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Thoughts & Essays About The Somatic Method (TSM) - Surf Life Well!

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		(This is a sticky post, please find current news items below) in General

Note from the editor

Welcome to blogsoma, your virtual vault for self-discovery. We here at Soma Space are excited to have a forum to demonstrate how the  images we focus on  impacts  on our social identity. Throughout history, pictures have shaped our personal and collective awareness. The visual medium of language serves as the evolutionary envelope of human nature. This blog will take you to the places words cannot express. You’ll be able to look at everything from pop culture to your most intimate relationships in a new light. The tools we’ll be sharing here are from the heart of the somatic worldview, which delivers you to what’s been called Level 3 Consciousness. This is where the world of ideas meets the world of action.

We’re here to chronicle the conversation. Welcome to the party!

Travel Light,

Dr. Mark Filippi, Human Performance & Communications Expert

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Our website address is http://www.blogsoma.net
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Site Unseen

		Sunday, 16 November 08 - 07:53 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark R Filippi in Dr. Mark

Stop & Listen >>> 

Same Time, Different Show...    

 

It took me 17 years but I think I finally get it. We spend a lot of different things in this life, but TIME is the one thing we never get back. How we relate to TIME, and it's impersonal chronological nature is the most significant indicator of how well we're living our lives. And as someone who has been able to live somewhat 'outside' time because of the perfect storm combination of WHAT I am and WHAT life events I've had, TIME has been an obstacle I've placed in the so-called 'elusive obvious'. With that as the preamble, we've created a weekly forum for all our client, professional partners, new local workshop sponsors and virtual sales reps to meet. The aim is to help everyone see that we each live inside of a set of rhythms that no clock can control. Join us and it'll be time well spent!

This week on  Soma Time: Lessons At The Speed Of Life we'll speak from the other side of the turbulent mirror we faced last week as we enter into the realm of a new format on BlogTalkRadio. It'll be a mutual orientation for both us as host and you as the listeners. Be sure and check out the new blog - THEDAILYPROFILER.NET on TUES to see the SOMA SURVEY we'll be discussing on the show (whether people take it or not, we're flexible sapes). In the 'meantime', check out all the new goodies we slapped up on SOMASPACE.ORG - especially those of you looking to make some extra money spreading our message on-line or by hosting a unique holiday party with us as your special guests. Believe me - we can par-tay!

For a preview of this special show, click here (1)     

Post-Graduate Debris

		Sunday, 09 November 08 - 12:57 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark R Filippi in Dr. Mark

Stop & Listen >>>      

A to Becoming...    

 

It's only been a little over 16 months, but SOMASPACE is going through some growing pains. One of the first signs of this is that we'll be changing the nature of our weekly radio show on BlogTalkRadio. Here's the scoop.

This week on Naked Soma's "I" Contact Radio Hour we'll be summing up the lessons and lucany of over 90 shows. We'll preview what we'll be offering you starting WED, NOV 16th at 9pm EST when the show's name will be become "Soma Time". We'll also yip it up for Professor Val's birthday. The new adminstration we elected wanted change. We've got it!

For a preview of this special show, click here (1)     

The Day After Election Night

		Wednesday, 05 November 08 - 04:12 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark R Filippi in Naked Soma Radio

He's What??!!

Since the Democratic Primaries ended with that surreal SAT 'concession' speech by Hillary "No Puma" Clinton, the labels applied to Barack Hussein Obama were endless. Hmmm...we had not black enough, inexperienced, unqualified, most liberal, naive about foriegn policy, and THEN it got personal! He's too passive, he doesn't fight back, he's an elitist, he's a celebrity, he's anti-American...wait, he's a Muslim? No, but he was born in Keyna and they faked his birth certificate right? No, well he did have a racist preacher as his spiritual mentor (which makes him a Muslim?). Damn.

Hmmm...seems like that was a red herring too because he REALLY was a radical Marxist who cavorted with domestic terrorists and other unseemly malcontents in the dirty, dirty Chicago political circles. What? There were Republicans on that board? McCain gave the self-same domestic terrorists nearly $500K? Ugh...well, just look at his ideas? Yes, look at them! He's obviously a commie or at the very least, he's definitely a socialist! C'mon, that's the real Barack Hussein Obama - a Wall Street funded socialist! What...you're kidding...another distorted claim? Seems like the moment the polls closed in California and 284 electoral votes were projected as his, suddenly, this man, this candidate, was suddenly black, very black! The first black. He was JFK, MLK, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad  Ali, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods all at once. How ironic. Turns out we elected this well-educated black dude from Chicago? I know the campaign went on for 2 years but...who is Barack Obama? We need to know! Tell me, who IS he?

