workshop: in the name of love

this past friday night and most of saturday and sunday, i participated in a workshop. technically it was 5 rhythms. in the name of love, a heart-beat level (dealing with emotions) workshop, taught by my friend lori smullin.

the topic was fear, something we all experience in many guises--caution, anxiety, panic, dread, and so on. fear can freeze us, stop us, make us doubt ourselves, and it can protect us.

we danced with fear. we moved with it, feeling it in our bodies and yet keeping moving. as lori said, flowing is the antidote to fear. just keep breathing, keep moving.

we were asked to ask ourselves four questions:

what is this [fear] as just energy?

what do i know about it?

how does it move in me?

is this true?

the latter is particularly helpful, because the habits that prolong fear comes from the stories we tell ourselves about it, or about ourselves, or about the world, and those stories may not be true.

lori taught us a sufi technique of self-soothing. brush down the sternum with fingertips to dispel fear. this activates the heart chakra (my interpretation).

she also taught us the mudra of courage: to sit cross-legged like for meditation, and to cross the arms in front of the chest, with loose fists, thumbs outside, right arm over left arm at the center of the chest.

(a mudra is a hand gesture used in meditation, like making a circle with forefinger and thumb, with other three fingers extended--the classic mudra for sobriety. google mudras if you want to learn more.)

we had a lot of fun! one thing i learned was that when i was asked to move in unfamiliar ways, it became play, and when i joined with another person moving in an unfamiliar way, it became play.

in lori's map, darkness is the mystery, light is love, and the shadow is the gray area where things are muddy and unclear.

i had dinner with lori and others last night, and lori expressed how pleased she was with how we did. she wondered if fear was going to be "too heavy". she helped us make it light. thanks, lors!