Green

I'm flying to the Åland Islands tomorrow, the islands of peace, looking for magic dust.

The green belt is, as I see it to be, all about mastering the craft of teaching. 
It is now the time to learn how to get all the juice out of my teaching, to be able to deliver the best classes I can possible teach, to bring as many people as I can reach back into their bodies (and many other beautiful side effects, unique to each person). Only they can do that, granted, but a good teacher should be able to show the way.

Luckily for me I had plenty of good teachers in my life, and my spirit and my body are calling me to be impeccable and compassionate with my teaching too. 
Green, let's go.

Whaaat?

You know when you read or hear something, and you know it to be true but can't explain how or why you know? 
The first time I read this paragraph I was sitting in the sun, waiting for my morning bus to take me to work. And I started laughing, a big belly, shoulder-shaking laughter. For three reasons; a) what I just read was beautiful b) I found it to be true c) it's so apparently annoyingly contradictory that it's funny. Big funny business, Zen is. Gong!

"The way is to climb, the way is to lie still..."

I climb up two short flights of stairs and I'm in the dojo.

My way these days is to lie still, to close my eyes inhaling the slightly musty scent off the tatami mats and to be RAW. 

Setting my music player on shuffle, I try and create a state of "no inner dialogue" by being in a Relaxed body, Alert mind, and Waiting spirit.

Now, the shuffle setting is a hoot because sometimes I listen to favourites like Nina Simone's Sinnerman, Fleet Foxes' Your Protector, or The Pixies' Levitate Me and other times tunes less conducive to RAW will come up such as Aphex Twin's 4 or Pink Floyd's Careful With That Axe, Eugene.

Still, if the suspension of judgement and inner dialogue were easy, there would be no point in the practice. So I practice, and I observe in mild and amused despair how much inner dialogue comes up, how many little stories about likes and dislikes I tell myself, and just how much daydreaming I get lost into.

Nia's practice of RAW is difficult for me, and it also does me good.

I recently read Bruce Lee's take on RAW:

'Do not be tense, just be ready, not thinking but not dreaming, not being set but being flexible. It is being "wholly" and quietly alive, aware and alert, ready for whatever may come'.

Sounds good to me.

Celebrating what it is

I am excited about things, and people, and tea.
This morning, after the shower, I looked at my body for more than 2 minutes. I have adventures coming up in June, and hopefully July. Maybe I wanted to check if my body would be up to it; I am going to be demanding strength, and stamina, and smoothness and attractiveness. So I looked.

And this is what I found. My hair is definitely showing silver, I found a few sparkling strands, very close to each other, where I had none only a few weeks ago. My skin is also changing and becoming drier and more sensitive. I can't get away with not moisturising everyday. And the stretch marks! They tell my story of gaining weight, and losing it, gaining weight away, and losing it again...
I am getting visibly older. 
As I stood there in front of the mirror I though 'it's good that is so' and then, 'well, even if it isn't good, it's still happening'. I saw my body as it was right then, in that moment, and there was no judgement, and it wasn't good or bad, it just was.

And then, as I brushed my teeth, I sensed the joy of moving my elbow up and down, and my wrist nice and loose. The precision instruments that are my fingers, holding the toothbrush. My mouth sensing the plastic fibres, and tasting the minty toothpaste, and the cleansing friction on my teeth and then it came. The gratefulness.
I'm older, and stronger, and younger, and more fragile, and aware, and alive. My body is good stuff, and it's mine. I'm alive, hot damn!

What's new?

Some things are not for us, some other things are. 

I've always preferred the slightly imperfect, the not-so-new, the time eroded. And that's like me; slightly time eroded, not so new, and most definitely imperfect. And that's fine. 
So I will be kinder with my practice, all my practices. Kind but not indulgent, and practice that_______ (side kick, front block, heel lead, relevé...) again, and again. But not mechanically and wanting to have them over and done with, there won't be a target number to be reached. Instead, I will purposefully and joyfully learn the technique, so I can fly with it later.

I miss having a big adventure, sometimes I miss (the other acceptation of the word) smaller learning opportunities and I mistake them for frustrations or disappointments.

For me it's not the having started young, but the choosing being older. And I chose purpose and joy. Again and again.

Monk laundry

My favourite colour

After all this time, still sitting pretty

Learning on the road,  I was never happier to wake up early

Don't work it, baby

New Year resolutions, anyone? I only have one (which is double); to be in my body, as mindfully and joyfully as possible and to pay more attention to my second brain.

What do I mean?

When information enters the body, a system vital to the successful operation of the body, called the enteric nervous system, kicks in.

The gut, the enteric nervous system, the second brain, plays a key role in getting us to pay attention and is designed to function even without input from the spinal cord and brain. The second brain also produces an immense amount of chemical compounds, including every type of neurotransmitter found in the cranial brain. 

In other words, both brain and gut can be used to help in making choices and decisions. Learn to listen to this second brain and you can live life as someone not only with a thinking mind, but also with a thinking body, and who doesn't like a good thinking body?

So, I've resolved to stop working it so much and to start listening. Let's see what happens...

Take your own measure

My measure wants to get bigger, it wants more movement, more challenge; it wants to get out of its comfort zone.
Fine.
First, we start with a second class a week, putting myself out there in front of people I don't know, sharing my authentic movement with them.
On Tuesday I have a new class, let's get a new measure then.