Dancing Botanicals

Dance for Health!

2011-10-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

Efﬁcacy of Biodanza for Treating Women with Fibromyalgia

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of a 3-month Biodanza intervention in women with ﬁbromyalgia (FM).

Design: This was a controlled trial.

Setting/location: The study was conducted at a university research laboratory and social center.
Subjects: The study comprised 59 women with FM recruited from a local association of patients with FM. Participants were allocated to the Biodanza intervention group (n ¼ 27) or usual-care group (n ¼ 32).

Intervention: The Biodanza intervention was carried out once a week for 3 months.

Outcome measures: The outcome measures included the following: Pain threshold, body composition (body–mass index and estimated body fat percentage), physical ﬁtness (30-second chair stand, handgrip strength, chair sit and reach, back scratch, blind ﬂamingo, 8 feet up and go, and 6-minute walk test) and psychologic outcomes (Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire [FIQ], Short-Form Health Survey 36, Vanderbilt Pain Management Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, General Self-Efﬁcacy Scale, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale).

Results: We observed a signiﬁcant interaction effect (group*time) for pain threshold of several tender points (left [L] and right [R] side of the anterior cervical and supraspinatus, trapezius L and lateral epicondyle R, algometer score, tender points count), body fat percentage, and FIQ total score. In the intervention group, post hoc analysis revealed a signiﬁcant improvement in pain threshold of the anterior cervical R and L and supraspinatus R and L tender points (all p < 0.05), algometer score ( p ¼ 0.008), tender point count ( p ¼ 0.002), body fat percentage
( p ¼ 0.001), and FIQ total score ( p ¼ 0.003).

Conclusions: A 3-month (one session per week) Biodanza intervention shows improvements on pain, body composition, and FM impact in female patients.

Dancing Botanical ~ Burdock

2011-09-27T11:47:00.001-07:00

Roots are generally a good food for us to incorporate if we are needing more grounding energy. Burdock (Arctium spp.) will assist the body in opening, moving energy, balancing and finding a deep grounded flow.

Burdock is a wild edible (gobo) as well as herbal medicine. Try the roots roasted with other root vegetables or water-sauteed with carrots.

Medicinally, the roots assist the Liver, Kidneys, Lymph and improve intestinal health. Burdock root contains inulin, a source of fructo-oligosaccharides, (the preferred food for beneficial bacteria) and therefore feeds healthy flora in the colon. Maintaining a proper balance of these guys improves immunity, nutrient absorption and vitamin synthesis.

Move slowly with Burdock. It is deep and powerful medicine.

September Ecstatic Dances

2011-09-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

We practice being grounded in a lighter way of being. Too little density and we become ungrounded and spacy. With greater density and increased potential energy we can become stuck and attached. Dancing between the two we find that place of being grounded and free in the presence of change.

Conscious Dance, Mondays in Hilo
Warm-up starts at 7:10pm

Live Drumming on the 26th!

Saturdays, September 3rd & October 1st, 10 am - 2 pm

Dancing Deeper Ongoing Group in Hilo
(next group is January - May, 2012)

In Perpetual Spring

2011-08-31T13:22:00.001-07:00

Gardens are also good places to sulk.
You pass beds of spiky voodoo lilies
and trip over the roots
of a sweet gum tree,
in search of medieval
plants whose leaves,
when they drop off
turn into birds
if they fall on land,
and colored carp if they
plop into water.

Suddenly the archetypal
human desire for peace
with every other species
wells up in you.
The lion and the lamb
cuddling up.
The snake and the snail,
kissing.
Even the prick of the thistle,
queen of the weeds,
revives your secret belief
in perpetual spring,
your faith that for every hurt
there is a leaf to cure it.

by Amy Gerstler

In Perpetual Spring

2011-08-31T13:20:00.001-07:00

Gardens are also good places
to sulk. You pass beds of
spiky voodoo lilies
and trip over the roots
of a sweet gum tree,
in search of medieval
plants whose leaves,
when they drop off
turn into birds
if they fall on land,
and colored carp if they
plop into water.

Suddenly the archetypal
human desire for peace
with every other species
wells up in you. The lion
and the lamb cuddling up.
The snake and the snail, kissing.
Even the prick of the thistle,
queen of the weeds, revives
your secret belief
in perpetual spring,
your faith that for every hurt
there is a leaf to cure it.

by Amy Gerstler

Dancing Botanical

2011-08-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

Power from the Gut

Yellow Dock

Rumex Crispus

I'm sure you've seen this one around on your adventures, growing in compact soils in both urban and rural settings. Yellow dock is one of those medicines we have an abundance of! It serves as both a bitter, stimulating the production of gastrointestinal fluids and enzymes, and an alterative, working to restore balance in many of the body systems. Yellow dock is commonly used in combination with other western herbs for blood building, reducing inflammation, chronic skin conditions, detox and cancer.

August Dances

2011-08-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Power to Create our Lives

5 Mondays to explore
the power of inspiration & intention,
the power within vs. the power over,
& our power to shift with awareness and abundance!

Warm-up starts at 7:10pm

Live Drumming on the 29th!

Saturday, August 6th, 10 am - 2 pm

Dancing Deeper in Hilo

Sunday, August 14th, 1pm in Waimea

Dancing Botanical

2011-08-01T16:01:00.000-07:00

Catnip for a Happy Hara
Nepeta cataria

The leaf most cats love makes for a wonderful calming digestive tea or tincture, assisting the stomach in receiving and digesting nutrients well. A catnip bath is wonderful for children to induce sweating and reduce fever. A catnip syrup can be used as part of a tonsillitis herbal treatment.

Just be sure to grow catnip in a hanging pot if you have cats!

I Dance the Divine Dance

2011-07-29T16:05:00.000-07:00

I begin my Divine Dance by clearing all mental limitations, unnecessary objects, all confusions and myself.

I move in space and I move in light.

I move in rhythm, in form, and in color.

I bring the instrument of my body to its rightful environment, where I listen for the inward music.

I wait for the urge of spiritual joy, happiness and beauty to move me.

I am conscious of myself as reflecting in posture, movement and design the one creative mind.

I am not a creator--I am a reflector.

I am not an originator--I am an interpreter.

I am not a material body--I am a spiritual consciousness.

-from Wisdom Comes Dancing, writings of Ruth St. Denis

July Conscious Dances

2011-07-22T16:39:00.000-07:00

Independence and Connection

Mondays @ 7:15pm in Hilo!

Live Drumming on the 25th!

July 10th & 24th (Sundays in Waimea)

Dancing Awake

2011-07-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

I spend alot of time washing dishes, dirtying dishes, remembering things from the past, worrying and typing on a keyboard. These actions aren't bad but it sure is easy to space out and lose consciousness doing them. Most of us have lots of daily activities like this.

And, once in awhile we experience being awake, we really feel alive, maybe even have a new thought...something brings us into our body, heart and mind right in the moment.

Conscious Dance is a practice for dancing ourselves awake so that we live our lives more fully, experience more of these alive moments and possibly even experience new physical motion, new feelings and new thoughts.

Your Mother and My Mother

2011-06-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Fear is the cheapest room in the house.
I would like to see you living
In better conditions,

For your mother and my mother
Were friends.

I know the Innkeeper
In this part of the universe.
Get some rest tonight,
Come to my verse again tomorrow.
We'll go speak to the Friend together.

I should not make any promises right now,
But I know if you
Pray
Somewhere in this world--
Something good will happen.

God wants to see
More love and playfulness in your eyes
For that is your greatest witness to Him.

Your soul and my soul
Once sat together in the Beloved's womb
Playing footsie.

Your heart and my heart
Are very, very old Friends.

-Hafiz

Dancing Botanical for June

2011-06-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

Relieving Anxiety and Settling the GutLemon Balm

Melissa officinalis

This light and happy plant is rich in essential oils (hence the delightful smell) and flavones. Pick the young 30 cm. long shoots a couple times between June and September. Dry them out of the sun and store them for future tea!

Lemon Balm is settling to the whole digestive system as well as great for relieving anxiety and depression!

Maka'ala (Wide Awake)

2011-06-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

In preparation for moving from Hawaii to the mainland, one of our dancers (Ellen), is seeking a suitable cat-lover who would be interested in having "custody" of her sweet 3-year-old cat, Maka'ala, for up to a few years. She is hoping to find the right person who loves and understands cats and would be able to receive her sometime in June/July. Maka'ala has lived with other cats and dogs in the past (although not currently), spends time indoors and outdoors, and has never shown agression towards people (no scratching)! Please contact Ellen (greenpeace123@hotmail.com) if this request speaks to you or if you know anyone who might be a good fit!

June Conscious Dances

2011-06-04T17:50:00.001-07:00

Happy Summer Solstice!

June 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th - Hilo
Live Drumming on the 27th!
June 5th (Sunday) - Waimea

There are three eclipses in the expanse of a month (June 1st, 15th & July 1st). So, we'll be dancing with eclipse energy...practicing opening to the magic & mystery of the moment! Being Eclipsed with Grace!

Live Drumming and Conscious Dance

2011-05-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

Live Drumming will accompany our dance tonight. 7:15 pm at Yoga Centered in downtown Hilo, Hawaii

Your Seed Pouch

Lanterns
Hang from the night sky
So that your eye might draw
One more image of love upon your silk canvas
Before sleep.

Words from Him have reached you
And tilled a golden field inside.

When all your desires are distilled
You will cast just two votes:

To love more,
And be happy.

Take the sounds from the mouth-flute of Hafiz
And mix them into your seed pouch.

And when the Moon says,
"It is time to
Plant,"

Why not dance,
Dance and Sing?
-Hafiz

The Dance of Energy

2011-05-21T13:22:00.000-07:00

Jing refers to our intrinsic body energy. We are born with a certain level of energy and maintain this energy in our daily life. Just like a car battery, however, if we do certain things - like leave the lights on - the energy will be expended faster. Our physical body energy is finite.

We can use the dance and moving meditation to explore our own physical energy levels. We practice balancing and becoming aware of how we expend our energy. Do we expend too much too fast and then have to sit out half of the dance? Do we expend too little energy and never really get going, feeling like we haven't even danced after an hour? Our dance practice illuminates what often is present in our life, thereby giving us an opportunity to play with balancing our energy - noticing what it takes to physically dance but not expend all our energy or expend too little.

