Tag Archives: dance

Dancing In Stillness, Welcoming Spring!

Elemental Forces Of Creation, meditation, Sacred Dance, Self Care, , , , , , , , ,
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Photo by Stephanie T. Photography

I haven’t posted since the winter solstice. How interesting the first time I’ve been inspired to write again is the first day of spring! I’ve been spending all my time and energy gestating what will be my most beautiful creation, the little love warrior I’ve been dancing into being.

I’m 39 weeks pregnant today, and I’ve been feeling heavy. Mostly physically, but occasionally mentally and spiritually as well. Growing a person is energetically demanding and incredibly grounding. It feels a little too grounding for me at times. Having to slow down (way, way down) and surrender to stillness is a challenge for my fiery nature. I find myself occasionally getting frustrated with my bodies need for so much rest. I usually use activity, especially dance, to move through my emotions and balance my mood.  I was able to dance, move and work with more grace and ease than I expected to, right up until I finished teaching mid February but now seems like the distant past. This last month has been a process of accepting that in order to honor my body and take care of myself and the baby, I need to let go of the need I normally have to sweat it out.  I’m trying to remember I can get my dance on it other ways.

This morning, when I awoke and thought about the day ahead, time stretched out in a seemingly endless fashion before me. I’ve finished my to-do list, and the empty time seemed daunting. Then I found in my email inbox the first day of a new 21 day meditation experience with Deepak and Oprah called Shedding The Weight: Mind, Body and Spirit that I had signed up for a few weeks ago. Today’s meditation was called ‘Finding The Lightness In Your Life.’ It was amazing, beautiful and perfect timing as the The sun just moved into Aries and the wheel of the year has just turned to Spring. Personally, I really, really needed the reminder.

I don’t have a daily sitting meditation practice, but I’ve been meditating in some form for about 17 years and it never ceases to amaze me how beautiful it can be. I so often choose movement meditation over one sitting in stillness and I forget how good stillness can be. In today’s meditation, the mantra quickly fell away and I saw myself shedding the heavy, dense energy that had hardened around me over the last while. It cracked off in bits and pieces, revealing the brilliant light body underneath. I was reminded we are all the embodiment of conscious light, radiant stars that come to play and learn in this dense physical realm. I felt connected to all light everywhere in the universe and could feel myself as the rays of the sun shining down on the earth. As this light, I was pure love and compassion, and as I touched the faces of the beings on the planet, my heart overflowed with love for them all. I felt myself as every star in the multiverse, and the unending light of love flowing through every dimension. Back in my body, I could see the light of my daughter glowing within me, a soft golden glow, different in quality from my light, and I was once again reminded she’s coming here to teach me how to love in an even bigger way. I can’t wait to have my heart cracked open to experience these new dimensions of love and to dance with her in my arms.

I’ll be taking a hiatus from teaching until January 2017, but when I return, I will have so much more light and  love to share with you all. I can’t wait to dance with you again! Until then, if you want to get your hoop on, there are still classes happening with Infinity Hoopdance.

Wishing you all a Happy Spring!

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Photo by Stephanie T. Photography

 

 

 

Sweat Your Prayers, Dance For Peace

Challenges, Hoop Dance, Inspiration, Sacred Dance, Self Care, Spirit, Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

 

Last week, I attended a beautiful meditation for world peace on November 11th, 2015. Two days later the Western world was rocked when the terrorists attacked Paris (I only heard about the earlier Beirut attacks after that).

It was so difficult to wrap my mind around.  Violence in the Middle East always seems so far removed, but Paris…. I grew up learning all about France, in school, in countless movies and books, through the food I eat and the wine I drink. I have spent time there, and since I speak French, I feel a kinship with the place, in a way I don’t always feel with the far flung reaches of the globe where I’ve never been.

The news of the attacks hit me, and a whole lot of people I know hard. I cried, and wondered how it could happen, why and how could we stop it from happening again? What can we do? I became more educated about what has been happening in other areas of the world, the things our media doesn’t always report and my heart grew heavier still. Then people began reacting in fear,  with many condemning the people who need our compassion the most and my heart felt like it might break.

I refuse to let this harden my heart, or to change what I believe. I know that peace is possible, but we will never defeat darkness and hate with more of the same. Only light can drive out the darkness and only love can conquer fear and hate. This world needs more love, not less. More compassion, not less. More understanding of each others humanity, not alienation and xenephobia.