   

 President, Baby!

 

While this intergalactic event unfolded, we took a seat in the peanut gallery on the show and examined the campaign and the landscape of the culture with some Soma Stars of our own. In the first hour, we were joined by David Goodman, Ph.D. who gave us some 'food for thought' on the way the last culture war ended in the 60's. His research on frontal brain development revealed five distinct stages of an increasingly creative and autonomous nature. We all seem to hit a ceiling at stage 2, which is where we can think, but not act freely. Stages three, four and five are repentance, pure innovation, and steadfast pursuit and curiosity and altruism despite strong opposition. These are powers of right posterior, right prefrontal and anterior pole. His explanation of why 200,000 professors and ten times that in teachers could have warded off everything bad and yet they did nothing was even more controversial.

In fact, one of the tactics David cited that was used on the masses was to paint the drug-based approach to mental illness as mainstream and self-development ones to mental health as fringe and unsavory. This, in addition to the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup into the diet, which David revealed in one of the major reasons for the rise in Alzheimer's disease, and you have a recipe for what he calls a mass marketed lobotomy. The offshoots of that, childhood obesity, women's health issues, and chronic mental illness are all byproducts of 40 years of this...

This all played out as we watched McCain's concession speech, where the entrained eye could see those 40 years personified. It was a chilling sight.

To listen to David's take, check out the Election Night 1st hour replay. (1)

His book, The Hidden Neurology of The Lord's Prayer: Creating the Right Spirit for Human Genius, will be available soon on tomorrowwillcare.com

In the second hour, we all took in Obama's acceptance speech, and then we all toweled off and took a deeper look at the state and future of health care, a Top 5 issue of the campaign. We were joined by fellow BTR host, Dr. Robert Affolter, who has experience in both economics and clinical delivery, specifically chiropractic care. The election allowed him to reflect on his positions about how to best handle what will be an incredible crisis. This is an era of both personal responsibility and professional accountability when it concerns our vitality. Dr. Affolter told us why...

To listen to his take, check out the Election Night 2nd hour replay. (2)   

We also had two other guests pre-record their interviews. Due to time concerns, we split up the interview with Kevin Dooley, Ph.D. from wonkosphere.net - who gave us an insider's view of the way the blogosphere shaped the campaign. His insights were sobering about both the growth and the direction of politics on the web. Our other contributor was the editor of jvsr.com - Dr. Matt McCoy who gave us his take on how the health care system has already been socialized and how it may be too late to expect it to meet the needs of an aging, and largely unhealthy population.

Whew! So there's our slice of sunshine for the night. It was a nice scene in Grant Park, and around the world as well. Now the unseen steps begin.

    

Dr. Matt McCoy's Full Interview >>>  

Kevin Dooley, Ph.D. Full Interview >>> 

All Somatics Is Local!

		Sunday, 02 November 08 - 12:51 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark R Filippi in Dr. Mark

Stop & Listen >>>

The Lost Mohican...    

 

I'm all played out on the election TUES. It's time for a break from the constant mud-slinging, conspiracy du jour and endless stump speeches. I'm fully expecting a controversy and a prolonged aftermath no matter who wins. In an effort to divert my attention I watched Ralph Nader yap on C-Span early this morning. Same old Ralph. He's may look a lot like Pat Paulson but in reality, he's a modern-day Eugene Debs. WTF is that sape?

"Eugene Debs ran for president several times in the early 20th century. He advocated the right of women to vote at a time when it was not popular to do so and while other more successful politicians openly argued against giving women the right to participate directly in elections...

President Theodore Roosevelt, himself, said "Personally I believe in woman’s suffrage, but I am not an enthusiastic advocate of it, because I do not regard it as a very important matter.” (Letter to Dr. Lyman Abbott, 11/10/1908). And President Grover Cleveland said, "Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote.” (1905)...