We practice smooth sustained motions such as floating, pulling, swaying and sharp sudden motions such as kicks, chops and dodges. We notice which energies we are comfortable dancing and which we may be more unfamiliar with or have challenges around. Dancing different energies allows us to increase awareness around ways we use our energy, ways we resist and what we give our power to. Power being the ability to utilize our energy. Often our energy is used up in such things as distraction, waiting, fear, overwhelm and anxiety. Moving with these as a dance can illuminate ways to increase our power.

May Conscious Dances

2011-05-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

Sensing and Using Energy!

May 2nd

May 9th
May 16th

May 23rd

May 30th

Hilo

May 22nd

Waimea!

Altars and Power

2011-05-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

l recently danced with a friend and colleague in Taos, New Mexico and the above picture is the altar we created for our dance. Altars are a living art form, sometimes setting the intention for a collective movement experience or simply being an expression of what moves inside us. If you feel called - bring an item for the altar or volunteer to create an altar for a dance!

This month we'll be working with power - our ability to use energy. One thing I've noticed is that dancing for an extended period of time on my own can be challenging. And so it is a privilege to dance with others, to share our energy, support each other and create more than what is possible on our own.

Additionally, there are lots of ways to use our energy and different types of energy! Exploring various motions can increase awareness of these energies and help us focus how we use our energy. Through dance, we can explore power and have fun!

Hope to move with you soon!

May Dancing Botanical

2011-05-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

I bought my first dandelion when I moved to the Big Island. Although I find this humorous now, it was very comforting to have a familiar friend in a pot amongst a sea of green I had little awareness of. Now, I have several dandelions growing and lots of little keiki. If you need a dandelion let me know!

Dandelion root and leaf are both used as hepatics - aiding the work of the liver. Dandelion leaf can be picked any time of the year, added to salad and eaten or mixed with tea blends. It is a powerful diuretic, comparable to the drug 'Frusemide'. The nice thing about dandelion, however, is that is also a source of potassium (so while the kidneys are stimulated, potassium is being replaced rather than removed).

Dandelion root can be used as a general liver tonic, anti-inflammatory for allergic reactions and muscular rheumatism. It is a great herb to combine with others such as the virus figting Lomatium.

And, one of the only beers I like is a dandelion beer!

Find a way to use and enjoy dandelion this Spring!

Movement Disorders and Movement Practice

2011-02-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

In exploring research and writings on movement disorders I have found a book called "The Serpent and the Wave" by Jalaja Bonheim that relates the ancient movement of the snake and the undulating wave motion that it embodies to the integration of body-mind awareness. "...involuntary body movements are the physical correlative of the unconscious, in working with the serpentine movements we are also aligning our conscious mind with the unconscious psychic forces." (pg. 123) Movement disorders are often an expression of involuntary body movements and thereby the unconscious.

The wave motion of the serpent is abundant in life, in the motion of water, sand, fields of wheat, a salmon swimming and in the human motion of the spine. "Through the practice of movement meditation, we seek alignment with the serpentine forces by utilizing duality as a gateway into the consciousness of at-oneness." (pg. 122) By moving the body through this natural wave motion and the yin and yang such as motion and stillness we align the conscious and unconscious.

New Year Retreat

2011-01-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

Come and join us on the Big Island of Hawaii for a New Year Retreat!

We are holding space for a New Year retreat Starting Jan 31st for 5 days through Feb 4th.

(Chinese new year this year is February 3rd)

The focus is transforming yourself this year.

It has been a challenging past few years and 2011 is the year to take care and get ready for the future. 2011 is the year of the hare. This means 2011 is a year to recover and grow strong before the wild ride of 2012, a year of the dragon, a year of many challenges.

Start 2011 with the intention of focusing on heart-based (rather than fear-based) needs for the upcoming year.

Playing with Shadow

2010-12-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

As children, we've all probably played with our shadow. In the dance, we can also play with our shadow - the shadow of our movement.

Usually, we play with our shadow in the light. Shadows don't exist without light anyway. By adding an element of light to our dance we can engage the shadow aspects of our motion, claim them, dance them, play with them and ultimately get better acquainted with them. Instead of dancing open, we dance a playful closed, unaccepting, rigid, disintegrated, controlled, spaced out and numb dance. We play with the shadows of our motion and our shadows are transformed into the intricate and beautiful mandala of motion that we are - the shadows and the light dance together and complement each other - rather than take over our life and our dance.

Visionary for Conscious Dance

2010-12-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

If we were to have a saint (or a devil) for the modern conscious dance movement Ruth St. Denis would certainly be hanging on our walls, standing in our alters, and lying at our bedside table.

Ruth St. Denis, often called Miss Ruth, was a paradox, a poet and a strong visionary for sacred dance. At the turn of the 20^th century she created a new form she called the Divine Dance. She recognized that drama addressed human conflict but did not aid the soul in awakening. “…the awakening—infinitely more difficult—is also infinitely more valuable. The dance of the awakening must evolve its own newness, rhythm and form.” (pg. 94, Wisdom Comes Dancing) While religion and psychology attempted to overcome human problems through the mind, Miss Ruth envisioned a connection to truth and self integration through the physical body. “To know truth’s manifestation, however, to actually realize in flesh and blood the effects of this knowledge, we must learn to recognize the relationship between soul and the body which so inextricably exists, and of which the breath is its symbol and sign.” (pg. 94, Wisdom Comes Dancing) She spent her life weaving her love of art and drama with her deeper knowing of the body as sacred.

As a testament to this woven work, Miss Ruth left behind over a hundred boxes of her writings and photographs to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Some of her work has been explored and shared in the book Wisdom Comes Dancing edited by Kamae A Miller. This beautiful book offers us a glimpse into the life of Miss Ruth, her controversial career, her belief in the importance of women as peace-makers, and her development of the Divine Dance. Ruths’ insights continue to inform sacred dance today:

The body is a neutral instrument which reflects the minutest fraction of the consciousness that governs it. Every gesture reveals the level of consciousness that we have attained. It reflects in its rhythms and forms of motion either realization of Life vibrant, full of ecstasy, beauty, and continuity, or it reflects our negative states of fear, hatred, resentment, and false egotism.
(pg. 20, Wisdom Comes Dancing)

Many of us are practicing and/or facilitating movement practices that move us from fear to fluidity, from hatred to harmony, and from egotism into emptiness. These dances are powerful and help individuals live vibrant, beautiful and full lives. Yet, many questions are on the horizon for our survival as a species.

At this critical juncture in time - where humans are changing the Earth so drastically that human life may be extinguished – what dances have yet to be danced? Ruth states, “Until we learn in terms of experience instead of profits, we shall have neither a beautiful art of the dance nor a finer civilization.” (pg. 19, Wisdom Comes Dancing) The experiences we create and live are where we need to focus our attention. How do we continue to shift our experiences for the beauty of the dance and the higher survival of our species?

Ruth St. Denis realized that, “There are thousands of rhythms with which we are unacquainted as yet which would give us innocent and beautiful joys.” (pg. 40, Wisdom Comes Dancing) The dance helps us access some of these rhythms and hence life experiences that we have yet to touch. “We think we know life because we know the small repeated rhythms of our common days, while all the while the very air is filled with heavenly music for our listening and a thousand new visions of life and love await our understanding and our courage.” (pg. 96, Wisdom Comes Dancing) Now is the time to dance, listen and open courageously to new motion, new visions of life and to new love.

Ruth St. Denis held a vision for what she called the Divine Dance. Its primary function was to activate the powers of truth and beauty. “As the sun fills its purpose of being by shining and only incidentally blesses the earth with its warmth and light, so is our life in spirit fulfilled with its own radiation of beauty and only incidentally affects and inspires its beholders.” (pg. 36, Wisdom Comes Dancing) Through dance we remember our innate truth and beauty and start to let it filter through our pores and shine once again. “In stillness, we know, we feel, we realize.” (pg. 54) Our practices take us on a journey, riding a spectrum of movement waves from fast to slow and moving to still. The resulting radiating person, filled with spirit, goes out into relationships, families, communities and the world.

Perhaps, taking our spirit filled self out into the world is the key to our species survival. “As we rise higher in the understanding of ourselves, the national and racial dissonances will be forgotten in the universal rhythm of truth and love.” (pg. 56) The divine dance is one way to higher understanding and thereby unity and harmony. As many of us realize - dancing is a way to move in life with more awareness and connection – freeing ourselves from self and society-imposed limitations. “The limitations of our senses are the grey stones of our prison walls. There is one way to escape—one way to enter the open country of the kingdom and that is to fly—to fly over walls with wings of spirit and in the ecstasy of what we dance and sing our visions of the soul.” (pg. 185) Miss Ruth flew on in 1968, yet her spirit lives on in her words, her art and the dance.

Dancing Botanicals

2010-09-25T13:41:00.000-07:00

Willow Bark

Salix nigra

Recently my five year old was in need of an anti-inflammatory. We went to the store and bought the blue-raspberry children's Advil. She took it once and then screamed she would never take it again. It was "disgusting"! I looked at the label and it contained an Alergy Alert and a Stomach Bleeding Warning. Not to mention the blue dye.

Well, it was one of those wake up moments! I went and got my poplar bud tincture and put it in juice for her. She drank it all up. I got the willow bark tincture out and put it in her tea - no problems.

A gentle reminder to us all to use anti-inflammatory botanical medicine if we are needing to. Willow Bark and Poplar Bud are wonderful for cooling down inflammation in the muscles and skeletal system.

I have some freshly made poplar bud oil for sore muscles - it works great with arnica. If you would like a bottle let me know. 1 ounce for $5 or 2 ounces for $10

Dance!

2010-08-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

"Dance, my heart! dance today with joy.
The strains of love fill the days and
the nights with music, and the
world is listening to its melodies:

Mad with joy, life and death dance to
the rhythm of this music. The
hills and the sea and the earth
dance. The world of man dances
in laughter and tears.

Why put on the robe of the monk, and
live aloof from the world in lonely
pride?

Behold! my heart dances in the delight
of a hundred arts; and the
Creator is well pleased.

