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Archive for July, 2008

Jul 25

Anita

Beautiful writing from Anita Teresa, 3rd day of the Summer Movement Monastery

The body wants to listen to itself.
It is consciousness relating, reaching out, to consciousness.
It is the same (concept) as “All relating to All,” the “I” corresponding to “I.”
‘For now we see through a mirror darkly, but then we will see face to face.’
The body is consciousness, just as the mind is consciousness. When one layer is peeled away, another version of essence appears, or is revealed.
Is not the body Reality, just as much as any other facet of existence?
This is why the body longs to speak to itself and be heard: it is one and the same conversation partner. It is its own mirror, its own surface reflecting divine nature, and its own pool under the surface. It is substance and essence together, as are all things. To listen to the body–who is doing the listening? Here is found again the puzzle of consciousness–self reflection.

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The body is a prism of constantly shifting mirrors of perception;
A dialogue between lovers;
A parade of universes interacting and merging;
A shower of electrical microcosms rejoicing in themselves;
A feast;
A celebration;
A mesmerizing inner endless dance;
A miracle.

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Jul 18

Time in a Body

In regular Dancemeditation practice I am with myself through an ever-growing awareness of self. The infinity of self and Self is real. Each day, doing the same thing, I feel differences: the day is different; how the day’s differences entwine with my body is different. The day changes me; perhaps I change the day. Certainly I grow slightly older, but what does that mean? I am more sensitive, more awake. I let go more. That is clear. Is that what it means to be older? Am I in motion less, or more? It feels like more, but is it externally, measurably less? And understanding––I understand large, blunt matters better, meanwhile subtle inchoate mysteries mushroom everywhere.
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Growing older, without a doubt, is this:
my capacity to perceive my infinity is proportionate to my awareness that my time on earth is finite.

Jul 6

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Journal Crafting & Expansion

Journal Crafting complimented our Dancemeditation work at the recent Summer Movement Monastery…I think of Kate (Temple-West, herbalist extraordinaire and Dancemeditator), who conducted our session that evening, as I continue on with the wildly unfolding journey with my journal. I have gotten quite elaborate in the pages now, as well as taken to adding pockets where needed. (They are always needed, for interesting articles, or notes & phrases jotted on loose scraps of paper.) Also I’ve gotten into ornamenting re-cycled tea tins and Burt’s Bees salve tins that can be used for…what? Something dry. More tea perhaps, or pens, or cotton balls. If I was an herbalist, dried herbs. Maybe I can coil up my veils and each one can have its own tea tin perfumed with slivers of fragrant sandalwood….Dreamy.

This happiness points to the subject of Contraction and Expansion. I talk about this often in longer retreats as it is fundamental spiritual process of Dancemeditation. Contraction and Expansion have their roots in Sufism and refer to an oscillation of efforts and energetic states. The Contraction period is where we apply undivided attention to the practice we are engaged in (in Dancemeditation this might include Slow Movement, Breath Dances, and other movement mantras) and pursue a deepening inner-ness. This a process is common to many meditation traditions; in Dancemeditation, we actively fold in embodiment. These Contraction efforts draw us away from habituated patterning and tend to result in a sense of detachment from known signposts of identity and self-ness. This initial detachment might be uncomfortable; perhaps the body feels overly tight-skinned, overly electrified; emotions can be edgy and raw; or one might feel listless, awash, scattered, to name a few of the temporary states. Contraction must be tolerated, however, in order to arrive at a fresh perspective and to heal.

The Expansion that will inevitably follow at some point, if not right away, is a period of clarity, renewal, and creativity. It is generally characterized by a sense of well-being, heightened energy, abundant creativity, and freedom from emotional reactivity or at least freedom from feeling snared in a reactivity.

Expansion. I am in that phase.

Jul 2

group dancemeditation

Inversion

In yoga, inversion means upside down. In dance, it means taking the way a dancer characterizes a motion and doing its opposite: my arm reaches high in the front, so perhaps a leg might reach low in back. This sounds dull. Today I played Bach and did inversion upon inversion, and it was not at all dull. Read more