Despite these sentiments Debs advocated this right. Yet he never obtained more than 6 percent of the vote. Let me ask you: Were the men who voted with Debs throwing their vote away? If you had lived in that era, would you have voted for him? Or would you have come up with an excuse for why it wasn’t important enough?" (Nader's blog)

Anyway, as usual Nader had his facts, opinions and solutions all lined up like the well-balanced ONTO he is. He fascinates me sometimes. He's the consummate equivalent of the Mayor of Whoville, pictured above to his right there. I've often found myself in an unpopular position in this drug-soaked culture, that has a rapidly diminishing attention span, and an insurmountable appetite for fast, temporary, relief. It's why we have turned out generation(s) of adrenaline junkies and couch potatoes. Ralph hears something else though. He's non-apocalyptic about it. So I listened. 

I think I heard a Woo not a Who...here's Ralph's grand vision, FYI: (1)    

With that I return you to your 2-party discussions...    

This week on Naked Soma's "I" Contact Radio Hour we'll be offering you not one but two opportunties to join us. On Election Night, we're hosting a TWO HOUR LIVE SOMACAST from 11pm EST to 1am EST. We'll have guests on from across the country, have the chat room open and we'll take your calls as we offer our somatic take on the coverage. Party!

For a preview of this special show, click here (2)     

The day after the election, we'll be joined by E.J. Wensing, author of the book I Am Sustainability and head dog at ECOSPHERE.NET, a global network that aims to get people to personally identify IN not WITH the concepts of sustainability as we enter an era where it'll get very personal.

 For a preview of this special show, click here (3) 

Fear, Inc...

		Sunday, 26 October 08 - 11:29 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark R Filippi in Dr. Mark

Stop & Listen >>>

 

The Fear-Injected Future...    

 

So what's eating you? If it isn't the economy, the campaign rumors, or the prospects of another terrorist attack you're out of touch. Maybe you're a cause-oriented sape? Then you're up at night concerned about the way the war(s) are going, maybe you're tracking all the climate change news or the latest news on the prospects that a North American Union is in the works. Some of you live in fear of getting cancer or having a heart attack or living alone. The point is that the culture REQUIRES that you fear something, anything, so they can create TV shows, music, books and movies to feed that fear. Even freedom is packaged as a fear-based pursuit that needs an ever-vigilant attitude because someone somewhere is going to take it away. Love and faith are laced with fear messages. Read any relationship advice blog or join any spiritual support group. So I'll offer you my stock & trade somatic answer:  IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!

   

This week on Naked Soma's "I" Contact Radio Hour we'll be helping you get ready for the culture's high holy day of fear-indulging hilarity: Halloween. We'll be joined by Cay Randall-May, internationally respected professional intuitive consultant and medical intuitive. She'll be discussing her work with prayer groups and the power of collective intent. Her work in the spiritual realm has invited skeptics and we'll be no exception. We'll also get to the crux of what role fear plays in a healthy life from both the developmental and cultural vantage points. So bring all your dread to us.  

For a preview of this show, click here (1)     

World Series Game 1 - Somacard

		Wednesday, 22 October 08 - 05:06 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark R Filippi in Dr. Mark

Operation: Kill Phil

Tonight sapiens, we begin our mission to make sure these @#$% Phillies do not win this damn World Series. As a Met fan, I've had enough. Enough of these 'gamers' who played .500 ball for 4 months this season and then ran off a 13-4 clip to close the season and still needed a 7-10 finish by the Mets to win the division. Enough of a pitching staff that has gotten by on incredible defense, steady run support and a spotless 9th inning.

Enough of a manager who seems more along for the ride, often baffling his own players, the media, and all that's holy in baseball. And enough, ENOUGH about the long suffering fans of Philadelphia. Unlike the Cub fans and the Red Sox fans, who I have had moments (moments mind you) of compassion for, I relished all 70 losses the Phillies had in the regular season and the 2 the Brewers and Dodgers lodged in the post-season. Now I need 4 more. Four more losses to end this nightmare. Please Tampa!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your GAME 1 SOMACARD

Here's the starting lineups for Philadelphia Phillies & their Primary Domains  

Rollins - PHYLO
Werth - ONTO
Utley - ONTO
Howard - PHYLO
Burrell - EXO
Victorino - ONTO
Feliz - ONTO
Coste - PHYLO
Ruiz - ONTO
-----------
Starting Pitcher: Hamels - PHYLO 

Here's the starting lineups for Tampa Bay Rays & their Primary Domains   

Iwamaura - PHYLO
Upton - ONTO
Pena - PHYLO
Longoria - EXO
Crawford - ECO
Aybar - ECO
Navarro - ECO
Zobrist - PHYLO
Bartlett - PHYLO
-----------
Starting Pitcher: Kazmir - ONTO  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In some prior essays, I spelled out how to watch the dance between pitcher and batter. So you can 'play along' with us during the game, I've pasted in the 'ground rules' so you can PROFILE each at bat in real-time.