-by the mystic Kabir, translated by Tagore

Conscious Dance for the Soul

2010-07-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Embrace new possibilities!

Embody your full presence!

Enliven your passion!

As David Suzuki says, we are undergoing a "conscious evolution of our species." We are all being called to re-create currency, work, play, food, relationships to others, relationships with the Earth, and re-create ourselves!

Conscious Dance is an opportunity to envision, explore, expand and express your true essence.

We begin with a self-guided warm-up, arriving and drawing the attention into our body and breath. From here we move into a guided walking meditation and welcoming circle. And, finally we are guided through a Mandala of Motion.

Inspiring music encourages us to open, accept, focus, surrender, journey and illuminate spirit!

Open to teens and adults of all ages, bodies and physical ability.

All levels of experience welcome.

To read more about Julie and Conscious Dance in Hawaii visit www.DancingBotanicals.com

2010-07-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

Transforming Potential into Motion

I've been contemplating potential energy and the work we all do to turn it into motion (kinetic energy). Like the diagram displays above, it often only requires a simple snip to release the potential. Yet, often, we tend to think we need to climb, push, blow, hang and run around in circles to release the potential energy (yes, I can see myself hanging from the PE trying to get it to move with the scissors in my hand!).

We work too hard, we don't observe and listen and we forget to follow our own two feet. The practice of conscious dance offers us an opportunity to listen, remember and get clear about our true work.

During my morning dance practice yesterday I followed my feet. Yes, I am still easily distracted by thoughts or other body parts. Yet, what became clear was the potential energy of my own two feet - the possibility for my feet (not hands, hips, head, or heart) to move me into new space. With my feet, I can move into new territory, physically on Earth. I don't get very far dancing my thoughts and feelings around!

And, as I've experienced over and over again, this conscious motion helps make evident the work to release our potential.

Dancing Botanical for May

2010-05-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

~balancing the yin and yang~

Mullein

Verbascum thapsus

Mullein grows along the saddle road on Hilo side and in its first year it opens as a receptive rosette with felty leaves (yin). In year two, a one to five foot long spike with yellow flowers rises up (go yang).

Mullein reminds us to open, accept and receive our dance. From this place of acceptance we can focus and shape our attention, our body and our motion in a clear way. This month, add some mullein to your tea and dance the yin and yang.

The newly soft fuzzy first year leaves can be gathered and dried for tea or tobacco to support the respiratory system (yes, sometimes smoke can be a way to receive healing). An oil made from the flowers is often used for ear infections.

Mullein flowers and leaves can be purchased from Pacific Botanicals

May Conscious Dances

2010-05-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

May 4th - Kapa'au

May 10th - Hilo

May 15th - Waimea

Dear Journeyer

2010-04-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Have you made love to empty and soulless things for too long?
I know that you get a little crazy when you have not paid attention to the Heart inside your heart and like a man in the desert dying of thirst you see things that aren't really there.

If your heart is thirsty for Love and God then turn around now and go back to where you came from back to the simple ground of your origin inside the inside of this flowering and Radiant Emptiness.

-Adyashanti

Dancing Botanical for April

2010-04-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

~motionless in movement~

California Poppy

Eschscholzia californica

Receiving and radiating light is what a poppy does so well!

Dried or fresh, the whole plant can be added to tea or used to make a tincture.

It is wonderful as a mild sedative, encouraging relaxation and even sleep (especially the fresh plant tincture).

Finding that place in our dance where we are taking action from a quieted, centered and still place is where this plant can assist us.

Fresh Root, Leaf and Flower Tincture from Herb Pharm

Radiate & Receive Light

2010-04-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

shifting perceptions
beyond suffering

clearing out the old

taking in the light
and, shining light!

April Conscious Dances - Big Island, Hawaii

2010-04-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

Attentive to the Power in Us

April 6th - Kapa'au

April 12th - Hilo

April 17th - Waimea

Empty

2010-04-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Empty.
The Church is empty.

He checks: it is the right
Saturday night. It is the time.
The dancers should be here,
the lights shining, the door
open, the music . . . .

His is a body ready to dance.
He accepts that the church is
not for dancing long before his
body can grasp it. Not dance?
The body can't get it. I am so ready.

The feeling is excessive, overboard;
disappointment, dismay, discourage,
abandoned, embarrassed, certainly
we could say, unsettled.

I write to tell you what I didn't know;
how much you mean to me, how
big a role you have played in my life.
how seriously I took it...

I love you
for staying with it all this time and
you have my no-shit gratitude.
(Rick in Waimea, 2010)

Plants and Dance: Tending to the Heart

2010-03-18T14:30:00.000-07:00

~tending to the master drummer, the heart~

Yerba Santa

Eriodictyon spp.

This plant provides us with one of our best herbal decongestants. Its ability to assist the body in drying up membranes and its high level of flavonoids also make it useful for treating chronic gastritis or urethral irritation.

A wonderful cold and allergy tea or tincture, it can be combined with Horehound, Western Coltsfoot, Balsam Root, Grindelia or Lomatium.

Enjoy the fire energy of this plant as it warms up the heart chakra and particularly for dealing with grief. If you will be seeing me this month I am happy to share some of my homemade tincture.

Dried Resin Rich Leaf Tinctures Available from Herb Pharm

March Conscious Dances on Big Island

2010-03-06T12:31:00.000-08:00

Accept and Follow One Step at a Time

March 2nd - Kapa'au

March 8th - Hilo

March 20th -Waimea

A friend recently reminded me that as one dance comes to an end we often find the seeds of another starting up...just like a tree that has reached its full height, fully blossomed and dropped a seed, sprouting new growth and continuing the dancing cycle of life.

May you receive your dance fully and open up to the new growth of Spring!

Plants and Dance: Adaptogens

2010-02-28T15:51:00.000-08:00

Devil's Club
Oplopanax spp.

Did you all feel that FULL moon?!

We had an unknown woman run into our bedroom in the middle of the night chanting about needing to find seeds to plant.

I hope you all have access to an adaptogen when you need one. My favorite is Oplopanax but Eleuthero (also known as Siberian Ginseng) and Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica) are wonderful too. As my teacher Michael Moore says "Devil's Club seems to be an aid in times of body/mind stress and a means of increasing one's feeling of well-being." I have felt this and recommend it for balancing blood sugar levels as well.

Dried Root Bark Tincture/Extract from Herb Pharm

February Conscious Dances

2010-02-09T10:22:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of me "Sweating my Prayers" a few years back. I think that top only lasted one dance! Yet, I've felt myself in this dance pattern many many times. Through movement & meditation practice I've shifted patterns that no longer serve me and become aware of others that I'm letting go of. At the same time, moving meditation practice allows me to find lost pieces of my soul. Letting go of what is not me and picking up the lost pieces allows me to dance right back into my true essence.

An astrologer, Rosie Finn, says that if we are not already in "the dance" in February, find a way to get there. She uses kirtan (chanting) as a example of how entering anything is usually easiest from the start of it, rather than the peak.

"If we enter kirtan while it is in full swing, it is very difficult to experience the bliss. We are more apt to sit on the side and watch...We are likely to judge it and make it wrong. There is nothing like being with our to-do lists and watching other people in ecstasy to put us in a bad mood. So--for February. We can still enter the kirtan."

I encourage you to find your way into the current wave of motion so that you may experience the joy of riding it! Energy is building and will peak this summer with greater intensity and a faster rhythm.

I know I'll be more open and able to surrender to this motion (while breathing) if I dance and I look forward to sharing this with you!

February 20th - Waimea Ecstatic Dance

What if...

2010-02-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

What if...

What if it is possible for the global community to create positive change?

What if we are unlimited in our potential?

What if we can turn the challenges we now face around and create a life of harmony, balance, and joy?

What if....

The Dance of Emotional Energy

2010-01-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

It is common to experience different emotions on the dance floor and for days after a conscious dance. With the movement of the dance arises the movement of the heart and emotions.

There have been times when I have felt an emotional energy and not allowed it to move through me only to witness someone else come through the same physical place on the dance floor and allow the emotion I felt move through them. It is amazing to witness. Yet, the beauty of movement meditation is the ability to practice letting all things move...including any emotional energy.

The motion is what is important - more so than the emotion arising. Letting, for example, sadness move through you allows the sad energy its motion, expression and release. The motion is key. Imagine moving emotional energy versus static stationary emotional energy (when you hold back the tears and try so hard not to allow the sadness its expression - we all do this for a variety of reasons). In my experience, there truly is no inappropriate time to cry and release sadness. The time to release sadness is when we feel it. This is our practice.

Allowing emotional energies to move through our physical body and be experienced is one of the beauties and challenges of being human. In the dance we find safe and sacred ways to continue practicing letting the emotional energy be fluid (rather than sticking and stagnating) through us, expressed, released, and free to move on. We also practice this for ourselves so that we can move from one emotion to the next fluidly, express our emotions clearly (as most children do naturally), release emotional energy that is no longer serving us and be emotionally free and open to the next emotion arising (rather than living with and responding from a past emotion). In this way, we live life fully, guided by the wisdom of the heart.

WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE

2010-01-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

Admit something:

Everyone you see, you say to them,
"Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud;
Otherwise,
Someone would call the cops.

Still though, think about this,
This great pull in us
To connect.

Why not become the one
Who lives with a full moon in each eye
That is always saying,

With that sweet moon
Language,

What every other eye in this world
Is dying to
Hear.

-Hafiz

Wishing you all a new year that is wondrous, full of freedom, love and loving!

Freedom

2009-12-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

"Freedom isn’t being able to do anything we want to do at any given moment. Freedom is the ability to feel anything and everything at any given moment without suffering. Freedom is the agility of the mind to not repeat a destructive thought. Freedom is allowing ourselves a full expression of love. Freedom is that depth of honesty that resonates in our souls so loudly that others can hear it when they walk by us in silence." -Rosie Finn

The Dance of Gratitude

2009-11-20T10:39:00.000-08:00

Every dance I show up for I am grateful. Grateful that I showed up, grateful for my body and grateful for the dance.

Each dance reveals something to me. Whether it be a tired body, a more open heart and/or a more focused mind.

