Articles about Navanita's Work
FITNESS FOR THE WITNESS
by Navanita Harris 2009 February
“RUNNING can be a meditation, jogging, dancing, swimming – any thing can be a meditation.
My definition of meditation is: Whenever your body, mind, soul are functioning together in rhythm it is meditation, because it will bring the fourth in.
And if you are alert that you are doing it as a meditation – not to take part in the Olympics, but doing it as a meditation - then it is tremendously beautiful. “
Osho
Imagine you wake up, open your wardrope and hanging there, are a large variety of bodies. You can choose which body style you`d like to wear - big/ small, coloured/white, rigid/flexible, strong/fragile, tall/short, toned/juicy…
What image do you want to present to the world, today?
In our modern culture there is a trend – an image of a perfect body that is judged to be what you “should” have. If you don`t – then the fitness and fashion industry markets what will work for you to get it. A perfect body, that looks good where you`re right on top of any fitness trend image going in the market.
I am reminded of when I was once teaching stretching in a prestigious fitness studio in Munich. There were many pretty models in my classes…I like pretty faces and bodies. What I didn`t feel so good about – was there wasn`t anybody at home in the body. So, one day I had an idea to help them feel their bodies. At the end of the class I invited them, “Now, let`s complete todays class by polishing our nipples, like this” I demonstrated and smiled. They also polished their nipples…and…they enjoyed sensing their bodies for a moment.
The fitness studio manager grabbed me after the class. I was actually not so concerned about what she thought – and was surprised at her enthusiastic response. She said that she appreciated very much the awareness I brought to people`s bodies and to actually see the models response thrilled her.
The manager was training fitness and aerobic instructors through out Germany and was asking me to tour with her. Even though I liked being invited, this was not where I wanted to put my energy. I was teaching in fitness studios and knew it there was an identification on “image” ambition and little interest in fun and meditation. I was interested in teaching “ the witness part “.
I had already led and organised “Fitness for the Witness” trainings in Australia incorporating meditation with movement. Aikido, Yoga, Kinesiology ( muscle testing ), Dance, Running, Aerobic, Workout and Stretch classes aimed at bringing consciousness into the body. I later introduced “ Fitness for the Witness” in Poona ( a meditation centre ) in classes, groups and trainings, designed to explore and integrate “fitting” into your body. You can then practice and create your own programme, unique to your own body by watching and sensing your connection with your bodies wisdom.
I enjoyed giving individual “Fitness for the Witness” sessions to support finding what each persons body needs and being a spiritual body detective. I taught and coached - running, swimming, zennis, dancing and stretching/strengthening with the orientation on anchoring in the “watcher”. Tennis became “Zennis” with the addition of consciousness = a Zen approach. Watching professional tennis players experience their game while “watching” themselves was delightfull to watch.
FITNESS FOR THE WITNESS had begun when I was an Australian sprinting champion. It was a joy to round the 200 metres track curve, leaving the ground, becoming weightless, airborne and then landing across the finishing line in a body, after a “no – body” had just ran the race. Fitness was fun, I loved to train, practice and workout. Running meant training with the men – I was faster than the women.
Sprinting was about having a very fit well tuned body, being alert, present and at the same time it came easy, felt natural, light, totally alive, free and powerful.
The competition however, was stressful and at some point I`d had enough. The carrot dangled in front of the donkey called “Olympics” was not enough to keep the sprinting shoes and starting blocks hot. I went solo and turned to Jogging –
Ahhhhh…the meditation changed to breath and feet mixed with diaphragm – all taking off from the earth.
Again – a “no-body” flying along any nearby dirt track in the early morning. This became my meditation. Breathing into the whole body and its 50 trillion cells; Awakening to parts of the body that revealed themselves through the movement.
I had discovered body scanning in action…sensing the body from within. It was as if an ocean had come to the desert, light filled what had seemed darkness inside of the body and the picture became more whole.
Jogging was just as uplifting and grounding ( earth and sky meet ) as the sprinting and competition had been.