For the batter...
Watch how they prepare for each pitch. The habitual rituals they perform are like a PIN code that has 4 distinct cues. If you watch enough baseball, especially one team, your accuracy gets better and better at picking them up. Try this the next time you're sweating it out...

PHYLO batter - very deliberate, measured practice swings, happy feet shuffling around like they're standing in hot sand, bat held very still impatiently waiting to see the pitch. They'll step out of the box if they feel they can't wait anymore. [Delgado]

ONTO batter - very crisp, rapid practice swings, feet dug in or chopping at the ground like bull about to charge, bat can wave or be pointing at the pitcher before the final recoil. They'll get into a staring contest with the pitcher and they'll never blink [Church]

ECO batter - very sloppy, playful practice swings, feet and body shuffling around like they're in a hot tub, bat held loosely, sometimes dangling toward the ground. Usually they'll take on unusual pre-pitch postures and enter a Zen-like trance. [Tatis]

EXO batter - very precise, choppy practice swings, feet locked in early in the sequence, bat held motionless with little effort,  eyes darting all over the field with the head fixed on the pitcher like they're working out a geometry problem in their mind. [Beltran]

Now all that aside, once you get to the 5th pitch in any sequence, the batter will have to shuffle their motor codes and that's when you can expect them to use one of their less organized practice swings. This is why it's vital for the pitcher and catch to disrupt the batter's rhythm between pitches by compressing or elongating that preparatory ritual. Of course you also need to know what motor code the pitcher naturally uses too to accentuate this...

For the pitcher...
Watch how they recover from each pitch. The habitual rituals they perform are like a PIN code that has 4 distinct cues. If you watch enough baseball, especially one team, your accuracy gets better and better at picking them up. Try this the next time you're sweating it out...

PHYLO pitcher - very  deliberate, measured preparation, almost choreographed in their approach  [Santana]

ONTO pitcher - very crisp, rapid preparation, glaring in at the catcher, umpire and batter all at once [Pelfry]

ECO pitcher - very sloppy, playful preparation, almost warm-up like. Again, watch how they settle into Zen-mode [Perez] 

EXO pitcher - very precise, choppy preparation with stone-cold methodical rhythm of a pitching machine [Wagner]
 
Once they've held the ball for more than 8 seconds, these motor codes begin to expire. That's why it's useful to have the catcher monitor those first 4 pitches and gauge their rhythm and, if they know WHAT they're facing as a battery, attack that weakness. Otherwise, by pitch #5, the batter is reloading and you're back to external situational pitching. All of this is heightened in the later innings when the composite value of each at-bat is stochastically more volatile.

For the rest of this article, click here

The other aspect of 'soma spectating' is tracking the rhythm of the game. You can use them to zoom and out as the game unfolds to notice the underlying ebb and flow of the dyadic exchange of the two teams.   

1) Track the 5th pitch in a sequence to a batter: This is when the pitcher or batter will reach the bottom of that "7 plus or minus 2' saturation point and establish who is influencing who in that exchange. IOW, a learning threshold is reached and a new  environment is about to emerge. That 2-2 pitch is where the recursive nature of the game and the brains involved iterate to a place where something has to change.  Now, that'll apply every 5th pitch too, so in a 12-pitch inning, it's shifted twice too.

2) Track the 5th batter a pitch faces in an inning: Again, it's the combination of the  repetition of the lineup's sequence and the capacity of the working memory of the  defensive players. Look for more 'mental errors' in the field after this point in an inning.  The paradox is that you also see more 'baserunning blunders' too so go figure! Again, if you track a pitch count or a batter faced count, the pattern of change is still there. It's less about the result than the fact that as the game progresses you are adding in more complexity to the mix, which leads to more unpredictable behavior. So within each context, like a 5-pitch ab you have recursion, which adds depth. As that batter cycles around for their 2nd or 3rd ab, you have iteration, which adds bandwidth. It's like a crossword puzzle if you can imagine it. Recursion travels vertically through a game, iteration travels horizontally through one. The emergent 'big picture' remains hidden until the game ends.  