Sometimes it is the words that are shared after the dance that reveal something to me. Little bits of wisdom. On Monday, for example, a woman said "I can do this. I CAN move my body." While we move our bodies every day it is quite amazing to tune into our deeper knowing that we can move our body in new ways, in meditative and sacred ways. This simple conscious motion is powerful in ways we cannot imagine.

Another woman said she was able to trust the support of the Earth in her dance as well as her body. Today, as we continue to feel the changes of our planet it is amazing to feel all that continues to support us. We continue to be provided with water to drink, air to breathe, soil to grow our food and shelter to sleep under. Feeling the support of the Earth as well as our own body helps us move forward in positive action. Maybe the volcano and winds are creating air today with high levels of sulfuric acid but what can I do to shift my actions and take care of myself and those around me? I can move my body, I can drink lots of water, etc. Usually, some type of movement is required to receive support - whether it be from ourselves, another person or the planet.

And, finally, enjoying the light of children - whether or not we have physically given birth - is an eternal wisdom. Children are our future. Without them, there is no future for our species. And, there is undeniable light in the innocent child. This light reminds us of our humanity and the reasons we are alive. Being grateful for all children is essential. It could very well be the path to our survival as a species.

The Dance of Democracy

2009-11-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

Last night I watched Michael Moore's latest creation, Capitalism - A Love Story. There were a number of amazing pieces that Michael pulled together in this film:

the corruption of wall street, the banking industry and our federal reserve
the 700 billion dollar bailout - a financial cous de ta
the power of the people in a democratic political system - the power of the vote
some of the solutions such as prospering democratically run companies
and, my favorite, the idea of democracy as an economic system replacing capitalism

I'd never considered this idea or heard it mentioned in my many years of education - why not replace capitalism with democracy? When I was going to graduate school it was very clear that democracy was a political system - not an economic one. However, when I think about the potential for an economic democracy it seems to make sense. Why not promote universal access to common resources (no individual or government really does own the land, air or water anyway right)? Why not have a voting process in our banking institutions (credit unions do) and in our daily work? Why not vote on how we share and use the land, air and water? How is this idea different than the already existing models of capitalism and socialism?

While capitalism promotes private control of common resources (a few individuals owning and making decisions about land, air, and water) and socialism promotes state control (country of people owning and making decisions about land, air and water), a democratic economy seems it would promote small collectives of people (not tied to any larger governing body?) controlling and making decisions about the land, air, and water.

Democratically run families I get. Democratically run businesses I get. Democratically run cities I get. Democratically run countries I get. Democratically run money, resources and time...this is something to ponder in the very least.

I'm wondering why there are no economists tied to this socioeconomic theory? Why did I only first hear the idea from a filmmaker and then secondly from wikipedia? While I'm not really sure if democracy will work as an economic system, it is a curious idea and one I'm going to think about for awhile.

The Dance of Resistance

2009-11-05T22:03:00.000-08:00

When you are feeling the limits of your physical, emotional and mental being - try on the dance of resistance. When you want to feel limitless - find the limits and dance the resistance to move beyond them.

Start with the resistance in your own two feet - move faster and then slower than your two feet wish to. Find the directions and motions your feet resist and dance them. Possibly your feet resist the dance of being grounded, or just as likely, they resist the dance of being ungrounded. So, dance grounded and dance ungrounded. Notice the limits you place on your feet and dance through them.

When you find a little more motion in your feet, move up to your knees and hips. Dance the motion that the hips resist - move them faster and then slower than they like. Move the hips in different directions than they are used to and find the motions the hips resist and dance them. Dance the angry hips, the courageous hips, the sad hips, funky hips, fearful hips and joyful hips. Notice which hips feel really really good and which hips feel really really resistant. Dance the resistant hips some more.

The first time I went to New York City to dance with Gabrielle Roth I was so disappointed when she started speaking about how she loves to shop. I immediately went into angry mode - I couldn't believe I'd traveled across the country to learn from and dance with someone who loves to shop. Angry Annie is one of many ego characters that I fall into whenever things aren't going as I expected. And, the meditations and dance practice allow me to fall less and less into this pattern with Angry Annie. The teaching becomes the reaction - do I let this anger stop my dance? Do I let it limit my dance and how? Can I dance the resistance and the anger? Can I dance through it to new motion and possibilities?

We can hold our jaw tight, our head stiff, our hips still and our feet can drag on the floor until finally we are so tired from resisting motion that we must release to motion. We let ourselves be danced.

And, as our energy rises and lightens we can feel the resistance to that lightness, the resistance to flight - we can feel gravity pulling us down (even though no one knows what it really is). We know that if we jump up we will come back down and it is due to this thing called gravity. So, we dance this dance - between flight and gravity - resisting flight, we drop into the weight and then release it to feel the lightness again. In this way we release limitations and expand our motion.

Slowing down, we find resistance to the pauses in our dance. Where does our body not want to pause? What shapes is it uncomfortable being in? Maybe we resist pausing in prayer, maybe we resist pausing in a big open shape and maybe we resist falling to the floor. Invite the motion of your body into these pauses. This is where we find our most expansive, limitless being.

The dance of resistance is something we all experience as we change and grow. Moving with and through the resistance allows us to feel in our physical, emotional and mental being the reality of the limitations we place on ourselves and thereby remove them (or at the very least be aware of them) to free ourselves to new and more motion.

Spiritual Showgirls

2009-11-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

"Spiritual Showgirls"
by Laura Sharp Wilson

The paintings are an ode to amazing women Laura has met who follow a spiritual path, in one way or another, amidst these troubled times.

Contact Laura Sharp at sharplaura@mindspring.com

De-light in the Dark

2009-10-31T12:45:00.000-07:00

The above picture is of night blooming flowers in my back yard. This picture reminds me of the juiciness right in our own hearts, bodies and minds. Right in our own backyards is where we find de-light in the dark. Our body is where we stir the pot of transformation. And, our hearts and minds are where we find the courage and strength to intentionally make the changes we have known we have needed to make for a long time. We show up, pay attention, help carry a bigger vision and change the world. One moment at a time, one meeting at a time, one Thanksgiving at at time...

Dance

2009-10-23T22:54:00.000-07:00

i'm amazed, amazed, amazed
by the flight in these feet.
i will show up again and again and again
knowing there is a new dance
in the soles of my soul,
this movement is about LOVE.

these feet may be tired but
this body is filling with love
we are stretching toes in more directions,
stepping with attention on these two soles,

these hips may be aching but
this heart is moving love
we are opening the space inside,
stepping more fully into our dance,

this neck may be stiff but
this mind is giving in to love,
we are letting fingers spread more widely
than we ever dreamed, imagined, and thought possible,
stepping into soul,

i show up again and again and again for you...
dance.

Hilo Conscious Dance for Women

2009-10-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

A safe and sacredly held space for women
to dance and move as meditation.

When: Thursdays, 6:00 to 8:00 pm
October 15th - 29th

Where: One River Sanctuary in Hilo

Cost: $30.00 for 3-classes, $12.00 to drop-in

Every Body Welcome.

Distraction

2009-10-07T10:53:00.000-07:00

Distraction is a diversion of attention from one thing to another. In the dance we give our attention to our body, breath and the beat of the music.

Distractions arise to divert our attention out of our bodies and out of our dance. Just like life. The music may not be quite right, the floor too hard, or a person may be dancing too wildly. The distractions are limitless just like the thoughts in our monkey mind. Getting a drink of water can be a distraction, a way to take us from our body and our dance. So, we gently practice focusing our open, accepting attention back to our bodies. We focus on the motion and follow it from one body part to the next. When we get a drink of water we do so consciously with our attention on our body, staying in the dance.

When thoughts arise or we are tempted by distraction we recognize it as that, noticing but not judging and gently inviting the attention back into the body and into our dance. Distraction serves to keep us in what is familiar - the patterns we already know and consider safe. As we all know, some of our current motion does not serve our best interest and frustrates us when we keep repeating the motion with the same undesired consequences. When we let the distractions go we create an opportunity for new motion.

Body, Breath and Focus

2009-10-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

Today we practiced the dance of breath and focus.

To focus is to be open, engaged, nonjudgmental (accepting) and attentive to something. In the dance, we focus on our body and our breath - opening our physical body, opening our lungs to receive breath and noticing but not judging. We accept the opening, the body and the breath as it is. We practice opening the very cells to create space for the breath, opening the soles of the feet to receive our dance, and opening our body to the world we are dancing in. We open our backs, the body sides, the belly and the chest to fill with breath. We accept the breath in other parts of our body down to our toes. In this opening we are engaging what Eugene Gendlin calls the "felt sense" or sensing within the body.

The body holds infinite wisdom, insights into who we are, pain and joy and lessons learned from where we have been and so, we give our attention to our body - our feet, our knees, our head, our breath - all that makes up this magical and Earthly body. We concentrate on our body and breath right here and right now and we let the other bodies, feelings and thoughts become unfocused. In other words, we close off our attention to all except our own body and breath in motion. And, once our attention is focused on our dance we can start to extend our awareness out to the others in the room, including their shapes, energy and bodies in our dance.

In the dance, we use this focusing - the open accepting attention - to become more clear about everything. What shape to make our body, what direction our feet want to move in, what energy level we are at, what emotions we are truly feeling and what thoughts are needed for the next motion. The clarity we find in our own bodies, emotions and thoughts shapes the movement of our dance. The breath feeds this motion at the cellular level. Breath and Focus can be practiced anywhere, anytime so that each unfolding moment and motion, the dance of our life, is clear.

October Plants and Dance

2009-09-29T14:51:00.001-07:00

Turmeric
(Curcuma longa)
~Playing with Fire~

This is my lovely Turmeric plant at my front door. I started it with a root from the health food store. The beautiful orange fresh root is wonderful cut into small pieces and steeped for twenty minutes in your morning tea.

Sometimes the movement of life finds us with physical inflammation. Turmeric can aid the body in removing damaged cellular material and renewing the cells of the liver, gall bladder and connective tissue. It also works on the gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, circulatory and respiratory systems.

Turmeric root is anti-inflammatory (hence its ability to help our bodies play with fire). It is bitter, warming, antioxidant, antifungal, and helps protect the liver. Traditionally, turmeric was combined with lipids (fats such as coconut milk) to achieve a therapeutic benefit.