It continued as a meditation…”the runner disappeared and only the running remained”. The running also moved awareness to sensing and inner orientation…watching the body from within while moving on the outside. Breathing was about noticing lungs, rib cage, diaphragm, shoulder blades, organs, bones, blood carrying nourishing oxygen and connecting the whole body. Feet had souls, were weighted, lifted from above;
Alive bones and ligaments tuned in awakening through the movement. As I ran, I watched the body align itself…the legs, hips, shoulders and spine balanced the skull on top and the senses were relaying information…I was watching eye balls “ seeing “ the environment, the ears “ hearing “ sounds as the body connected harmoniously with the outer space.
The meditation was watching myself.
I found that changing the rhythm of the breathing opened previously unconscious places in the body and to where energy would then flow. I practiced dropping the breath from the chest to the belly and accessed a life force…Chi.
I discovered Dantien (as the Chinese call it ) or Hara ( as the Japanese call it ) and found that by using this life source ( universal energy ) to support the movement it created more ease, power and flow.
My movement as a meditation took me into exploring Eastern oriented practices such as Yoga, Tai-Chi, Feldenkraus and Aikido. This I combined with a Western approach to Fitness integrated while training as a Primary School Physical Education teacher and Fitness Instructor.
When we did the “pinch test”, weighed ourselves and were told this is part of being “fit” I wondered what did it mean? Did we have to “fit” into “fitness” image or squeeze into a size of clothes `fitting` someone elses idea of what a body should look like?
I actually see `fitness` as `fitting` into your own skin, inhabiting and `fitting` in your own body – best done by taking care of it.
The body is movement … it`s about moving, that`s its language. So why not find out what “fits” its needs? Moving provides sensory awareness or being in and experiencing your own body.
Discovering what exercises it`s like rather than doing to it what you are told is good for your body. Find out what it likes and needs.
By sensing and listening to my body, I was able to create a new healing fitness programme which was `fitting`to what its recovery needed after a bus accident. The doctors said they believed survival from my injuries was due to me having been very fit before the accident. A completely incapacitated, broken boned body did not stop my fitness programme.
Theoretically, fitness is defined as a combination of threes …Stamina, Strengthening and Stretching…In my new Healing Fitness programme I began to discover
“Less Action and more Non-Action” ( Wu-Wei as they call it in the East ). The fourth discovered was sensitivity.
The witness become empowered - “Bringing awareness into the body empowers it”.
At first, it was only very soft stretching as everything had tubes, weights and pins attached and actually there wasn`t much that could move.
Stretching was about creating space, ease and comfort in any places possible and relishing even a bit of a second of no pain. Stretching brought clarity and consciousness into the body. This awareness empowered the body and its health resilience’s. I didn`t do the healing – the consciousness created from the moving and sensing was helping the body do what it naturally knew – to take care of and heal itself. The stretching helped fluids to flow, lympth, connective tissue remained lubricated, elastic and blood transported nutrients, oxygen and chi throughout the whole body.
As I gained mobility, I added some strengthening exercises which developed tone and supported giving me a clearer sense of my body, its boundary and definition.
When my 2 broken legs began to heal enough to begin to move, I added the stamina programme.
I still had to lie flat on my back because of the broken spine so I bicycled in the air and did movements with my arms and legs that would get the heart rate up over 70% for 20 minutes. That way I moved into an aerobic level and into another energy level.
I did look like a turtle upside down flapping its legs in the air. I was comfortable looking like a turtle and that was how I could support the bodies health resilience Gathering Chi into the blood via oxygen, internally strengthened the life source resiliences. Consciousness brought into the body vitalised health potency “Every little cell in my body was happy”.
The body needed my care and loving and so the Fitness programme was designed to support this.
My fitness programme has changed, now. After my bus accident in 1994, my doctor decided a broken back and running didn`t agree. I tried to convince him otherwise; however my back actually agreed that he was right. So I took the offer and changed this part of the programme to a new regular daily practice. Combining and alternating different movements such as walking ( with my heart rate up ), dancing and stretching now supports “Wu – Wei“ fitness: Less action and more meditation – Enjoying the one who is “watching“ the action, sensing and somatic movement.
Fitness for the Witness is simply about bringing consciousness into the body supporting you to “fit“ into your own skin at an optimum comfort and efficiency.
That way the bodies health potential is available for taking care of itself. What body suit ( referring to the morning choice of the body in the wardrobe ) you want to wear is about getting to know your own body and what suits it.