These terrorists use, well, terror because their hearts are hurting so badly that lashing out in anger is the only thing that might bring them some relief from the pain of their lives. How many of us can even comprehend suffering of that magnitude. Their pain is immense and must seem practically insurmountable.

I, and so many of the people around me are lucky enough to have lives filled with joy and love. Our basic needs are beyond met and we have the room in our lives for fun, and creative self expression. Heck, I get to dance for a living, and dancing is my living praying. It’s how I connect with all that is. It fills me up with so much love and joy that it just burst out of me.

I am lucky enough to be able to facilitate this joyful movement for others as well. In my Hoop Flow class last night, our theme was Dancing Your Essence. We were moving with the intention of expressing our unique light. We moved through several exercises, including Sway and some blindfolded hoopdance, and went into a 25 minute dance journey with a wide variety of music, allowing our bodies to move and interpret the tracks in whatever way authentically arose. We moved through melancholy, desperate, sad music into the hopeful, happy and joyful. You could feel the energy in the room shift, and the happier the music, the higher the vibration. People were grinning from ear to ear, myself included as I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for this kind of healing tool .

After a short rest, we concluded our dance journey with a song dedicated to world peace. With our intention, we filled up our hearts with so much love that it just couldn’t be contained, and then sent it out into the world around us. This was the track we danced to: https://soundcloud.com/revolvr/youve-got-the-love-remix

We can begin to change the world by starting with our own hearts. First emptying them out, through our movement, sweat and tears. Then filling them up with so much love and light that it just spills out of you. Then from that place of fullness, you can go out into the world to do your work. Obviously it isn’t enough to just pray and dance. There is work to do on the ground. This is how I start though. This is how I do my healing work for my own heart, filling it with love, music, movement, joy, compassion, community and gratitude. This is also part of my work out in the world. Helping others fill  up their hearts, filling up their cup so it’s overflowing with love, so they too can go out into the wider world and meet all those they meet with love as well, treating each person with dignity, respect and compassion.

It starts right here, and begins with you.  Paraphrasing the wise words of Gabrielle Roth, healing happens when you lovingly move through your pain, sweat your prayers and let go of the past. Once we have done this, our hearts are open, full of love and  we can work together to create peace on earth.

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Having an Artgazm!

Adventures, Hoop Dance, Inspiration, , , , , ,

It’s probably no secret at this point that I love to dance (with or without my hoops), but I especially love to dance in gorgeous, interesting places. I often find myself inspired by my surroundings, moving in new and different ways! Well, last night I was lucky enough to shoot some promo material at the gorgeous Art Gallery of Alberta!

By WinterE229 (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
By WinterE229 (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Talk about inspiring surroundings!!!

I am booked to perform at the upcoming  Refinery: Shadow Play at the Gallery on November 15th, and the program co-coordinator (who happens to be a friend of mine) offered some time rehearsing in the space. How could I say no to that? I had literally dreamed of dancing in the space before and it was a great chance to collaborate with a fellow artist, photographer and dancer, Nixie Olivia from Sprite Photography.

Nixie captured this great shot of me in front of the mural in Manning Hall, Jill Stanton’s Strange Dream, a  fantastic wonderland cartoon landscape that starts out in black and white, with just splash of color in the center. Dancing with the piece, allowing it to inform my movement, felt like a conversation between us, which I think the artist intended. The notes on the mural say “This strange and evocative landscape draws viewers into the space, inspiring questions of how we look at our environment and how our environment can affect one’s subconscious.”

Sprite Photography
Sprite Photography

Having the chance to interact with, rather than just view the piece gave me a much more visceral experience of the art itself, that completely changed my appreciation for the work.

If you’d like to see what I mean and come dance with this ‘ dense, immersive and dreamlike forest vista’ with references to ‘dreams, hallucinations and altered states of consciousness’, tickets are still available for the  AGA Refinery.  If you can’t make it, you can still view the exhibition until December 31st, 2014 (and as it’s in the lobby, it’s free to see!!!)

Artist In Residence

Adventures, Inspiration, , , ,

What is an artist in residence you ask?

Well, it’s my classy new job title. Sounds fancy, doesn’t it.

dani altiere inc

I’m so excited and honored to be working with the amazing, hilarious and inspiring Dani Altiere, at Dani Altiere Inc, providing performing arts residencies at Elementary schools around the city. We offer dance, drama and gymnastics residencies and my focus currently is on the gymnastics/acrobatics side of things. I started shadowing Dani this week and honestly, it was even more fun that I had imagined.

