Tag Archives: movement

To Move Is To Be Alive!

Organs-Of-The-Human-Body“Blood cells that don’t move cannot transport oxygen, lungs that don’t move can’t breathe, hearts that don’t move can’t pump blood, and spines that don’t move can’t create the motion required for proper joint nutrition, for the activities of daily living, or for the stimulation of the joint-brain pathways required for proper brain and body function.” In short, movement is what enables our bodies to operate in all their delicate, wondrous complexity.

James Chestnut, chiropractor.

Dance and movement keep popping up whenever I consider current issues in my life, particularly in relation to my shoulder injury and the urinary tract infection that won’t go away. Of course I am doing what is appropriate with the medical profession, just because there is a lot wrong with modern medicine doesn’t mean that it isn’t a wonderful method of dealing with some problems. But expecting someone else to do all the fixing isn’t a useful way of thinking, if I want to get better then I need to participate in the healing process with as much mindfulness as I can muster.

mind-fullI’ve been moving less because of my shoulder injury, still can’t do my regular yoga class and struggling to get myself to do any kind of practice at home. Sometimes I don’t even know what makes it flare up, with that kind of uncertainty I am a bit scared to do anything that might conceivably make it worse. And becoming less physically fit isn’t going to help my immune system with the infection it’s dealing with. My sugar addiction is going strong again too which doesn’t help with this overall picture, certainly doesn’t look like the optimum health that I am aiming for in this life.

Not the state I aspire to!

Not the state I aspire to!

It’s very easy in a place like this to feel like there isn’t anything I can do to change this, the mind may know it’s possible but the emotional body feels trapped. What needs to happen is an internal shift of consciousness that breaks the old patterns that are flaring up at the moment. Each time I have been in this space I have found various ways of breaking the loop and the message that keeps coming to me right now is to move my body. My Beloved and I are about to spend four weeks on five acres with dogs and cats and alpacas and not much else so a space is opening up for exploration and for play.

dance

Sometimes it will be movement to music but there will be times when I invite my body to move to its own rhythms. This can be done alone but it is even more powerful with another as witness, simply observing, not participating except to give feedback afterwards. This is one activity that can be guaranteed not to hurt my shoulder, I have learned how to move so that it can participate without trauma. And my body always feels better when it is in regular motion, even just a short walk is enough to perk everything up. So while I will continue to call upon doctors to support me in my healing I will also be taking responsibility for my own wellbeing.

body in space

And once the shift in consciousness has occurred then all the other stuff becomes so much easier! When my head is in the right place healthy choices seem simple and obvious. I need to be kind to myself and take one step at a time, after all I have done this before. And each time I do it I find myself in a better position than the last time it happened, slowly but surely I am getting healthier and healthier.

fruit and veg family

Hooray for the opportunity to create a happy and healthy life on the lovely planet known as Earth!

Moving Is The Medicine…….For Me.

In the scheme of balancing out the inner journey, going deeply into exploration of self, there should probably be something about what is going on out in the broader community at this point in the flow of blog. I’m sorry but I can’t get my head out of my navel, is it ok with you if I keep it there for a while, such a lot of movement in me of energies that are full of celebration as I transmute in the golden glowing centre of my being. I am still very much in the flow of the Divine Mother, feeling the Goddess in myself and as I am truly in my receptive feminine, I feel a connection with the male polarity that is quite delicious.

ecstaticdance

A night in the ocean of love helping to create a coming together of good music, great connections, good dancing, and breath-taking generosity, when we do support each other we do it rather well in my town. And I feel that support and love wherever I go, as well as the stimulation of world-class acts like Linsey Pollak and the Unusual Suspects, what an afternoon was had swirling to those Balkan beats!

A space where each and every person is expressing their particular take on the world, some crazy, wacky styles………..and everybody is accepted for who they are, a relief to be able to totally relax into the joy of the moment. And to ride the ecstatic wave that is the journey that my body and the frequencies embark on together, dancing is an important part of my medicine, I shift energies in my body when I dance. And I have anchored the energies created by a large gathering over a couple of days, grounded the energy as I danced………….feeling the entire gathering glowing in the night, the day……the night.

“If you put the body in motion, you will change. You are meant to move: from flowing to staccato, through chaos into lyric and back into the stillness from which all movement comes. ”

Gabrielle Roth, Maps to Ecstasy, p 204.

When you dance ecstatically you are on a deep inner journey, where the stillness is as important as any movement you might make. The intention that you bring to the practice is also really integral to creating a flow that takes you into the next eddy of so-called time and space! Journey well my friends, whatever your medium.