Not about “when my body is in a better shape then I will be happier”. Your attitude to your body affects it. So, treat it well as a friend, a temple, tending it with love, care and responding to its daily needs.
Create a fitness programme that accommodates its potential. By maintaining a body as a Rolls Royce rather than a bicycle, it will operate that way.
A fit body can take care of itself, function well and run smoothly.
You can get to know it through its direct language – Moving with Awareness and “fitting” into your own Body.
Anything that brings consciousness into the body in a LIGHT AND EASY WAY empowers it.
50 trillion cells celebrate life potency…awakening…bringing peace and joy.
“The Church says: The Body is Sin.
Science says: The Body is a Machine.
Advertising says: The Body is a Business.
The Body says: I am a Fiesta”
Galeano.
LOVE IS THE HEALING POWER LOVE IS HEALING, HEALING IS LOVE
by Navanita Harris 2008 June
Love Is In The Air....I was in the air ...only the I was fulI of love and i had no body.I had left the body and was in an expanded space of ,bliss ,freedom,.isness or being space It was a vast and peaceful space only at that time there were no words for it .” Love” was a word that came after i had c’ome back in to the body and could actually describe the experience with words. The word itself of course is undefinable yet to keep things simple ..i can call “it “Love. . Whatever it is ,it feels good anyway!
The bus i was travelling in had rolled down a hill and turned upside down . Luckily it was in India so there was a spiritual flavour in the air .I was out of the bodies form and free from it, yet i knew the body lying smashed in the bus below me was mine . Compassion filled the empty space as i recognised the crumpled body lying below .There was a pull of love .to return to it. I consciously checked in, examining its damage. I was sensing wether the condition of the body was a safe enough place to return to.The valuation was given the “O.K”. . On Returning to the body the space of freedom from the body ......“peace and,love “ was still present. Again ,there were no words, However there was a clear “knowing” that i had chosen to come back to “Learn to Live Love”
.This body on this earth was a teacher or vehicle to learn the art of love .This was a stable anchor and a clear focus in the healing journey that followed .Learning to love was healing and healing was living love .They were not seperate.I did not know how the healing would happen, and at the same time i trusted that i would be guided in the healing . I had the gift of watching the mystery of an unseen and fully present source of life and love grow a smashed body back to being whole again. The journey was a door to anchoring in trust ing in the power of love as a mysterious healing source The healing journey was about receiving and listening to inner guidance.I was being taught how to take care and support the healing .
The most important thing was to practice staying connected to this state of love or spaciousness on the inside Another word is being whole .It became clear it was a healing journey on an physical level as well as emotionally and spiritually.From the near death i had connected to an undestanding that what ever has not been completed needs to be ,to support the capacity of love to grow.TO live love. Conscious relaxation became a dailly meditation first thing in the morning .Letting go of tensions in the body helped me stay connected with the inner space of relaxation.Soft stretching (which was sometimes interesting with all sorts of gadgets ,tubes and odds and ends attached to me body .It was always possible.
Noticing where there was tension in the body and consciously letting it go. It was helping relaxation grow and it did By focusing the body mind on remembering its natural stat e of being easy or relaxed affected the nervous system and it became easier to simply relax.By taking the awareness inside and recognising tension without fighting ior judging it created a gentle space of love and expansion.The edges of the tension gently dissolved .After stretching into relaxation the 2nd phase of the meditation was jibberish to help the mind relax to laughing to help the heart relax and let go of tensions .From here i would consciously rest in the spaciousness that happend inside the body and then ask the wisdom of the body what was needed for healing.
There was always a trust that the guidance or love that w as always focused on healing .I just had to ask for help.It was a natural state of being to return to health. From the “leaving the body “experience i had understood to live love meant that i and to complete and let go of olde wounds or stories that were stopping me living love . When i did then i could fall back into the healing space from within..I began to become aware that there were olde wounds or memories stored in the cells of the body .To bring conscious to them was to support letting them go I guess you can say they are tensions stored in the cells and in the body.
So, one morning during the deep relaxation phase of the meditation when i asked the inner healer what was needed i felt the sentence “ I need love “I understood this and the olde me would at this point run away from it .i had made an effort to get love through many games my whole life .Now lying here in the bed with 2 broken legs and a broken back i had nowhere to run HMMMM MAy as well face it ! There were protected places that were not open for love . So i had to prepare for an adventure into finding the clues.IT felt as if steell walls appeared all around me and i hung suspended in space at the same time . I prepared to go in !IT was like strapping myself into a parachute and a scuba diving outfit at the same time readying to unlock the door of the fortress.I felt as if i had been running from this my whole life .