Drink 1-2 ounces strong decoction up to four times per day or take fresh root tincture [1:2] 10-20 drops in warm water as needed. Apply tea topically with honey to inflamed areas, sprains, strains, bruises or itchy skin. Include turmeric root powder or freshly grated turmeric root in meals.

Feel free to comment on your favorite ways to use Turmeric.

Cautions: Therapeutic doses are contraindicated during pregnancy, acute jaundice and hepatitis; limited use as a culinary herb is not. Contraindicated in biliary obstruction or gallstones. Inhibits platelet aggregation. Seek further information if taking anticoagulants or NSAIDs [non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs]

adapted from Plants & Planets by Rosie Finn & Carol Trassato and The Yoga of Herbs by Dr. David Frawley and Dr. Vasant Lad

High Quality Herbal Resources

New Moon Women's Circle

2009-09-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

This New Moon is a powerful opening of the feminine.

The New Moon on Friday morning is at 11:44 am pacific time and it is aligned with the Galactic North Pole and exactly conjunct Saturn and opposing Uranus. The Galactic North Pole is a cosmic doorway of the feminine. It channels the Divine Mother and allows the cycle of birth and death to continue. The Galactic North Pole is a doorway into a parallel universe. (from Plants and Planets by Rosie Finn and Carol Trassato)

We held a New Moon Women's Circle and Dance Ritual to honor the divine feminine and to set our intentions into motion. We danced to get clear about our deepest intentions - not what we think or feel our intentions are. Once we get out of our own way we sometimes find that we have intentions that are buried deep in our bones, our breath, our heartbeat and our very own body.

Dancing to embody our intentions and the intentions of the group gives them power and strength. When we intend to be free, we speak our intention, write it down, dance it into our cells and have a group supporting us throughout the month with continued thoughts, prayers and dances...we often find ourselves having an easier time being free.

If you would like to join the New Moon Women's Circle please email Julie at dancingbotanicals.com

Surrender and the Heart

2009-08-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today's dance was a beautiful surrendering to the motion of my heart. I felt the movement releasing in my arms - my arms freeing themselves from their rigidity and finding new motion. I felt my feet freeze and then unfreeze as my body surrendered to my heart.

Eucalyptus Dance

2009-08-17T11:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, someone brought a rainbow eucalyptus tree to our dance. We started our dance setting an intention to open to the teachings of the eucalyptus - not what we know it is good for, not what we've read in books...but, the messages we receive in our dance from our body, heart and mind and the connection to the spirit of the tree.

We set an intention to allow the motion to unfold. Allowing means letting go of fears, thoughts and ideas about what our motion should be. Allowing the motion that is real in the moment. If we are tired - allowing the tired dance to unfold rather than dancing wildly and becoming more tired. Allowing the motion, even if it feels silly - letting go of any judgments that arise.

The words at the end of our dance as we sat around the eucalyptus..."spaciousness"...."surprise"...."take up more space"

Chinese Medicine and Taoism

2009-07-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

"... the Chinese medical system is based primarily on Taoism, which claims that it's not just your physical well-being that determines your health, but also your behavior toward others. The doctor was part priest, part martial artist, part scholar, and part empirical scientist. But most of all, he was a teacher. And he not only taught you about diet and exercise, but also guided you psychologically and spiritually to become a better person, because that would shape your health. The doctor tried to teach people the best way to live their lives."
(from an interview with Bill Moyers)

Dance on Michael

2009-07-05T08:57:00.000-07:00

"Consciousness expresses itself through creation. This world we live in is the dance of the creator. Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye but the dance lives on. On many an occasion, when I am dancing, I have felt touched by something sacred. In those moments, I felt my spirit soar and become one with everything that exists. I become the stars and the moon. I become the lover and the beloved. I become the victor and the vanquished. I become the master and the slave. I become the singer and the song. I become the knower and the known. I keep on dancing and then, it is the eternal dance of creation. The creator and the creation merge into one wholeness of joy. I keep on dancing until there is only. . .the dance."
-Michael Jackson 1992

Gardenias

2009-07-02T16:22:00.000-07:00

Gardenias blooming
An unforgettable scent
In the depths
Of the dark
I sense the light
On the breeze
Flowing inside.

Spiritual Showgirls

2009-06-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

Laura Sharp, artist and mother, is currently working on a series of paintings for a show in Sun Valley ID, called "Spiritual Showgirls". The paintings are an ode to amazing women she has met who follow a spiritual path, in one way or another, amidst these troubled times. This painting is dedicated to me!

May the Spiritual Shows Shift and Expand On!

To contact Laura Sharp about her work email sharplaura@mindspring.com

Heart Opening in Hawaii

2009-06-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

I can feel my heart opening as I drive.

I breathe into my heart and the feeling.

It feels like old hardened dust crick-crackling away.

Their is no room here for clutter in the heart.

People shine and love.

Whatever gets in the way withers.

Soul

2009-05-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

I move in light.
Listening for the heart beat
of my conscious dance.
Following feet
I am divine
Spirit filled
In motion
Soul

Inspired by Keiki

2009-04-30T13:16:00.000-07:00

This week I received inspiration a couple times from the children in my life. They truly remind me to take life less seriously, play more and live in the moment!

The first time was on Tuesday during a Keiki Creative Movement class. We were dancing in a circle and all of the children were from different ethnic backgrounds. We starting speaking our movement words in Japanese, Spanish and Dutch! It was a beautiful moment of recognizing each other, our different cultures and our different languages - right in the dance!

The second time was at my daughter's preschool. I spent the morning with her walking to a nearby museum. It was a bit chaotic with children jumping, playing and picking on each other while trying to walk. When we arrived at the museum it was more chaos with children running over each other to get to the displays, pushing buttons, and trying to see fish. On the walk home the children were tired and hot. My daughter and I walked with a mix of struggling and joy and even some tears. When we arrived back at the school my daughter did not want me to go. So, I stayed for lunch and watched these three and four year olds eat and not eat their wide array of foods. From cold sausage, to sandwiches and macaroni. Then, I spent the next two hours in quiet time with my daughter. I watched most of these busy little bodies slowly drift off into a restful sleep on the floor with their multicolored blankets and pillows. My daughter was among the few who did not fall asleep even with all of her yawns and my back rubbing. I lay down beside her and almost fell asleep myself.

The beautiful connection moment came at the end of quiet time (as it so often does if we allow ourselves this pause!). My daughter and two others were awake and she shared a gardenia that she'd been given at the farmer's market on our walk. She gave each of them a flower and kept one for herself. This quiet exchange was very sweet and I could tell she was thrilled by the sharing and connection. Her face was beaming in the quiet - truly a spirit in motion. For me, it was beautiful to witness my daughter sharing her lovely smelling gardenias and receiving that connection she so needed to feel whole and alive!

Herbs for Influenza

2009-04-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

Historically, Influenza has been treated successfully with herbs such as elderberry, boneset and echinacea. You can buy these herbs at most local health food stores as tincture or dried herb.

Some other tips for fighting influenza without getting a shot:

Remember to take 4,000 to 10,000 IU of vitamin D during the winter season.

Don't suppress fevers with aspirin!

Change your diet and lifestyle to be healthier so your body can fight off any illness. Exercise, reduce sugar and fast food (heh! you shouldn't be eating that EVER!). Eat whole grains, vegetables, soups with herbs - thyme, basil, oregano, star anise.

I'll be sipping my elderberry wine daily this month!

Check out Paul Bergner's article in the journal Medical Herbalism for a focus on Influenza!
http://naimh.com/Influenza-1918.pdf

Positivity

2009-04-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. I try to increase the power God has given me to see the best in everything and every one, and make that Best a part of my life..."
-Helen Keller

Dance this Morning

2009-04-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

This morning I danced in my home temple. I call it the Wailuku Sanctuary or One River Sanctuary. I like to put the ipod on random shuffle and dance to whatever songs arise. My daughter wanted to dance with me today and she didn't like the first song. I said "It isn't about liking the song, it's about dancing your dance no matter what song arises." She danced her dance by sitting and petting the cat. The music didn't call her and she stayed true to her dance.

I danced on the floor to the first song, rolling and stretching. Then, slowly made my way up and paid particular attention to my feet, to the heels, ensuring the heels were solid and touching the ground with each step. I didn't move my arms much today. Found myself moving at different levels with my whole body to about four songs. Most importantly, I followed the motion of my body...not the beat of the music, although I use that for inspiration when I feel stuck...not, what moves are in my head that I'm thinking about doing - I let my body speak. For the last song, a hip-hop beat, Mina joined me and I held her as we slow danced in circles with the slightest beat emanating from the hips. Truly a beautiful moment.

The dance is about finding your own motion and following it in YOUR body. Whether the music is on or off, whether you like or dislike the song, whether it is fast or slow - find YOUR motion - slow or fast, graceful or awkward, and trust it, follow it, feed it with your energy!

The dance IS our life and by being open to all of the beats and different tempos of the dance, staying true to where we are at in our dance, we find ourselves more open and living the Big Truth in life.

Love

2009-03-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last night I had snuggle duty. After dinner our daughter asks who wants to snuggle her. When she doesn't receive a quick enough answer, she asks me directly if I want to snuggle her tonight. I say yes. After her dad brushes her teeth, gets her jammies on and reads her a story-- then I have snuggle duty. I lay next to my daughter and tell her a story about a little girl who is a great chicken chaser. She wants a longer story but I say no, time for sleep. I hold her tiny hand and feel such love as I've never felt before. It feels as if love and light are shining right through every pore in my body, right here in the darkness with her. I squeeze her hand and allow myself this moment filled with love. She falls asleep quickly and I look at her sweet face in the dark. I am grateful for her presence in my life. I have never known such love. And, I realize I want to jump on snuggle duty a little more quickly next time!

Herbs for a Cold

2009-03-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today many of us suppress and repress our colds - I guess we are hoping to press them out of existence. In my opinion, colds are getting stronger, more resilient and longer lasting. Maybe someone is genetically modifying new ones. Or, maybe I'm getting older and weaker. Possibly all of this is occurring simultaneously.