3) Track the game itself: I don't wonder anymore why it's an 'official game' after 5 innings  or why a starting pitcher is credited with a decision after completing five innings. I know   the logic behind it, but on a somatic level, it's in completing that inning that you get the  recursive depth you need to filter out all the volitional (conscious effort) of both teams.  After that inning, it's more about memory, instinct and more raw neurobiological tone.

4) Track different plays: When does the 5th foul ball occur? the fifth fly out or ground out?  Each of these 'events' have feedback loops of their own which works in the other way too, so the 5th put out by a fielder or the 5th assist by an infielder creates yet another  nuance in the game's myriad of somatic exchanges. All the subtle aspects of the game like pickoff attempts, batter's squaring to bunt, 3-2 pitches with the running going, etc.  are all little ripples in the overall conversational arc of a ballgame. Try tracking when a  pitcher shakes off a sign if you can. It's funny how often the 5th one is a game changer. It's not superstition or coincidence. It's brains!

For the rest of this article, click here

For more coverage of the World Series, with a higher degree of tolerance for the Phillies tune into Mike Silva's New York Baseball Digest 

F-Philly, F-Pete Rose and F-Rocky Balboa too! MRF 10.22

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Post-Script...3:02am

Well by now you know how Game 1 ended...UGH...3-2 Phillies - As usual, it was their ONTO barrage that did the job, registering all 8 hits in the game and to add insult to injury, a fifth ONTO, the 9th hole hitter, Pedro Feliz, got the game-winning run across on a ground out. On the other side, 4 of their 5 hits cames from Tampa's PHYLO regulars, with ECO Carl Crawford's homer being the sole exception. Three of the hits, and the other RBI, came from leadoff hitter, PHYLO Akinora Iwamaura.

On the pitching side of the coin, it was PHYLO Cole Hamels pitching with command and getting the big double play in the 3rd to keep the score 2-0 Phillies, on his way to a tidy 7 innings to earn an efficient road win. For the Rays, ONTO Scott Kazmir got tagged with the deft ONTO bats early as Chase Utley lined a home run after that absolute pain in the neck Jayson Werth had walked. He also pitched into and out of trouble, getting both flailing PHYLO Ryan Howard and rusty swinging Pat Burrell to strike out after that aforementioned pain in the neck Jayson Werth lead off the inning with a double. Both bullpens were effective, facing little drama. The spotless streak continued for PHYLO Phillies closer, Brad Lidge, who set aside Tampa's 3-4-5 hitters without a ball leaving the infield in the 9th...

For those who missed it live, review our SOMACAST of Game 1, which featured an extensive conversation with NYBD's Mike Silva here...  

For more coverage of the Series, visit Mike Silva's NY Baseball Digest 

Rays in 7!

The Philly Classic

		Sunday, 19 October 08 - 08:09 AM (GMT -05:00) By Mark R Filippi in Dr. Mark

Stop & Listen >>>

Fanatic Be Damned! They Can't Win This Thing... 

 

The MLB baseball is a sports marathon. It's a 12-month deal now. The 'hot stove' talks of last Winter lead to the inevitable reporting of pitcher and catchers to 'Spring Training', even it was still mid-February. As a Met fan, I spent my 'offseason' unwinding from the most historic collapse in history. Sure I felt my heart skip a beat when we signed Johan Santana only a few days before my Giants won Super Bowl XLII. But all Winter long and into the start of the regular season, it was those Phillies I was wondering about. After all, they got swept after we gave them the division last year. This year, with Johan, we'd handle them. We did. We went 12-6 against them after losing 8 straight to them last year. It just didn't really matter.

In a nutshell, they won the division again after we had a 4 game lead in the loss column. They stole some of those 6 games they beat us like this one in July and this one in August. When September rolled around, the Phillies went 13-4, we went 7-10. So my last image of 2008 is this...ugh!

 

So this week on Naked Soma's "I" Contact Radio Hour we'll be hosting a LIVE SOMACAST of Game 1 of the World Series so I can work through a little of my Philly Fanabla and apply some resources of The Somatic Method. Look for a handy scoresheet on blogsoma on WED afternoon...