I had been playing games my whole life to “get love” to be good enough for it or get approval. i gathered courage to continue leting go of the old ideas of love and creating space for the new .I had already seen by being completey physically incapacitated that i had to receive instead of” giving to get,which had been the olde “love “programme ” I was learning to “get ‘ without the games . .I had been watching my friends actually enjoying to give When they took care of me they were feelig good and connecting to their own love . So,i was already letting go of the belief that love happens through effort or doing something to make it happen . .. i moved through many layers in the next days . “love “ had many tangents and trapped beliefs As i stepped in to the first layer shame hung in the air and.. was sluggish and took alot of space .A belief that it was not Ok to even feel that i needed it. In this case feeling became the healing . I Felt it ...and it disappeared.I surfaced took a fresh breath and then took another dive into “i need love “ with the full intention and trust that by feeling it healing was happening. Next came shaky ground... .lifewas trembling .
That which i had been familair with and had been standing on as solid ground was falling away and crumbling. My identity with the person i had thought i was no longer stood firm.Memeories and pictures came This life source that was trapped in holding onto olde wounds was becoming available for healing by letting them go . I lay in the bed with the bed covers pulled up around my ears ...humiliation was all that existed .Then complete not knowing if any other way would be possible . I only appeared to exist as a “NEED BLOB””.STill behind all this was TRUST and GO ON i could hear . At this point a friend appeared in my room and i could only mummble “i Am onLy a need Blob “’’and splutter “my whole reality in this moment is that my whole life has only been about creating ways to get love “ I felt totally engulfed in it ..and yet could still describe the reality i was watching and feeling in this moment . “im here watching . “He did not try to console me which was a relief and felt respectful.
He left me to it and i continued to dive . What happened was gentle . LAyers continued to unfold and at the end the last one where the The power and intensity of the embarassment had taken so much life source space dissolved and space expanded inside . The same space of peace that i knew and loved and yet more delicate and fragile unfolded. Very innocent.IT was a space i could call love . It was new . It did not move outside or reach out. It seemed to be gently growing from where there had been darkness.A GENTLE LIGHT WAS NOW GLOWING AND felt warm and comfortable . A safe space to quietly rest in. The healing journey when the body is damaged -needs alot of care and respect.
When healing means to look at beliefs and feelings on what is stopping living love -it can take energy that is needed physically for the body. I had to be very careful not to overload the nervous system. I was learning to love and listen to myself and my needs as the journey continued. Resting,integrating,physical care,nourishment,exercise ,sleep,creativity humour,fun with friends and flowing with life are part of learning the art of love . IT meant learning what i really needed ,not what i was told was good or imposed from outside Loving myself meant allowing feelings to resolve and it needed a clarity that did not throw them out to gid rid of them Just feeling them and then the trapped olde protecting energy was released from the cells as a healing .life and love force The body is a beautiful guide andvery clear signals from the body began to let me know when i was falling in to olde “unloving “patterns .
For example when i caught myself wanting love from the outside one time then sharp pain happened in my legs. i found that when i touched myself the pain went away.So, i explored loving myself through touching myself .Very nourishing. and very easy for the love to continue to flow inside . Access or focus on healing is the same as being real TO love and take care of myself was like being a new born child Practicing and learning daily what supported love and returning to Innocence. I had a song i loved “Return to Innocence “It helped me to resource in the space of love ANother song i loved and played was “I wanna know what love is “....for obvious reasons .
The focus to live love has created a never ending dance Many many forms and offers to help love dance through this body and a trust that whatever comes is an offer from existence to enrich and help continue the flow of love . When i discoverd that i had hepatitus C there was a knowing again that, . WOW we had another trail to follow to find the clues directed to the soure of love .Again i took it as an offer that the signals of the disease had something to help me , to feel and let go to create space for love . Strong and deep feelings revealed what had been lingering in the cells ..
