Tag Archives: Gratitude

Uncategorized

In Appreciation of My Many Teachers

2 Comments

JRC13 92013

Jason Alan Griffin, this is what you stimulated last weekend.

Saturday’s class reminded me of a dynamic I had left behind. Along with that dynamic movement of energy was the pleasure I had also forgotten often accompanied the experience. I moved differently. I spent time not knowing. I left Saturday’s class at Jill Campana’s Sacred Space happily tired. I didn’t really want to leave. I didn’t have anything to say, I just felt resistance to driving home when I did. I felt as though I was leaving something there. I’m sure it had nothing at all to do with Jill’s warm and open hospitality at Sacred Space as well as the love that is palpable in the home she and Frank have created!

On Saturday I danced for myself and the joy of being in community.

Sunday’s class came. While I had indulged myself at Jill’s, I was a bit more outwardly focused during Sunday night’s class. The result was a double-edged blade (as most experiences are). Jason poured an enormous amount of energy into every song for our 95 minute class.  That outpouring was enough to ride on and I while I couldn’t put my finger on why I smiled through both of Jason’s classes, I knew there was a connection.

On Sunday night, I noticed Jason’s teaching style, transitions between moves and songs, cueing skill and material embodiment. As a Nia teacher, this guy is a great Nia teacher. It was what he brought as a human being that made it an extraordinary experience for me.

Fast forward to…

Pam Berk and Velvet last Saturday morning at 9 am. Play time! In Green belt I remember being told to follow what the teacher did, even if she or he wasn’t teaching it exactly as it was designed and I think about that when I take another teacher’s class. (Sometimes I’m so literal!) One of the most wonderful gifts I receive from Pam is her generosity and willingness to give me room to discover. She brings her own wonderful creativity, but she also invites her students to dive into their own body’s creativity.

I’ve discovered so many ways to move familiar choreography in Pam’s classes.

And in Kendra Dicker-Deutsch’s classes.

And in Jenny Rogers’ classes.

And in Jill Campana’s classes.

Stephaney Robinson (Abilon)

Carlos AyaRosas

Debbie Rosas Stewart

Ann Christiansen

Ken Gilbert

Dana Kalombo

Kari Wynn

Jill Factor

Jamie Klausing

Kim LeClair

Kathleen de Miranda

Myrna Weinman

Denise Medved (my White belt trainer)

Sara Shafran

Sandi Oppenheimer

Trish Humenensky

Kathy Rink

Jenn Cesario

and

To every single one of my students. To those of you who have been with me from the beginning. To those of you who walked in, got halfway through the first song and left. To those of you who are anywhere in between the two!

You have all influenced me in some way. I have learned from you all and you have my gratitude.

Uncategorized

Awareness of Exquisite Awareness of Awareness of Nothing

Leave a comment

Drum Kit Empty But for Potential

Yesterday was a momentous day – did you not feel it? Did the ground beneath you not vibrate even the tiniest?

Did the air not make it easier for you to breath – even if just for a split second?

I am in afterglow.

Until this morning I had not found the words. This morning I read a Facebook post by my friend, Black belt sister, visionary life poet and vocalist extraordinaire Beth Noelle (did I overdo it a bit? GOOD!). Beth shared Nothing’s Gonna Change Your World, the blog post by Riikka Rajamaki and published by http://www.rebellesociety.com/2013/03/29/nothings-gonna-change-your-world/

and the rains came and the words poured forth – even before I had finished reading.

Purpose has little to do with society. I’ve been searching for this statement.

I have spent recent time wanting something so badly I could throw up. Wanting something so badly, I was ready to lose myself again. The greatest gift was that I didn’t get it. What I got was exquisite awareness.

After a lifetime of blurred identity; of keeping up. After a lifetime of flinching whenever speaking my own name.

When I let go of the ‘shoulds’, when I agreed to no longer agree. When I stepped into another level of the ‘walk’. When I chose to no longer puppet for someone else’s demons (I’ve plenty of my own, thank you very much!). When I let my eyes close and breath leave me.

Only when I could see nothing in front of me, was there something to see.

Only when I let my self do what, at least for now, I’m here to do was there something to do.

Yesterday I completed creation on The Alchemy of Awareness (The Gift of Intimacy) – Body Awareness.

I completed it just before I sent it out in it’s Week 5 installment to the 13 fearless and generous souls who not only agreed to this trial, but paid me for it!!

While I hope it was brilliant and life-changing, I will not be disappointed if it is not. It is here and here it can blossom. I have come to the realization, without arrogance or defensiveness, that what I shared could not have been received through a degree. The highest caliber schools would have set me on a different path where there is no nothing and the volume is up too high. This I had to come to on my own. This is the value of life.

Lofty, grand words aren’t they? No. They are basic – life in it’s simplest terms. That is what my work is about. Base? Animal? Instinctive? Intelligent? Out of the realm of the cerebral? It is none of those. It is all of those.

For those of you who truly value life – this Bud’s for you. HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.

For those of you who want to explore life on a nothing level – this work is for you. If you haven’t got time – you missed the point.

This is the BE-ing.

No trying. No striving. No DO-ing.

If you want something, go get it – by not. Do the preparation with the intention of expansion. While you prep for this, at what you arrive may look different.

What you need will never be yours until you don’t need it anymore.

Nothing, indeed, is going to change my life.

Thank you, Beth.