Look for the woman with red hair and a flower in it, black and white top,  dancing at the very beginning of this clip, yes that’s me! The Unusual Suspects are an awesome band, we are so blissfully blessed in this town, enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIy7F78ODMY

Demolishing The Fairytale.

Feeling the emptiness of inner space, as the dust from the demolition crews begins to clear, my castles in the air are gone, and while there is a certain relief in that, there is also a hollow feeling. The castles were so pretty, but they had no substance at all, Fay Fairytale and I kept adding wings and suites, and decorating the halls with beautiful tapestries, but all to no avail. So now it’s time to be with the emptiness when that’s what is present, and to follow the passion of my heart at other times, filling up with inspiration and delight as I get excited about my life!

I feel a bit like two different people when I contemplate that vast empty inner space, one is happy to dive in and be without thought, the other feels a sense of loss and is frightened of letting go into the void. How can I bring these two into harmony, how can I reassure the ego self that what seems like death is actually a much bigger life, a place where it isn’t actually possible to lose anything. By surrendering to the flow of spirit, taking myself to the edge, with trance journeying that busts wide open that egoic construct that so many of us spend our lives contained within. There are lots of ways to do this, but ceremony in sacred space with meditation, music and movement, can take you into deep contemplation that helps you to gain perspective on your little dramas.

Smudging with sage.

Smudging with sage.

Or whichever doorway works for you, there are so many, you only have to start really looking and you will realise that the sacred is in everything we do. Keep reminding yourself of where you are in this moment, at the end of the day that moment is all you have, so don’t put too much energy into worrying about the past or the future. Be present and plan for miracles, life is so very good and things to laugh about abound all around us, particularly with the perspective I now have on recent events!

Laugh, drink and be merry!

live-love-laugh-eat-drink

The End is Nigh!

The flow of love, it is a river that can cross all barriers, seep into and melt the toughest armour, it is the energy that holds together all things for all time. I feel that water course running through my life just as my blood moves through my veins, always coming back to the heart, the source of our true power.

There are many ways of connecting in to that vital force, movement, stillness, music, poetry, for some it may be merging with the earth as they walk in the bush or tend their gardens. However you find that space inside of yourself, it is something that I believe is so necessary to the human spirit, that many of us are slowly but surely dying inside for lack of it.

The sacred is everywhere, it is not so much about where you look, it is more to do with the way you are seeing and perceiving.

If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”  ―    William Blake,    The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

We are living in what Jean Houston describes as end times, it is the end of an age and the beginning of something new. It can be incredibly harrowing, but it is also very exciting, we have the opportunity to create a new mythology, a new story for humanity and our role on this planet.

There does need to be change on a massive scale, but don’t be daunted by the scope of the challenge, changing your own consciousness feeds into the field that we are all a part of, the smallest shift can resonate through the world and bring on the outcomes we desire. Every journey starts with a single step………….

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
―    William Blake,    Auguries of Innocence

rose

The Eyes of a Child.

Have I mentioned I live in paradise, last night I went to see the amazing Linsey Pollak and Miriam Lieberman at the Mary Cairncross cafe in the rainforest. And I am talking rain literally, the phase that keeps coming to mind is, it never rains but it pours! Here in Maleny it either rains or it doesn’t, we have had long dry spells, but when the heavens open they do it with a vengeance.

The downpour was very much a part of the musical score, like an incredibly long rainstick it added to the beauty and inspiration of the evening. No one else was dancing but I hear the music with my body, and my body has to move and express what it’s feeling. The yearning to dance fully, to give myself up to the movement, is getting stronger and stronger, I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do about it, but something is coming.

And whenever I go out I am connecting with my community, for someone who has been rather solitary, and who still feels a bit shy at times, it’s  a bit of a wonder. Fragments of the old me that haven’t quite left yet, find it difficult to believe that all these people actually see me as worthwhile, there is a caring that I sense which touches me deeply.

If my brother was here he would give me a look, and say that I was indeed ‘touched’, but that’s just his wicked sense of humour. There is love wherever I go and it’s a nourishment that not only fills my heart, but opens it too, I could almost burst with the joy of it.

That joy and sense of wonder is something that is always present when watching Linsey Pollak play his amazing array of instruments. He is a true master, an incredible musical genius, and yet completely humble. You can feel his passion and childlike enthusiasm, and it’s impossible not to be caught up in that wonderful space. He is a reminder that the child is always there within us, the ability to see the world with fresh eyes can be rediscovered, no matter how cynical you may have become.

Here is a small taste of the master, he makes his own instruments too, in this clip he is playing Mr Curly which is made from a very long piece of garden hose and the famous carrot clarinet. Check out YouTube to see the clip where he makes the clarinet out of a carrot, mind blowing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXHBOUIc-x8