I’ve only worked with kids occasionally, so this is a whole new experience for me, but Dani is so gifted with them and they love her so much, I’m just trying to absorb all her wisdom and energy (as well as the rhymes and funny voices). I have a couple more weeks training with her and then I’ll be unleashed upon the children of Edmonton all on my own (teaching Dani’s fantastic curriculum, with her support, of course)

Movement arts like dance and gymnastics enriched my life so much as a kid, I’m beyond thrilled to be able to share that joy with the little people who appreciate it most. Seeing the looks on their faces when they managed to do a roll or a cartwheel for the first time, the hugs they gave me at the end of the week and their shouts that gymnastics is the best, and I should come back and be their gym teacher year round made getting up early and immersing myself into morning rush hour traffic totally, 100% worth it.

I’m so excited to be moving in this new direction professionally, sharing the joyful movement revolution with the beautiful crystal and rainbow kids that are here to show the world how to love. My heart is exploding with gratitude for this opportunity.

All I had to do was ask for it.

Seriously. I literally asked the universe for a new opportunity to share my gifts with the planet and two or three days later, this is what it came up with, when I ran in to Dani at the Art Walk. It’s amazing how gracefully it can all unfold when you open yourself up to receive all the awesome that is your birthright as a being of light, dancing through life.

Teacher friends, if you’re interested in bringing a dance, theatre or gymnastics residency at your school, take a peek at http://danialtiereartistatlarge.com/

 

Using the Virgo New Moon

Astrology, Elemental Forces Of Creation, , , , ,

Johfra-Bosschart-Virgo

The new moon is always a potent time to plant the seeds of creation, and today the new moon happens to be in Virgo (with the Sun in Virgo as well). Double Virgo must be why I’ve been so incredibly productive today when it comes to checking things off my list, and getting practical, administrative business details dealt with. That’s usually not my favorite jam, but after a 3 hour dance rehearsal today (for my new job which I’ll tell you about soon), I sat down an my computer, turned on a Spotify working playlist (Spotify where have you been all my life?? Seriously, how did I just start using this?), and worked for hours on a bunch of loose ends I’ve been needing to tie up. I also created a new facebook page for this website and my workshops, which you can like here.

I had actually forgotten it was the new moon completely, but boy have I been tapped into the Virgo priestess energy. The Virgo priestess archetype honors the sacred in the mundane daily tasks that need to be done. She’s a pro at getting things organized. In fact, very little thrills many of my Virgo friends more than making lists and checking things off them. It goes deeper than just crossing off tasks. Way deeper. According to Kari Samuels, intuitive counselor and happiness coach:

With the sun and moon in earthy Virgo, this month is all about reinventing your lifestyle so you can create a life that is pleasing to your senses as well as your soul. This new moon is particularly powerful because we have a conjunction of Mars (passion) and Saturn (practicality) that comes only once every two years. When these two powerhouses come together you get a marriage of desire-fueled ambition with common-sense action. Together, they help you build your dreams from the ground up.

I’m in the middle of changing my lifestyle and my livelihood right now, so I am going to ride this energy as hard as I can. That new job I mentioned is a super exciting game changer for me. I’m going to be an artist in residence with Dani Altier Inc, offering gymnastics, acrobatics and dance residencies at elementary schools starting this fall!

If you had asked me even two years ago if I would be interested in working with kids the answer would have been a no. Ten years ago, it would have been a HELL no! My how things (and people) change!

It all came about in a magical way as well. My hours at the restaurant were dropping because of how slow it is in the summer and I told the universe to bring me some other income making opportunities where I could share my gifts with the world. Then a few days later, I ran into Dani with my hoops at the Art Walk. She was with some friends of one of my friends, having a dance party to the techno music playing in the park with this gorgeous little girl. I went over to say hi and wound up hoop dancing for this lovely year and half year old with the most amazing blue eyes. She was mesmerized and had a great time when I let her play with my hoops. This chance encounter seems even more magical when I learned Dani had been asking the universe to send an someone her way. Someone who could teach her units proficiently but didn’t have too much experience (so they would still need her). Her online job posting says “The right candidate is the rare mix of part Artist, part Educator and part Entertainer.

The universe definitely conspired to have us cross paths! It’s funny, even thought my hoops brought us together, this isn’t a hoop dance adventure.

It’s going to be an exciting new chapter in my life, and I can’t wait. We started with rehearsals today. It will be an interesting transition as I juggle staying on part time at the restaurant, with these new residencies and balancing my own workshops and healing practice, but I have the tools to stay on track. Working with the wheel of the year, the sun, the moon, and the elemental forces gives me the structure to take  grounded, rhythmic steps to integrate all of these separate elements and dance my dreams into being.