We'll be offering our live running commentary of the unspoken messages our candidates will be sending themselves, each other and even us. Join us for the an hour of the Fall Classic and then use that last half hour to apply what we share. Send us your impressions, reactions and insights at nakedsoma@gmail.com or go directly to our chat room at 10:00pm and join us there for continued banter. Even if you're not a baseball fan, you'll have at least one more reason to hate Philadephia. Then click over to http://www.somaspace.org/chatnowlive.html for more Q & F-ing A!   

For a preview of this very special show, click here (1) 

  For a primer on our baseball profiling essays, click here (2)  

The Innate Debate

		Wednesday, 15 October 08 - 05:35 PM (GMT -05:00) By Mark R Filippi in Naked Soma Radio

 

If you're looking for a wrinkle to the 3rd Presidential Debate, use this post as a 'scorecard' of sorts to get yourself acquainted with some of the tools of The Somatic Method (TSM). All you need to participate is your powers of observation and the ability to record their physiological responses at critical points in the ~90-minute process. Here's the keys to look for:

Senator John McCain
His campaign has been sending mixed messages leading into this debate. Will be take on the cultural issues and attack Obama on his shady associations, his tax voting record and his lack of experience or take the initiative and focus on painting himself as the better leader who is  the person to be trusted to resolve the economic crisis, win the war and restore prosperity?

Just watch his eyes...

As a question is directed to him, (while he's listening) , does McCain...
[place a check each time you notice him do this next to each response below]

Look up:
Look down:
Look at the moderator:
Look away from the moderator:

When a response to an Obama answer is requested of him, does McCain...
[place a check each time you notice him do this next to each response below]

Smile:
Scowl:
Squint:
Stare:

Senator Barack Obama
His campaign has been straining to not beat it's chest as they continue to take the high road while the economy takes center stage in the mind's of the voters. Does he continue to speak directly to his audience and repeat his talking points about the connection of McCain to Bush on the war, the nuances of his economic plans, his middle class tax cut minutia and green job creation or does he face off with McCain on his record, his political origins and the other more saucy aspect of his candidacy, namely race, class and experience?

Just watch his face...

As a question is directed to him, (while he's listening) does Obama..
[place a check each time you notice him do this next to each response below]

Nod:
Shake his head no:
Tilt his head to one side:
Remain perfectly still:

When a response to a McCain answer is requested of him, does Obama...
[place a check each time you notice him do this next to each response below]

Smile:
Scowl:
Squint:
Stare:

The best way to keep track is to take a each 15 minute interval and just focus in on one question and one answer from each candidate. Your own bias, background noise and whether or not you're listening along with us on the BlogTalkRadio SOMACAST will influence your accuracy. The point of the exercise is to see how SPONTANEOUS each of them performs. The more 'canned' and 'prerecorded' they seem, the less likely they'll evoke a positive response.
  
Here's the way to score your answers...

For McCain...
Listening To Questions 
Look up: 3 points each time
Look down: 4 points each time
Look at the moderator: 1 point each time
Look away from the moderator: 2 points each time

Responding To Obama
Smile:  1 point each time
Scowl: 4 point each time
Squint: 3 point each time
Stare:  2 point each time

For Obama...
Listening To Questions 
Nod: 1 points each time
Shake his head no: 2 points each time
Tilt his head to one side: 3 points each time
Remain perfectly still: 4 points each time

Responding To McCain
Smile:  2 point each time
Scowl: 1 point each time
Squint: 3 point each time
Stare:  4 point each time

So at the end of the first hour, you'll have a total for each candidate that'll look like this:

9:00pm to 9:15pm
McCain: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____
Obama: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____

9:00pm to 9:15pm
McCain: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____
Obama: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____

9:15pm to 9:30pm
McCain: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____
Obama: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____

9:30pm to 9:45pm
McCain: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____
Obama: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____

9:45pm to 10:00pm
McCain: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____
Obama: Listening ___ Responding ___   Total ____

If you're tracking along with us, head to the chat room on
http://www.somaspace.org/chat.html

We'll be updating this post on THURS with the results of our analysis with some added tidbits...We invite your comments to this SOMACAST debut.

Tacitly, MRF 10.15 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK, we're back here on THURS to break this debate down...which took me until FRI to finish!

First, let me review how I scored the first hour of interaction...

