A different yet familar dancing crowd

Tonight I went to Valerie's Soul Motion class on Monday evenings in the same hall I dance in on Wednesdays with Core Connexion.  It was packed.  There were too many people for me to look at, so I covered my eyes with my scarf and found a tiny spot on the floor to lay down and drop into my self.

I expel all the breath in my lungs and pull my stomach muscles tight.  I inhale breath through my limbs, exhale breath along my muscles and inhale breath to open up my joints and strengthen my core, cultivating attention along the way.  

Where my breath goes, heat follows. This is how I warm up.   

Valerie acknowledged how crowded it was and asked us to slow down and feel the presence of the other dancers instead of creating stories based on how people look.  With that suggestion, the room opened up, we all slowed down and dropped into ourselves and each other.  "Dropping in" is learning to ride the music energy flow without much thought.  It's a vacation from thinking and an invitation to be 3 dimensional in space without words.  I love being big in the world on the dance floor, but tonight was a challenge to be big while staying compact.  It was fun to experience who I am a new set of people.  Towards the end, a young woman, a "same-sizer", came right in front of me, so close and open, as if she was asking for me.  I  took the invitation and met her, twirled her, grooved with her.  I pressed myself against her back to lift our arms high above our heads, her chest and mine opening, channeling the Goddess that is every woman.  What a gift.

Elixir: : a substance held capable of changing base metals into gold: a substance held capable of prolonging life indefinitely!

This painting sizzled.  I had the urge to paint figures with less than half an hour before the painting was expected on the wall of the Altar for the dance class at 7 pm.  I quickly outlined the dancers in flesh color and left them unattended until I finished the flowing wash of bright colors the figures were swimming through.  My time was running out so I took a risk to paint them out black as silhouettes.  No time to think, just paint.  I needed to delineate the woman's chin to show she was tossing her head back, opening up her chest and feeling the life force energy flowing through her. It was exhilarating!  We ran out of there with the paint still wet.  I couldn't wait to stand back and see it from a distance. It was sizzling when I put it on the wall and the response from my fellow dancers was immediate. It rocked the house.
As I danced with my friends throughout the evening I felt as if a self cleaning oven, burning out the crud and letting the rich mixture of life force channel through me at full throttle, as an elixir : a substance held capable of prolonging life indefinitely!

the Body Language of Power

I have had a big bosom since I was in high school, and I feel I have lived my whole life with my chest concave, not wanting to draw attention to my bust. Then for years spending hours at a time on the computer, doing dishes, driving around and even breast feeding two babies, I felt like I was caving in on myself, although I didn't realize this until I started dancing over 10 years ago.  That first night at dance I threw my arms back and opened up my chest.  I felt empowered.  I've evolved into a big arm dancer, willingly opening up my carriage to the world.  It turns out this is a position of power and can change your life.  Check out the TED talk on body language by Amy Cuddy. She suggests that taking this power position for 2 minutes before a meeting, will change your chemistry.  Testosterone and Cortisol will increase and you really will be more powerful!

New Year 2013, New Horizons

New Horizons

 

I spent the first day of the new year with P.  She said "getting cancer is like a perverse slap in the face to wake up to your own life".  One can a diagnosis of cancer, go through the treatments, and choose to not change one thing about your life and hope for the best.  OR...one can see it as a wake up call to reflect on how you might find a better balance of lifestyle to strengthen your immune system and cultivate your passions. 

We gave ourselves the gift of time to just be. No agenda.  The low sun rays were streaming through the windows as the sky changed colors and the sun got closer to the Golden Gate Bridge.  As the sun began to blind us, we stood in front of the window and raised our arms, opened our hearts to the breath of life and asked the ancestors for a low Oncotype DX score so P can skip chemotherapy.  If you don't ask, how will they know what you need?