Whatever the reality, we all need to aid our ailing bodies.

You know you have a cold or flu when you are tired, have sore muscles, a scratchy throat or feel cold - pay attention for these signs so that you can take preventative actions.

If you have a fever try to support it for at least a day - the flu virus is killed at 100 degrees - a fever is the bodies intelligent way of ridding you of whatever is ailing you - if your fever goes above 104 degrees seek medical attention. A fever of 104 degrees will kill gonnorhea and syphilis.

1st Stage - You Feel Cold

Drink hot tea or take a catnip bath. Aid your body in sweating. Take a sauna. Rest.
Take a garlic foot bath or eat raw garlic (the pores on the bottom of your feet are the largest so this is a great way to get herbs into the body especially for children)
Other herbs that help the body fight viruses are onions, scallions, thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, and sage (mix these into your soups and stir-fry during the cold season)
If you do not have one of the above plants growing in a pot or in your yard somewhere - go buy at least one!
Children under age six overheat easily (unless they are doing a ton of dairy) so take care when giving them these warming herbs (ever hear a child say "its too spiceee" - listen)
Take Echinacea with Ginger (Echinacea is cooling and ginger is warming). Echinacea stimulates the white blood cells or clean up patrol to get a bit more active.

2nd Stage - Hot and No Sweat

Use mints such as catnip, lemon balm and peppermint to help you sweat but not pour out all of your liquids.
Drink a wonderful traditional cold tea with Elderberry flowers, Yarrow flowers and Peppermint (Traditional Medicinals makes a good blend if you can't make it yourself)
Keep taking Echinacea (using the seed and root if possible)

3rd Stage - Hot and Sweating

No food and lots of fluids (stay out of the ice cream and pizza!)
Drink lemon water. It is cooling and helps support the liver in cleaning the blood.
If you have a high fever drink some marshmallow root tea to soothe yourself
If you have a high fever and want to decrease it take some white willow bark
No Echinacea at this point is needed - white blood cells are in full motion and don't need any more alerting or awakening
Rest (this is the hardest one for most of us and yet can make the difference between having a virus for a week to a month or even a lifetime as in chronic fatigue)

If you don't grow your own herbs please seek the best quality organic, wildcrafted, local herbs that you can get. Do not waste your time or money with brands like Nature's Way. Here are some of my favorite herbal resources.

Recommended Herb List
Catnip (dried leaf)
Echinacea (tincture and tea)
Elder flowers (dried)
Garlic (fresh bulbs and dried garlic powder)
Ginger (fresh root and dried root)
Marshmallow root
Peppermint (fresh leaf or dried leaf)
Thyme (fresh leaf and dried leaf)
White Willow bark
Yarrow flowers (dried)

Plants and Dance - March

2009-03-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

~The Awakening of the Biosphere~

In March, the planets support the release of judgment so that we may move into real communication with each other and ourselves. The more we let go of judgment and awaken to what other people are doing, feeling and thinking the more real our relationships and connections become. We start creating our life rather than watching it roll by. And, these relationships become the true currency of our time.

So, in the dance, practice extending your attention to one other, notice how their body moves, notice any feelings or thoughts that arise and let them move through you. In the dance, give your attention to your own dance fully. See how fascinated you can become with your own motion. Take responsibility for any fears that arise and let your body move them. Practice seeing your dance and seeing others dancing. Through this seeing and being seen we can connect and raise each others vibrations.

This is where we get to recreate what our work is by first finding meaning. We follow our dance and the work becomes obvious. As the pyramid scheme system crumbles we create a new system of abundance, a circle of beauty, balance, integrity, and love. We give of our gifts freely and receive gifts from others and the Earth.

Plants to support you in your dance this month are Stinging nettles, Chickweed, and Yellow dock. Any emerging new herbs such as lemon balm, fennel, dandelion leaf and mint can be added to teas and infusions to support your emerging and awakening.

adapted from the March 2009 Plants and Planets by Rosie Finn & Carol Trasatto

Plants and Dance - February

2009-02-26T22:58:00.000-08:00

~Stepping Out~

In February, the motion of the planets supports expansion and moving ourselves forward, the true essence of who we are. Rosie Finn, astrologer, says "In February, there is little room for mushiness, shyness, reticence, whining, bitterness or regret. We are asked to move on, get over it and see the new light of day...All systems are go." So, in the dance we practice this. We practice expressing our selves using our body, taking our body to its edges - expanding our physical presence. As we dance our dance of stepping out into the world we begin to feel our edges more clearly - it is as if we are seeing ourselves with new glasses on - a sharper image of what we thought we were appears. We let go of the past to be present more fully. We can dance a lifetime, expanding and clarifying this shape, this one body, this perception of who we are and the reality.

And, to help us along the way are our plant allies. Herbalist Carol Trasatto recommends plants with protective nutrients this month such as Green Tea, Ginkgo and Hawthorn. If you can, make yourself a tea of all three before you go to dance.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply.

2009-02-25T19:31:00.001-08:00

Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,
but to be fearless in facing them.
Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,
but for the heart to conquer it. - Rabindranath Tagore

Baby Owen (aka Mineral)

2009-02-25T19:19:00.000-08:00

Such sweetness to receive on a cool rainy day!
Born to friends in Arizona.

Peace, Peace, Peace

Soul Wave

2009-02-25T18:50:00.000-08:00

What is the soul?

One of my favorite definitions is by one of my teachers, Gabrielle Roth. She defines soul as "body, heart, and mind - unified as one"

And so, through the dance, we connect our bodies motion to the beating of our heart and drop in that "monkey mind". By experiencing different beats and tempos in the dance, and taking ourselves on, we find one way to be unified - thinking, feeling and moving in the same direction (rather than, for example, thinking I want to eat bananas, while feeling excited about mangos and moving in the direction of the guavas). What I've experienced and witnessed is that as we move our bodies as a meditation we find ourselves in that soul full place of a connected body-heart-mind more and more. We think about eating the bananas, we're excited about the bananas and we move in the direction of the bananas.

And, as with most meditative practices, it helps to have others to move with along the way!

Come still the mind, open the heart and move the body to find soul.

Next Monkey Dance: Wednesday, March 4th, 3:00 to 4:15pm

Michael Moore, Master Herbalist

2009-02-20T22:33:00.000-08:00

Michael Roland Shaw Moore

January 9, 1941 - February 20, 2009
Husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend, teacher, musician, herbalist.

So very beloved.

Dear Michael,

Thank you. Thank you for being a wild spirit on this Earth, connecting to the plants and sharing your knowledge and passion with so many. Thank you for smoking. Thank you for testing soy on your own body - while hard on your physical body - the knowledge you shared helped me and many others to live a soy-free life and continue to be able to reproduce, to be healthier. Thank you for creating a magical learning environment at the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine where I, and many others, came to reconnect to this ancient plant wisdom and gain healing knowledge. Thank you for creating a school that demystified plant medicine and opened up the world of western herbalism to all. Thank you for being a shapeshifter and a fragile human being. Thank you for being a protector. Thank you for bringing us together, for caring, and helping to ease the suffering of those who crossed your path. Thank you for taking us out into the desert to meet the plants, to dig in the Earth, to meet ourselves in all our forms.

I am grateful to have had your presence in my life.

May you live on in the spirit of the plants and the wisdom of western herbalism.

Joy in Life

2009-02-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

So often these days I catch myself smiling while I watch my daughter.

And, just as often, I catch myself frowning, upset and angry.

I remind myself that she is my greatest teacher.

There is joy in all of it.

Sometimes I feel a panic when I look at her, a panic that she is growing, her body is getting bigger and her emotions more varied and her thoughts quite complex. The continual change that a parent is expected to flow with is incredible. And, to flow with these changes with a bit of grace and a lot of love is even more challenging. I am grateful for the tools that help me.

Vipassana meditation. Sitting meditation whenever and wherever I can fit it in. I found this on a whim, following friends and dived right in. I did not know what I was getting into at the time but I am grateful I dove.

Dancing. Dance as spiritual practice. I dance to get myself connected again so that I can enjoy my daughter right where she is. I get to let go of what I thought she was yesterday and move on and get present with today. I found dance because I needed to. At a time in my life when I had little joy, friends signed me up for dance...and, I started following my feet.

Being in Nature. There is something so calming and healing for me about being by a river, watching a hawk, digging in the dirt and planting seeds. I find ways to be in nature that restore my vital connection to the Earth and to my self. I found this as a child. I can remember praying on ski slopes. I just knew that God was in the hills, the crisp cold air and the snow.

QiGong, Acupuncture, Reiki and Light Energy Work. I love these for helping me to balance my energetic body and increase my connection to the universal life force.

Yoga. While I'm not a big lover of yoga I do recognize that it is so helpful to me...strengthens my core and helps maintain and increase my flexibility.

These tools: meditation, dance, yoga, energy work and being in nature are my saving grace. They help me live my life and enjoy the moment I'm in.

First Ingredient is Dance

2009-01-31T19:05:00.000-08:00

In Alice Walker's October 2008 blog entry she creatively writes a recipe for difficult times. She calls this recipe 'Anxiety Soup' and the first ingredient is dance!

Here is an excerpt:

I would be remiss, as an elder of the planet, to remain silent at this point about some of the ways to deal with this period of emotional, psychological, ideological and financial instability....

First of all, Anxiety Soup keeps growing and expanding; it is eclectic, it is self-choosing, and it is already within your reach. The main thing it assumes is that you are coming to it in your right mind: that you've put the liquor bottle back on the shelf, said no to drugs of all kinds, and made the manly or womanly decision not to pick fights. In fact, it assumes you consider yourself free. That being so, you are ready for ingredient number one.

Ingredient number one is dance. Actually there is a toss-up between dance and meditation, but for me, during this period, I find dance trumps meditation, at least sitting meditation, because while listening to the rhetoric of our politicians I find it increasingly difficult to sit still.

Hoping that we all find a way to dance!

Hilo Ecstatic Dance

2009-01-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

Hilo Ecstatic Dance is a sacred calling to dance your own dance, authentically and spontaneously. It is an invitation to ground yourself in your own body, release, and let your spirit fly!

