Felted Bears
Many animals hibernate—marmots, hedgehogs, and bats, to name a few—but bears are the largest and most famous for doing so, perhaps because they look like the type of species that would cozy up for a long winter’s snooze.
Or maybe I’m just too familiar with the Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea illustration of a smiling bear in a gown and sleeping cap dozing off on the family armchair in front of a fire.
After a hearty shake, the animals are rested and ready for action, with healthy, shiny fur coats at that. Bears resume activity, as though lulled awake by the first blooms of daffodils.
Little kids learn about bear hibernation in school with great fascination. It’s a fun fact about a creature world that seems so vastly different than ours. Imagine sleeping for a whole season!
But for however wondrous and exotic the ritual seems, hibernation is a challenging concept when you really get to thinking about it:
What if humans were just as in tune with their bodies? Would it work out for us? What if we followed our bodily cues as attentively as bears and other animals do?
Animals go to the bathroom, reject unwanted affection, gobble food, sleep for hours, and bite their toenails without a moment of hesitation or a shameful glance around to see if anyone’s looking.
The messages between fuzzy body and little brain don’t go through any filtering system. Thought and action are practically one and the same:
Hungry! Eat!
Tired! Rest!
Curious! Explore!
Animals have mastered embodiment, the experience of being a body rather than having a body. They don’t separate their physical self as an unruly object to control, argue with, be proud of, or disdain.
Many animals hibernate—marmots, hedgehogs, and bats, to name a few—but bears are the largest and most famous for doing so, perhaps because they look like the type of species that would cozy up for a long winter’s snooze.
Or maybe I’m just too familiar with the Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea illustration of a smiling bear in a gown and sleeping cap dozing off on the family armchair in front of a fire.
After a hearty shake, the animals are rested and ready for action, with healthy, shiny fur coats at that. Bears resume activity, as though lulled awake by the first blooms of daffodils.
Little kids learn about bear hibernation in school with great fascination. It’s a fun fact about a creature world that seems so vastly different than ours. Imagine sleeping for a whole season!
But for however wondrous and exotic the ritual seems, hibernation is a challenging concept when you really get to thinking about it:
What if humans were just as in tune with their bodies? Would it work out for us? What if we followed our bodily cues as attentively as bears and other animals do?
Animals go to the bathroom, reject unwanted affection, gobble food, sleep for hours, and bite their toenails without a moment of hesitation or a shameful glance around to see if anyone’s looking.
The messages between fuzzy body and little brain don’t go through any filtering system. Thought and action are practically one and the same:
Hungry! Eat!
Tired! Rest!
Curious! Explore!
Animals have mastered embodiment, the experience of being a body rather than having a body. They don’t separate their physical self as an unruly object to control, argue with, be proud of, or disdain.
Many animals hibernate—marmots, hedgehogs, and bats, to name a few—but bears are the largest and most famous for doing so, perhaps because they look like the type of species that would cozy up for a long winter’s snooze.
Or maybe I’m just too familiar with the Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea illustration of a smiling bear in a gown and sleeping cap dozing off on the family armchair in front of a fire.
After a hearty shake, the animals are rested and ready for action, with healthy, shiny fur coats at that. Bears resume activity, as though lulled awake by the first blooms of daffodils.
Little kids learn about bear hibernation in school with great fascination. It’s a fun fact about a creature world that seems so vastly different than ours. Imagine sleeping for a whole season!
But for however wondrous and exotic the ritual seems, hibernation is a challenging concept when you really get to thinking about it:
What if humans were just as in tune with their bodies? Would it work out for us? What if we followed our bodily cues as attentively as bears and other animals do?
Animals go to the bathroom, reject unwanted affection, gobble food, sleep for hours, and bite their toenails without a moment of hesitation or a shameful glance around to see if anyone’s looking.
The messages between fuzzy body and little brain don’t go through any filtering system. Thought and action are practically one and the same:
Hungry! Eat!
Tired! Rest!
Curious! Explore!
Animals have mastered embodiment, the experience of being a body rather than having a body. They don’t separate their physical self as an unruly object to control, argue with, be proud of, or disdain.