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Dance. It Makes You Better.

Hoop Dance, Inspiration, Sacred Dance, , , , , ,

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This awesome stencil that I found somewhere on facebook really says it all. I don’t know where it came from (if it’s yours or you know who I can attribute it to, please let me know). But it’s so succinct, I had to share.

‘Every time I dance, I turn into a better version of me’.

Here’s an example:

A couple years ago, two days before my wedding, I was getting a little stressed out about the details. I was snappy, defensive and felt like everything was a looming disaster.  My husband and sister couldn’t talk me down, so they just handed me a hoop and said “Dance! We’ll be back in an hour or so. Just dance it out.”

Of course after 15 minutes of moving to music everything seemed right in the world again. An hour later, I couldn’t even remember what I had been upset about.  (BTW, I wasn’t a bridezilla at all. That was one of only two times I kind of freaked out. I was a chill bride, I swear!)

Anyway. Some people run to blow off steam, some people knit. I love to dance, with or without my hoops because it makes me better in every way, every time I do it.

It’s great exercise obviously, and it gets all your endorphins going, so you feel good doing it (and afterwards), but unlike just running or doing yoga, I get to be creative. It’s easy to drop into that beautiful flow state  that sends my conscious mind to the back burner while my body and spirit take the wheel. I feel a sense of peace and oneness that transcends the personal experience I’m having and puts me in touch with the greater picture.

Dancing makes me happy. It feels celebratory. Or, it can feel incredibly emotional in other ways; sad, angry, lonely, scared… But dancing out those emotions is so cathartic that it swings back to happy. Or at least peaceful.

For years, whenever I’ve asked for guidance (from above, from my inner self, from the universe, which ever), the message I almost invariably receive is ‘Dance!’.

Not only does it make me better, it makes the world better. Every time you dance, you make the world a better place. Even if it’s a dance of sadness, of pain, of anger or frustration, it makes the world better.

Dancing is the expression of your essence. As you move, you let yourself be known.

“Dance is the only art of which we ourselves are the stuff of which it is made.”

Ted Shawn

This art, this essence expression makes you a better version of yourself. Every time you move authentically, you level up at life. You are here to be you. Every time you dance, you let your soul qualities shine through. Through dance, you  allow your most radiant self to shine through.

“As we let our light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence actually liberates others.”- Marianne Williamson

 

Imagine a world where everyone allowed their most radiant inner light shine through.

What would that look like?

What would that feel like?

Imagining it gives me  warm fuzzies and chills all at the same time.

Our joyful movement raises the collective vibration and illuminates the world.

Our dance is revolutionary.

“Just Dance.”

-Lady Gaga

I’ll leave you with a great hoop dance jam I had the other day.

I found some music that moved me, almost to tears and I had to hoop it out.

Lessons From Movement Meditation Challenge (How This Challenge Changed My Life)

Challenges, Inspiration, Sacred Dance, , , ,

I challenged myself to do a movement mediation every morning for a week.

I had no idea when I accepted said challenge I would be taking on something so life changing and monumental! The second day of in, I wrote this post ‘I didn’t expect so much Awesome!’ http://wp.me/p32wA4-3x

Unlike the junk food challenge which ended exactly seven days after it began, this challenge is going to be extended indefinitely.

It transformed almost immediately from a challenge into a practice, and I can’t imagine starting my day without it already.

Every morning practice has been different. Sometimes I spend a lot of time just shimmying, stretching and breathing into any places in my body that are sore. Sometimes I wind up rolling around on the floor and there were a few times I wound up incorporating my hoop.

Whenever I am fully absorbed in the movement, in flow- my mind seems to quiet and open to messages from my inner wisdom and from the universe. I received a lot of affirmations and inspiration. There were also many messages about opening to and embracing the divine feminine. I spent a lot of time sending love and gratitude to my body when I was moving and stretching. I found that when I touched my skin as I danced, gently tracing my body with hands and genuinely appreciating the beauty of my spirit’s  earthly container I would fall deeper into a joyful and peaceful ecstatic meditation. It was the kind of blissful union of mind, body and spirit that breaks the heart open and spills love out through the world.

I did notice that it was much harder to have the transcendental meditative experience if anyone else was around. I’m a little too self-conscious and easily distracted.  I don’t have a private space yet, but I will in a few months, so it was easy to accept that on mornings when my stepdaughter or husband were around I was going to spend more time stretching and grounding into my body rather than dancing in ecstatic union with the divine. Either way, it was still a fantastic way to start the day!