Hilo Ecstatic Dance is a safe, judgment-free, non-verbal and sacredly held container for motion.

Hilo Ecstatic Dance is facilitated and deejayed. Movement suggestions may be given but you are free to dance your dance.

Hilo Ecstatic Dance is an opportunity to dance connected to your self, to others and to the universal spirit. It is a time to explore, create and respect boundaries.

Hilo Ecstatic Dance is a journey through an ecstatic wave of motion with two hours of diverse music as your guide.

Treat yourself to an ecstatic barefoot boogie in a supportive community of kindred dancing spirits!

Open to teens and adults of all ages.

All levels of experience are welcome!

Winter Solstice Wisdom from the I Ching

2008-12-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

24. The Turning Point -- Winter Solstice

"After a time of decay comes the turning point. The powerful light that has been banished returns. There is movement but it is not brought about by force. Societies of people with a unifying vision are formed. But since these groups come together in full public knowledge and are in harmony with the time, all selfish tendencies are excluded, and no mistake
is made. Everything comes of itself at the appointed time."

"From deep stillness comes replenishment and the gathering of strategy and wits. Not striving, but calm and merriment.

"The Winter Solstice has always been celebrated as the resting time of the year. In winter the life energy is still underground. Movement is just at its beginning; therefore it must be strengthened by rest, so that it will not be dissipated by being used prematurely.

"The return of health after illness, the return of understanding after an estrangement; everything must be treated tenderly and with care at the beginning, so that the return may lead to flowering."

May your dance be tender and strengthened by rest this winter season.

Widening our Circle of Compassion

2008-12-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty."
-Albert Einstein

Joy and God

2008-11-29T18:28:00.001-08:00

In 2006, I wrote in my journal about finding inner joy. In my dance, I found joy in everything. I was amazed. I realized that deep sacred joy is found in hate, anger, pain and sadness. I recently had an older Chinese man tell me that he would rather live with his foot pain than go to acupuncture. He said, "The pain is part of the joy of living."

Moving meditation assists all of these feelings to flow through us rather than hold them with all our might and bodies.

What a relief it was for me to feel the joy in the sadness, anger and hatred; the light in the dark.

Joy, as I previously had experienced it, was often fake, on the surface, light-hearted and even silly. The joy I felt was deep and it was sacred. It felt like a river running through me.

In the same dance, I experienced God breathing beneath my feet. Vinn Marti said in a workshop once that God is under our feet. How would we change our footsteps if we felt God breathing under our feet in every moment?

Gratitude Dance

2008-11-17T19:59:00.001-08:00

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." - Melodie Beattie

Through meditation, movement, and dance we will explore the embodiment of sincere gratitude. What does gratitude look like in our body? How does it move us? While studies have shown that the more we feel grateful, the happier we are, many of us continue to limit our gratefulness. Using our bodies, we will play with the shapes of gratitude. We will move & meditate to let go of all that gets in the way of us being grateful. Through physical movement we will shift denial into acceptance, confusion into clarity, chaos into order and grief into gratitude.

Sincere gratitude for our current blessings opens us to receiving more, opens us to living our lives more fully and clearly moving in the direction of our dreams. The dance allows us to embody an awareness of gratitude and to shift our energy (vibrational resonance) to one of acceptance. When our body is open and accepting, we will feel grateful in our hearts and fill our minds with grateful thoughts. In this way, our dance becomes a prayer – a prayer for peace in our own bodies, hearts and minds. This peace is tangible, we can take this peace with us into our life, and we can let all our motion come from this place of peace.

"If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice."-Meister Eckhart

Own your Power

2008-11-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

And the winner is--all of us!...

I feel like the Universe is laughing at us. It is like Dorothy trying to get home. She puts all of her power in this wizard who is going to save her—when all along she had the power to go home as soon as she released attachment. That’s us. We have put so much power into our government and some guy who stands at a podium and calls himself “President” that we forgot that we are the ones who have the power in the first place.

America—God love us—actually has a government structure that comes close to recognizing this truth. But we forgot. We think that the structure is creating the reality. Instead, the structure was designed to reflect reality more closely. Those guys and gals ;) in the beginning knew a few things. They did not think that the government was going to change the world. They acknowledged the reality of the situation; released attachment to their own lives (signing the Declaration of Independence was treason) and said we have power. They were changing their worlds and creating something in the process.

No matter who wins this election, they will only be effective if we all accept that we have the power to go home—to feel love, to experience true abundance, and to sustain our lives with joy and real, honest connection with others, this planet and all things on this planet.

-Rosie Finn, Plants & Planets, November

New Baby Quinn

2008-10-26T23:52:00.001-07:00

Sweet new baby boy born October 25th to friends in Kentucky!
Oh, I do love their new little faces!

Time between Breaths

2008-10-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

A friend sent this card to me this week. I was so struck by its beauty. I keep looking at it and it helps me to enjoy those pauses, the moments when Mina and I are snuggling or when Casey, Mina and I have a breath together. I hope it will do the same for you, inspire deeper enjoyable pauses, valuing the time in between breaths, relaxed and fully aware, with nothing more to do or be.

Turtle Women Rising

2008-10-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

October 10-13, 2008: "Heartbeat for Peace: Drum the Heart; Heal the Earth" - On October 13, on the fourth day of a four-day event, and on the fourth anniversary of their founding as an Alliance, the Grandmothers will participate with Eli Painted Crow and Turtle Women Rising in a Drum Gathering for Peace on the Ellipse in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. The Grandmothers Council will come together to sing to the Earth Mother, in order to create peace. For as women we know that "We cannot demand Peace; we can only become it. We cannot fight for Peace; we can only live it."

Eli Painted Crow writes, "It is the intention of Turtle Women Rising to invite all people to stand for peace in Washington D.C., the heart of where important decisions are made affecting the world. Our ceremony will be held on October 10-13, 2008. We will be drumming, praying and offering our healing songs continuously to change the unbalance of the planet, and to help heal the hearts of those who are dying and suffering."

Lessons from the River

2008-10-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

Today, as I was down at the river with Mina and Casey, I had time to watch the river, sit with rocks and learn. Mina and Casey drifted off towards the waterfalls holding onto a large piece of bamboo. I sat amongst the rocks in the sun and started "cleaning up." Yes, moving sticks, pushing dead leaves, and making rocks more stable for Mina's return.

As I was removing a medium-sized stick from under a rock I had the image of the rock shifting, and as I do so often, I downplayed my own vision, the rock was huge after all, it wouldn't shift just because I moved a stick. And, when Casey returned and sat on the rock...it shifted, moving down into the place where the stick was, a considerable move for a big rock. I received a couple lessons from this 1) Again, listen to those voices inside and receive the visions you are given, do not push them aside 2) Everything in the river has it's place and when I enter the river I am a part of it, act accordingly. I can move rocks and sticks as long as I listen and stay awake to the overall consequences. This also means understanding that I do not know all of the consequences and accepting that.

Then, as I was contemplating the shift, I also became acutely aware of the illusion of stability. I was trying to put the rocks in more stable positions. As the river is always changing this is an impossible task and even if I was successful today it could change tomorrow. Moving one rock may destabilize other rocks. And, I realized that the rocks, moving and stable, are a valuable teacher for my child. She learns a lot playing amongst the rocks. She learns through her feet how to trust and adjust her own movement, to balance, to move at different speeds, and sometimes how to fall without getting hurt. Creating a safer environment is my job as a parent, removing her teachers is not. The stability I was trying to create was an illusion, something to occupy my time, not truly creating a safer environment.

Aya Rose

2008-09-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

I find that there is nothing quite as in-spiring and re-freshing as a new baby. This photo was just sent this morning from a friend.

Have a bountiful beautiful fall equinox!

Coyote Radio Playlist

2008-09-19T13:25:00.001-07:00

I just found this playlist of songs that I put together and recorded for Coyote Radio in Prescott, AZ (2008). It is a collection of women's music, mostly about war and revolution and it is a mini-wave of motion for those of you who like to dance! Women's voices are not heard on the radio much, especially in regards to war and revolution. So, I play as much women's music as I can, whenever I can!

1. Women of Hope by Morley on Days Like These
2. Life is Real by Ayo on Joyful
3. Suffragette by Nina Gordon on Bleeding Heart Graffiti
4. Everybody's Gone to War by Nerina Pallot on Fires
5. Voodoo Child by Rogue Traders on Voodoo Child
6. Be Still by Kaskade on Love Mysterious
7. Peace Be Upon Us by Sheryl Crow on Detours
8. Little Girl Blue by Tina & the B-side Movements on Monster

Peace, Love & Motion!

Connection

2008-09-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Connection is one reason we dance. There is a lot to be fascinated with around connection in our dance. In one dance, we may have moments of wanting more connection, feel rejected by someone who is dancing that we want to dance with and it doesn't seem like they want to dance with us, we may connect to someone and then have the dance go places that make us uncomfortable, in other minute we may connect to someone and fumble, in the next moment connecting to someone and having it feel really good, and then have someone want to connect to you that you do not feel like connecting to. The beauty is that we get to practice coming in and out of connection on the dance floor, experiencing all these different scenarios and letting the feelings ride through us. The invitation is to keep the motion going, to experience how you move your body through the fumbling, through the disconnect, through the desire for more connection.

Are you clear with your body about wanting more connection? Are you assertive, aggressive, passive? Do you expect others to connect with you? Do you simply prefer to dance alone and have to work at connecting with others? What does it take to reach out and connect with your body when you are feeling disconnected (sometimes it can be as simple as reaching a hand out to someone or up to the sky)? When you fumble is it a moment in time or does it transform your whole evening of dance into one big fumble? Can you fluidly move into connection that feels good and out of connection that doesn't? One thing we know is that as long as we are moving, our connections will change. The dance is an opportunity to shift our patterns and as we shift our patterns of motion, others will too.

I dance so that I can feel all of this - the spectrum of connection to disconnection. I am grateful that I am more aware now and have this opportunity to practice changing my patterns and reactions. I am able to live my life with more awareness about the connections I am making and want. The dance between connection and disconnection is the fun part! The challenge is to stay connected in a way that feels right for you in this land of independence.