The feelings
were alot to do with the dance of relating and living
love with friends and loved ones .Inwardly and
outwardly letting go of olde wounds and expressing and
honouring the love that flows between and through the
loved ones My hepatitus C is now healed and gone and
with the healing came new understandings of what
living love is.I did not take any drugs to”get rid of
it “. and now all test results are clear The symptoms
are gone as love comes dancing through .
There are many journeys still about learning the art
of living love .Celebration of life is loving life and
this is always the essentiial .ingredient . I am alive
that is a gift of love .
The art is learning how to
live it.Life is a dance of love .
How will you know that someone is religious?
If you see in his step there is a dance, know that he is religious
"The Divine Melody
Relaxation-Just Being Natural
by Navanita Harris 2008 January
An alive colourful setting I was sitting in our beautiful garden scribbling,writing and rewriting. Simultaneously the life source was bursting through the flowers,blossoms,bees and birds , perfumes filled the air and a concert of birds were singing of the awakening of spring .Nature was unfolding its magestic power. At the same time ,with the same force was the ever present stillness. Its an alive silence and stillness..a constant rememberance of the life power that is pulsating through the trees,the blossoms and the earth that is noursihing the budding nature.When i look up into the blue sky its there too, alive with its vastness and spaciousness. An open, endless sky that has no limits, i cannot touch it and yet it is there always .Life source eminent and alive in all. Remembering this potent alive , stillness and silence as my nature , Remembering this connection to the source as a point of relaxation A place where we are at home inside .
So, i explored ,sitting in the beautiful garden with its carpet of yellow dandelion flowers, the gentle wind dancing in the trees and the warmth of the sun softening and melting tensions in my body. I noted a sense of not feeling seperate from this. My mind is active as i write this article .I had been playing ,...sensing ,scribblingi ideas ,chatting about relaxation...... A sense of no-time, no mind and a not having a to do ?ist.That slowed down time , a timeless space .Until i eventually realized that timeless space needed some organizing into something constructive .There was actually a time that this article needed to be written by, which was very close to the before now time .Meaning i was late with handing the article in.
I could now watch a time pressure from the outside . and how it affected the natural state of relaxation What happened physically was a contraction in the belly, the breathing became shallow and energy seemed to be squeezed from the centre of my body and went to the periphery ,to my arms and legs which wanted to push away and run away from the tension and time pressure . My head became unclear and could not function with any creative ideas. In body tanguage this meant i had been activated through external pressure. I had the thing many people nowadays seem to have ....a more and more common symptom called Stress.Its caused by being busy here in the present and wanting to be there in the future Stress happens when this moment in itself is not lived for now , In our ?usynessness? lives we often are busy with the intention to get into the future . Getting caught in the idea when you have finished work ..then you can relax or .when you have finished the project in front of you ..be it in the office or housework .then you can have fun .
OR, getting mad at the slow traffic and blaming it for stopping you being somewhere OR for being somewhere and thinking you should be somewhere else .All ideas that there is another place you should be other than now . So...to begin with relaxation it is good to BEGIN WITH AWARENESS . Simply become aware of where you are in this moment for bringing the focus that was on the outside of you back to being right here. in yourself . So thats what i played with as i sat in the garden where i had been in paradise ,one with existence,in other words totally relaxed...I had wandered off into a land of effort and tension in the head....I took a deep breath and landed ?lop? back home? inside my body.Ahh... a sense of relief...At the same time ..please note .i did not try and relax.... I actually used the energy to create .So ,tension need not be misunderstood as something to get rid of .It had motivated me to use the energy creatively...which i am doing right now as i continue to write this article. You can make relaxation happen It happens because its our very nature We have often forgotten and become identified on becoming ... rather than simply BEING OURSELVES? When there is a continual focus on...
