetics,
Taiwanese writer Chiang Hsun
wrote about body memory:

right. Yoga practitioners might
be more agreeable to this.
Since the body is the
carrier of our memories, it is
only reasonable that we should
be more sensitive towards it.
“… My friend who learnt medical
Body memories not only
science told me, since the brain is
construct our ‘self’ and
not yet developed, memories could
identity, they also affect
not have existed. However, those
how we act and behave. They
memories did not seem to belong to are cumulative of our life
the brain, but instead from within
experiences and shape our
my body. The memories in the brain temperament, and then
can be lost; but memories of the
reinforced through our actions,
body are forever etched on the skin, thereby constructing our later
in the muscles, the bones …”
life experiences. Social ethics
and norms are also taught to
When I was learning how to
us by leaving memories in our
ride a bicycle, I was told
bodies.
‘Once you've learnt it,
According to Taiwanese
you’ll never forget it’. When
poet Yu Guangzhong, the body
I was learning to swim, I was
is not only capable of storing
told the same thing. When I
personal memories, but also
was introduced to the world
memories of an entire
of theatre, my theatre
civilisation. He mentioned
predecessor said to me, ‘You
in an interview:
are able to recall whatever
your body has experienced’.
Indeed, memories do
reside in the body, to be
awakened when conditions are

2