Groove Temple - Dance Your Prayers @ The Green Church, Waimea, The Big Island

2008-09-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first dance at The Green Church in Waimea. We opened our dance to family and had three children move with us. Our three year old daughter Mina and another three year old named Portia and her seven year old sister Meira. We set up a play area on the stage with mats and art supplies. They quickly settled into a motion of being on the stage coloring, building forts with the mats, and dancing on the floor with each other and us. Eventually, I will bring my BrainDance props so that there are scarves, instruments and other movement related toys available.

Adding children certainly brings an element of chaos to the mix as well as joy. There are challenges to holding the space for people in a safe and sacred way while including the whole family. The benefit is that the dance becomes accessible to new people who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend. And, of course, I can dance with my family as a Sunday morning ritual! Each parent is responsible for their children during the dance and is encouraged to be aware of others needs, especially around noise levels during our slowing down time at the end of our dance. We included the girls in our opening and closing circles. For the closing circle, their word was "Blah" with their tongues sticking out. Deep gratitude for the children, for opening our hearts ever more, for increasing our flexibility and giving us an appreciation of the unexpected!

I've found few ecstatic dances that integrate children into the moving meditation practice. One recent example that I experienced is the Santa Fe EmbodyDance. I'd love to hear of other experiences and dances that include all ages. Enjoy dancing with your family!

Wow

2008-09-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

A friend emailed me this after an ecstatic dance class this past week:

i can't walk straight, think straight, speak straight, because of it
i sat in my car for awhile before i could drive
in the rain, drip drop, i am the rain

i lost myself in the motion & was just fluid motion
it was full, liquid, windy, not of my own

i'm so tired from my experience but want to write
but feel clumsy & foggy
full & deflated
real & transparent

the dance was
intimate, close, comfortable & sensual

i love this path
it's rich
complex
easy
real
deep
spirit awakening
soul awakening
mind opening
body transcending
beautiful
magical

Constitution's First Amendment

2008-09-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

Constitution's First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

This Amendment that our forefathers so carefully created is currently under attack. In St. Paul Minnesota at The Republican Convention people were arrested, pepper-sprayed, dragged, and jailed for trying to peacefully assemble, exercise free speech, and the press were targeted in these arrests.

Please take a moment to write to Ramsey County Attorney, Susan Gaertner, to demand that her office NOT press charges against Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. Please contact St. Paul City Attorney John Choi to demand that all charges against Amy Goodman be dropped.

Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner
RCA@co.ramsey.mn.us (cc: dropthecharges@democracynow.org)
651-266-3222

Susan Gaertner for Governor
info@susangaertner.com (cc: dropthecharges@democracynow.org)
(612) 978-8625
(612) 804-6156

St. Paul City Attorney John Choi
john.choi@ci.stpaul.mn.us (cc: dropthecharges@democracynow.org)
(651) 266-8710

Amy Goodman Arrest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Nicole Salazar Arrest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jreRSEQ_yg

Media coverage of RNC arrests
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2008/9/3/media

Free Press campaign
http://www.freepress.net/

Dance of the Tao

2008-08-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite quotes from the book, Taoist Meditation by Thomas Cleary is, "If you can actually rectify your mind & cultivate your body, then if you have a house you can live there, if you have a wife (partner) & children you can enjoy them, if you have dealings with people you can use them for refinement. So household-ers too can become sages, wizards, and buddhas-why should it be necessary to abandon what is very convenient and do what is inconvenient?”

One of the primary results of dancing and meditation in my life has been that I enjoy my life for what it is. I'm able to be with my imperfect husband, my three year old daughter, a temporary house with geckos running all around...I'm able to be with my gypsy life and be happy, even ecstatic. These are the most wondrous moments in my life when I am able to do this!

However, during times when I haven't been meditating and dancing regularly, I start to focus in on what I don't like about my life, my mind starts to wonder why I am with this husband of mine, I question my ability to be a mother at all, I am disgusted by the gecko poop everywhere and I dream about my past or the way I want my future to be. I am less able to enjoy what is beautiful and right in front of me.

The wisdom in this quote, that regular everyday people who live in houses and have children and spouses can also be buddhas, sages and wizards is rarely mentioned to us householders. And, I have experienced this as true. When I dance as meditation I cultivate my body and clarify my mind, opening myself up to the life that I am living with my husband, child, geckos and travels. When I am open to this simple beautiful life of mine, my life and the people in it are the teaching right there for me and I am the wise dancing taoist shawoman householder if I am able to accept and enjoy it.

Connection

2008-07-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night I taught an ecstatic dance class on connection in Taos, NM. We played with several levels of connection: the connection we have with ourselves, our own body; the connection we have with one other person; the connection we have with a community or more than one person; and the connection we have with the universe, something bigger than ourselves and our community. Vinn Marti calls these levels of connection Dance Intimate, Dance Communion, Dance Community, and Dance Infinite.

What does our body do with each of these connections, how do we move in relation to one other or two other people? Do we retreat? Do we get smaller in our movement? Bigger? Do we dance close to the other people or require a lot of space between us? Or, do we move fluidly and decisively? Do we move with intention and grace? Do we move with awareness of the other and attention to our own dance? The possibilities are limitless. The dance simply allows us to notice our dance in connection, notice any patterns, and shift our movement into something new if desired.

Playing with connection in the dance allows us to open to the endless possibilities of connection in our life.

Possibility

2008-06-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning my three year old daughter reminded me of possibility. I gave her some chalks and paper and in my mind she would simply draw with the chalks on the paper. Of course, her mind is not so limited and that is a beautiful thing in my life. She covered the paper with red chalk, broke the chalk pieces up and made trains and fires, and she covered her body with chalk. Her openness to all of the different possibilities with the chalks was inspiring to me.

In our dance, I invited participants to open to the possibility in their body. There is so much possibility in our feet, knees, hips, spine, shoulders, elbows, head...and, my latest favorite - the face. Most of our days we sit with our face one way, we walk around with our feet moving one way, and our entire body pretty much stationary (if we really looked at ourselves). And, the dance helps us realize that the movement of even our feet is truly limitless...we can move them up, down, sideways, backwards, diagonal, etc. It is the same for all of our body parts. What I've experienced and seen in people who I know do some type of freeform movement practice is that what we practice on the dance floor shows up in our lives. So, dancing with more possibilities in our body opens us up to more possibility in our lives. And, I see that as a beautiful thing!

Innocence and Connection

2008-06-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

Tonight I moved my body with the Taos freeform dance circle. In the end of my dance I found myself grateful for this circle of dancers, grateful for all of the freeform circles of dancers around the world. I also found myself grateful for innocence. Rarely, if ever before, have I truly taken a moment of my life to be grateful for this wonderful human quality. We find innocence in children naturally and once in awhile as adults we find innocence again. I find it in the dance, in nature and I find innocence watching my three year old daughter.

I sense there is so much we ignore around innocence. We fear innocence, we steal innocence away from others, we feel stupid in our innocence, we try to hide our innocence, we make fun of innocence...we create a lot around this quality of being that keeps us from it. And, yet, innocence is a path to connection, one of our deepest desires. When we are innocent we are connected to ourselves, to our needs and emotions (as a child throwing a tantrum one moment and then skipping down the road gleefully in the next). Finding our innocence again and again, giving in to our innocence, appreciating the innocence of others, fearlessly embracing innocence...we are able to connect to others, to a community and to the universal energy of life.

Finding Home in the Prescott Ecstatic Dance

2008-06-07T11:52:00.000-07:00

The tuesday night ecstatic dance class I started in October, 2007 in Prescott, Arizona is now being carried on by community members. This past Tuesday I went to my last class and simply danced, being held by the community, and the motion of the dance itself. The past three weeks it has truly felt as if the energy of the wave of motion that we carry ourselves in was being held by the dancers, as they come to know this ecstatic form and embrace it, all of it. I was so happy to be held in this last dance and find home again. I sensed home is created along the way, in our every moment. After class, one dancer shared that he was wanting this dance for the past two years...I left Prescott feeling as if the dance truly was a community creation and would continue on...what an honor...what a blessing...what an inspiration for me as I continue on in search of a physical place on Earth to call home.

The Big Heartbeat

2008-05-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

Last week for our Tuesday night class I talked about Oblivian & Distraction, two primary reasons for all of us to meditate in some way.

Some of us live in a state of constant distraction and so the invitation tonight was to drop our full attention into our body. Whenever our attention started to shift to thoughts of this or that, the continual invitation was to come back to the body...what parts are moving, what feels stuck, following that motion with a curious and loving attention.

Most of us also live our life oblivious to who we are or certain aspects of ourselves. For some of us, it is easier to see who others are. And so, we spent a little extra time at the peak of our wave giving our loving, curious attention to another person's body and what body parts appeared to want to release a bit more.

As our dance ended I opened to this poem amidst our emptiness...the big heartbeat

IT SOUNDS LIKE THIS

You live not by your own hand
but depend entirely upon
the unseen Friend.
Your truest face has no form.
The Friend's Heart beats.

Do you hear it?
It is your own.
It sounds like this...

from My Secret is Silence
by Adyashanti

The Secret of the Golden Flower

2008-04-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

Naturalness is called the Way.

The Way has no name or form;
it is just the essence,
just the primal spirit.

photo by Marlys

The experience of the blossoming of the golden flower is likened to light in the sky, a sky of awareness vaster than images, thoughts, and feelings, an unimpeded space containing everything without being filled. Thus it opens up an avenue to an endless source of intuition, creativity, and inspiration. Once this power of mental awakening has been developed, it can be renewed and deepened without limit.

-from The Secret of the Golden Flower by Thomas Cleary

Mama's Dance

2008-03-29T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last night I facilitated a movement session with eight Prescott mothers for our mama's night out. This community of mama's danced in a space full of trust and were able to express themselves with passion, releasing into freedom, and finding the motion of their unique soul. It was beautiful to watch these fluid bodies stepping into action and joyfully supporting each other to move more and dance freedom! The supportive group allowed for a much deeper dance than usual and was satisfying to facilitate. We ended our dance in a circle, each mama entering the center of the circle and giving us her shape to fill with our own bodies. It was a beautiful gift to witness each mother, where the dance had left her, and take on her beauty & grace, her peace.