How to become something because you have the idea that then you will be happy or then you will find peace is saying to yourself that you are not Ok the way you are Wether its about having A better personality , improoving your work skills, becoming a better lover or even the trying to become a better meditator it is creating a seperation from being where you are in this moment. Shift the FOCUS and REMEMBER your natural state of BEING. is EMBODIED here BEING EMBODIED... Awareness supports relaxation...you can experience yourself in your body right now ...Breathing is always of course easy to sense and feel and its happening all of the time . A little stop in the day or even during your activity and notice where the breath touches the nostrils ,mouth ,lungs ,belly.How the diaphragm continues its expansion and contraction and supports the lungs filling up and emptying out .That you return your awareness to the body creates an immediate let go of the focus or distractions on the outside and away from yourself and you can return to .Inhabiting your own body and its innate wisdom .Relaxation begins with awareness.Notice ,sense feel and be in your own body .The dance of the heart and its contact with the parts that are supporting it AS the heart beats it affects and creates movement withln and all around itself such as the connections and attachments to it .The valves moving in and out ,the surrounding fluids supporting and protecting it with their continual movement. Notice the back of the heart,surrounded and protected by the rib cage The heart is in a continual dance with your whole body It is always here.Through sensing yur own body something slows down and there is a return to settling within your own skin YOu practice staying connected to being at ease and at home with yourself no matter what is happening around you and and this affects the quality of life that you are living WHEREVER YOU GO YOU ARE THERE..YOUR LUGGAGE IS ANOTHER STORY .
Remembering your natural state of relaxation. I heard myself say once (probably more than once ) when i am doing Nothing? and realized this is actually not possible You cant do relaxation ...you can support yourself being relaxed...Just as I dont do a dance... Dance happens I dont do a meditaion ,Meditation happens This idea that we have to do something to be ourselves creates a continual state of Dis Ease Relaxation is just dropping in and being ourselves The very consciousness and awareness you bring to the body empowers this WHO IS BETTER QUALIFIED TO BE YOURSELF THAN YOU? FInd a comfortable position and look inside Telling the body you are here .Sensing the body from the tip of the toes to the top of the head moving consciously through Notice where there is tension,relaxation ,expansion or contraction.Notice what is without interpreting it as good or bad That very presence is already awakening the relaxation from within .When you noticie where there is a tension Speak to it in a friendly way and send a message that its OK to let go now . Maybe there was a time when tension was needed Now you are here to take care.It? not that you just feel better when you dop the tensions - its that you develop a trust and confidence in yourself,that you can stay present and support relaxation as a quality as a way of living your life.Surrender to the state of being relaxed and learn to practice its art. You can do this as a meditation at an alocated time of the day or spontaneouslly during your daily life by stopping and remembering for a second or for a few moments Give energy and focus to the times when you are relaxed . This awareness you carry in daily life .Walk,eat,talk in a relaxed and easy way . .THIS WAY YOU CAN TAKE RELAXATION AS A PATH TO STAY PRESENT It need not become another thing to perfect or make into a skill. Approach relaxation as an art of loving and taking care of yourself .
Our life will have the quality of dance to it. the whole of existence is dancing - except man. the whole of existance is in a very relaxed movement. Movement there is certainly - but it is utterly relaxed. Stress are growing and birds are chirping and rivers are flowing, stars are moving, everything is going in a relaxed way.
No hurry, no haste, no worry and no waste.
Osho
The Rhythm of Life is a Powerful Beat - or - Dancing With the Cows
by Navanita Harris 2007 Oktober
A life force was flowing through my heart, blood and bones that was the same as the animals i was running with .We were on Australian land and I was an athlete with a well trained body . A farmers daughter discovering a mystery in life that danced through me. It was the same as what danced through the cows and sheep that I was herding. I could sense within me the moves they were about to do before they did them. We were not seperate, we were dancing in harmony - as one body. I knew where to be to stop the cow before she began to break out from the herd.
I had a sense of knowing where to be in the right place at the right time. A non-verbal language which helped me to guide a herd through even the smallest gateway easily. I was discovering that the life force pulsing through me was a guiding force that is shared by all beings on the planet. It was like being connected with an inner guidance. This life force is love in movement (Liebeskraft).
Movement is everywhere and at all times. Movement is the source of life and movement is the source of dance. It is the motion of our cells, the pulse of our blood, the rhythm of our breath. It is also the ocean waves rising and falling and the alternating rhythm of day and night. I learned to use this life force to dance with nature. And I was overwhelmed when I discovered that rocks were pulsing with life like myself. When I am dancing in nature i am part of it and nature is dancing through me.
Listen to your body.
The body has a great wisdom in it.
If you listen to it,you will always be right.
