Syntonic Refuge: Co-regulation as a tactic of refuge

In community, people find and offer refuge by coming together in common practices such as hugging and holding hands. The space between our bodies co-regulates our embodied reactions, thus cultivating a sense of peace amid stress or fear. People are syntonic, harmoniously responsive to the changing needs of the situation. Through close human interaction, the project we present and discuss, Syntonic Refuge, discloses the heartbeats of two people who wrap themselves in the embrace of a shawl. The shawl, with embedded sensors and LEDs, represents both care of the individual, and a shelter for shared experiences. Syntonic Refuge is a social engagement that explores the importance of refuge for survivors and the act of surviving. Syntonic Refuge discloses ways that bodies harmonize with the environment and coregulate heartbeats. While we are ideologically aligned with the insurrectionary language of the call our project is a quiet meditation on connections between survivors and the refuge we can create between our bodies in the aftermath of division or trauma. As barriers divide people, this project requires collaboration. The shawl is a bridge for bodies negotiating space. Syntonic Refuge asks participants to come closer. Consider our common experience of survivorship, especially when we are remembering, and continue to witness, the enormity of human suffering through global atrocities, and share refuge in the heart.