9:00pm to 9:15pm
McCain: Listening (5) Responding (10)   Total: 15
Obama: Listening (12) Responding (3)  Total: 15

9:15pm to 9:30pm
McCain: Listening (17) Responding (5)   Total: 22
Obama: Listening (2) Responding (8)     Total: 10

9:30pm to 9:45pm
McCain: Listening (15) Responding (7)   Total: 22
Obama: Listening (0) Responding (15)   Total: 15

9:45pm to 10:00pm
McCain: Listening (11) Responding (12)   Total: 23
Obama: Listening (13) Responding (8)     Total: 21

McCain  Total: 81
Obama  Total: 61  

OK, now for the explanation of these numbers.  

For McCain...
Listening To Questions 
Look up: 3 points each time
Look down: 4 points each time
Look at the moderator: 1 point each time
Look away from the moderator: 2 points each time

Responding To Obama
Smile:  1 point each time
Scowl: 4 point each time
Squint: 3 point each time
Stare:  2 point each time

The way the points were assigned to McCain suits two factors. The first one is that when someone is in a social environment where you KNOW people are paying attention to every little reaction, the signals put out have an altered meaning. For that reason, a smile, which is a natural for a bonding-oriented PHYLO like McCain, has less social currency and a scowl, the ONTO look of disapproval have more. The quizzical squint earns him 3 points for allowing emotion to surface. But the blank stare is actually a way to suppress that emotion on this self-conscious stage, so it got only 2 points. The way to better understand it is that the responses are on under control of the motor system, so the person can influence them more directly. Here's the tapestry for McCain's 'social face' for this hour:

Smile:  20 for 20 points 
Scowl: 3 for 12 points
Squint: 0 for 0 points
Stare:  2 point each time

The listening patterns are more filtered through the sensory system. This gets into our second factor; authenticity. Your eyes move in certain directions to access different types of information from the brain. These are more difficult to 'fake' so it's a better indicator of how the person is processing the question being posed to them internally. So this scoring follows along with the usual patterns you'd see for someone with McCain's social profile of PHYLO. He earns more points for dipping into his body and looking down while he listens than up into his mind or the external patterns of looking at the moderator or around the room. Here's his sensory map.    

Look up: 3 points each time
Look down: 4 points each time
Look at the moderator: 1 point each time
Look away from the moderator: 2 points each time 

When you look at his splits [sensory or listening vs. motor or responding] McCain was only balanced in the last quarter of the hour we observed him. What you can glean from that is when he's listening with more authenticity as he did in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the hour, he's feeling the full brunt of his vulnerability, which makes him want to protect himself. Then you see the more self-conscious side slide out in the 1st and 4th quarter when his responses detoured into that overly 'friendly' tone, when a smile is not really a smile. McCain had that 'jab' going the whole time, registering 4, 5, 7 and 4 smiles in the intervals we tracked. 

For Obama...
Listening To Questions 
Nod: 1 points each time
Shake his head no: 2 points each time
Tilt his head to one side: 3 points each time
Remain perfectly still: 4 points each time

Responding To McCain
Smile:  2 point each time
Scowl: 1 point each time
Squint: 3 point each time
Stare:  4 point each time

Obama has an entirely different somatic terrain from McCain. Obama has a rare social brain design called EXO, so his motor response scoring is much different. Unlike McCain, an EXO is not concerned with social approval so he's more authentic in these responses.  So he gets one point for scowling disapproval since an EXO will naturally reject information they 'compute' as false or illogical. The typical EXO stare gets him 4 points for being able to remain motionless and fixated on the moderator, which in EXO-shorthand translates to an actively managed 'yes', as if to say, what you say is understood and worthy of being attended to as valid. I know, ice cold, but this is WHAT Obama is. The smiles and squints are more like lane changes and indicate Obama senses irony or an embellishment in McCain's words...

Here's how Obama's 'social face' showed up on our scorecard: 

Nod: 4 for 4 points 
Shake his head no: 1 for 2 points 
Tilt his head to one side: 7 for 21 points 
Remain perfectly still: 0 points each time

Smile:  15 for 30 points 
Scowl: 1 for 1 point
Squint: 1 for 3 points
Stare:  0 for 0 points

His splits were also a stark example of his social design. Obama had a +9, a +6, a +15 and a +5 differential in the four 15 minute intervals. The interesting thing about Obama's patterns is that unlike McCain, he never expressed the 4 point behaviors on either side. So he was 'outside' his map the whole hour, mostly smiling and tilting his head (which is the listening equivalent of looking away from the moderator), so he WAS getting emotional but it shows up in the ba