The Discipline of Transcendence
The ocean became a mystical dance, empowering the dance with an ecstatic celebration connected to an ancient life pulse. While dancing in the Australian bush it was also connecting me to a deep ancient rhythm of earth. Aboriginal tunes were singing and dancing through me that I had never heard before and yet at the same time seemed so familiar. add the story here when danced on the rock with a drummer Through dancing with nature I accessed my own nature hidden deep within me. It was like remembering a force of life that is at the same time ancient and very much here in the moment. It makes sense after all: we live in bodies that have taken millions of years to evolve.
To let this dance with nature happen I have to drop any expectations of what it should or shouldn't look like - and, for sure, drop concern about what other people might think of me. To become one with the dance means to be connected to the rhythm of existence. That which is dancing through us also creates a connection between human beings who are dancing together. The life force unites bodies that only appear to be seperated. I have seen it time after time in my dancing events and groups . Everyone is a dancer and when dancing together a force of life is uniting to create a tribal spirit. I delight in supporting the discovery that everyone is a dancer and that life is always celebrating itself through us all. Just there are some who forget.
I am also inviting some people to dance who have forgotten how to play and let go. My own easiness with playfulness supports others resonating with their own. Everyone has it - a natural light aliveness. A little encouragement and soon stiffness and control through social conditioning can melt into a joyful and innocent dance. When teaching I often experience that people who have never thought that they can dance easily and naturally flow into allowing the dance. Personality frames melt at the edges and something begins to magically happen. Dance just seems to take over and the bodies flow and play. It is contagious.
Love your body and you will fell a relaxation such as you have never felt before.
Love is relaxing.When there is love ,there is relaxation.If you love someone-,
if, between you and him or you and here there is love-then with love comes the music of relaxation.
Then relaxation is there .
The same phenomenon happens if you love your body;you become relaxed, you care about it.
It is not wrong, it is not narcissitic to be in love with your own body.
In fact it is the first step toward spirituality.
"Meditation:The Art of Ecstacy"
The amazing and wonderful thing is that it connects a room full of dancing bodies together with life force that is flowing through and between the dancers. This creates a unification which is nourishing. The dancers get filled up with the overflowing life force that has been generated together. Letting go and allowing life to dance through us needs trust. And trusting is an art. Life teaches us step by step how to stay in tune with it. By this dance is just happening without any effort. Life has its own unique rhythm and its easy to feel when we are connected with it. What i call a big training for dancing with life came through a bus accident. What for some may have been a horror movie, became to me an amazing offer from existence to really experience how powerful life's dance is. I was travelling on a sleeping bus over easter in India . There was already a knowing that something was about to happen when i entered the bus .As we drove into the night and the stars were dancing brightly in the huge Indian sky i felt myself inside preparing for something new .
The body and mind were relaxed and yet anticipating. When we began to roll over and down a hill i heard a clear voice inside: "This is the next Step in your Dance". Oh yes this is what i had been waiting for. I giggled when I woke up in a funky hospital and heard the voice of the radiologist: " Madam, your head is OK! ". My legs however were badly broken. "We need to operate on you", said the doctor, "and give you blood transfusions - otherwise you will die". The treatment was rough but it did not touch the life force that i was busy watching. It had not left me when I left my body right after the accident. And when I came back into my body I felt it very strongly. During the healing time i lay in intensive care (by now in another hospital with lots of loving friends around ) with broken legs, back and ribs. I was amazed at how much pain the body could handle and be alive. In my crumpled body the life force remained untouched. It was dancing a powerful dance. I was full of grace and gratitude. I felt as if i had tuned into a celebration of life and I discovered that this dancing life force is the power of healing. Always pulsing in and through each cell.
Renewing itself with
this mysterious life source.
As my body lay quite immobilised the toes continued
their joyful dance. Delightful to feel the life spirit
dancing a wordless message, encouraging the body to
keep dancing for its very life . And although the body
was not able to move much, the toes started to move
very slowly and continuosly. The dancing toes
connected with the flow of the life force and
eventiually wellness happened.
Step by step the dance continues and the body is
being moved by a life force.Whatever happens and no
matter what physical movements the body makes its
always dancing through the body.Dance is life and life
is dance.
Teaching
,sitting,walking,talking,eating,cleaning,resting.....its
all a dance. There is still gratitude for that bliss
energy inside which keeps quietly expanding
Dance is a path to focus on and remember :
The Rhythm of
Life is a Powerful Beat.