Going to bed knowing I will have that time to myself in the morning to process whatever I need to process lets me sleep more easily. My body feels better, more open and less stiff. I spend a little time stretching now every day, instead of just thinking “I really should stretch later!”

I also find that I am far happier, more centered and grounded throughout the rest of the day. It’s not like this is shocking, I suppose I expected that, but actually feeling the difference it makes to my mood and to my stability is incredible. I also feel far more creative and excited about life! I am super grateful that I am finally in a place where I am ready to commit to having a daily joyful movement practice ’cause it really is so much awesome. What’s even more exciting is that I know I’m just scratching the surface, and that there will always be more to discover and ways to go deeper and deeper, with more to discover!534254_354664434622396_1395651147_n

Wasn’t Expecting So Much Awesome!

Challenges, Inspiration, Sacred Dance, Wisdom from Within, , , , ,
NASA , ESA and H.Richer(UBC)
NASA , ESA and H.Richer(UBC)

When I woke up this morning I was more than a little annoyed at myself for setting up this movement meditation challenge.

All I wanted to do was settle into my normal day off routine of drinking jasmine green tea and eating breakfast while catching up on whatever happened online while I was sleeping.

As I was turning on the music (Bass Yoga vol. 1 -by HumenNature) to start my half hour practice, I actually said to my husband “I think I’m gonna hate this!”

I was stiff, sore and wanted nothing more than to stay in bed and be lazy. It’s C-41 outside, and I could feel the cold seeping in from the windows. The living room was chilling and seemed unwelcoming.

I stood barefoot in the center of the room, bundled up in sweats and a bunny hug, hood up- shielding me from the sun and the cold. I didn’t feel like moving at all, so  I closed my eyes and listened to the music, which opened with a soft and droning synth, and the sound of the ocean. It drew me into myself, and my breath deepened. The first long notes of the flute touched me  and I felt a deep yearning… A desire for comfort and connection. The melody lifted me away, out of that feeling and into something more like curiosity. I began to move, almost imperceptibly at first.

My attention was drawn to the cold stiffness in my hips, and I rocked them, swaying in a figure 8 pattern, holding my hands to my heart. The movements were smaller than I have ever made, it almost felt like I was merely imagining the movement, but heat started to gather in my muscles and they began to relax. The figure 8 my hips were drawing with their movement grew larger and my hands began to float upwards, rolling and twisting, gathering energy and bringing it back down to my core.

Everything felt deep, slow and easy. I had dreaded moving vigorously so early in my day and a flood of relief washed over me when I realized I didn’t have to. I could spend the whole time rocking gently side to side if I wanted. My movement meditation had no rules and once I surrendered my expectations of dancing and stretching, I could simply be present in my body and see how it guided me.

I spent quite a bit of time with these quiet, small movements; rolling my shoulders and chest with my feet planted firmly to the ground. As I warmed up, I moved more freely and played close to the ground as well as up on my toes, reaching for the sky.  I moved and swayed, stretched and dance. The pace of movement was languid and relaxed.  When I looked up at the time, I was amazed half an hour had already passed.  I considered continuing on but chose hop in the shower and reflect on the experience. Not to mention, I was getting hungry.

When I stopped I felt energized, grounded and at peace- completely ready to face my day. I was also incredibly excited to try it again tomorrow, because not only did it feel fantastic, but because I had so many flashes of insight-  Ideas that are going to guide this project and create new ones as well. The whole thing was inspiring, fun, joyful, uplifting and made my body feel amazing. I felt more present and aware than I ever do that early in the day. Those 30 minutes exceeded my expectations in every way and I’m so grateful and happy it actually brought a tear to my eye.

I’ve spent so much time knowing how important movement is to me personally, and years ago  I vowed to cultivate a daily practice, but hadn’t had the courage or discipline to start (or perhaps I just wasn’t ready). I knew intuitively it would be a powerful tool, but I was blown away by its potential today. This is a game changer.

It’s going to change me.

I’m not exactly sure how, but I can feel it coming.

I feel open and ready to receive all the wisdom and gifts this practice is going to bring, and I’m so excited. I never thought I’d be jazzed about getting up early, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow already. Just thinking about it has all the cells in my body literally radiating with joyful excitement. It’s a crazy buzz and this is going to be a crazy ride.

Love falling for the Sky by Ventry cc by 3.0
Love falling for the Sky by Ventry cc by 3.0