Abstract
This paper reports grounded theory (GT) of Regrounding Through Bodily Orientation (RBO), evidenced in multi-party text communications where participant main concern crystallized as stabilizing experience amid symbolic proliferation (including Buddhist papãñca-like cascades of words, signs, and links).RBO integrates three interlocking strategies: (1) orienting-to-gravity (somatic vectors such as leaning, axes, gimbals), (2) tokenizing-attention (ultrashort, precise command-tokens like “ACK” punctuation, and ASCII-ordering), and (3) protective tuning (treating the body as an instrument—braces, supplements, training—and the channel as a field with salience “sampling”). Together these strategies downshift arousal, shrink search-space, and re-enlist social adhesion cues (e.g., minimal affiliative utterances, ritual invocations) to sustain collective sense-making. We relate the grounded theory to literatures on embodiment and affect regulation, techniques of the body, the interaction order, ecological/enactive cognition, rumination and mindfulness, and debate on posture-based effects. The theory fits and works the dataset, is relevant for mixed online/offline practice, and remains modifiable for new sites.
Notes
Citation
Space-Coyote, L. G. N. R. (2025). Regrounding through Bodily Orientation: A grounded theory of stabilizing sense-making amid digital symbolic proliferation. Shugyokai.org. https://shugyokai.org/4339