experience

Today I was making a list of the various modalities I have at least some experience with for health, energy, awareness, personal growth, relating, and changework. I was shocked at how long it was!

I have either worked with trained practitioners, received training myself, attended classes/workshops/practice groups, read books or watched videos, or taught these modalities.

I'm going to start with the body-based and energy modalities. I excluded Pilates, snorkeling, kayaking, hiking, etc--practices that are for fitness and recreation only. This list is about healing, increasing awareness, improving energy. These practices can also affect mental/emotional state profoundly, since everything is connected:
massage (Swedish, Shiatsu, Thai)
traditional chiropractic
NUCCA chiropractic
cranio-sacral therapy
rolfing
acupuncture
osteopathy
zero balancing
Feldenkrais--one on one, Awareness Through Movement classes
Alexander Technique
physiosynthesis
yoga--mostly Iyengar, also at least one class in Sivananda, Integral, Anusara, Vinyasa Flow, Kundalini
breathwork
chakra work
Z-health
EFT
hands-on healing
Brain Gym

These are primarily dance-related:
5 rhythms
trance dance
contact improv

These involve food and nutrition and absorption:
candida clearing
diet--food sensitivities, pH, doshas
organ cleansing--colon, liver, gallbladder
fasting

These modalities are more about shifting state and changing patterns:
NLP (waaaayyy too much to list under this umbrella)
hypnosis/trancework
shamanic practices (journeying, Ha prayer, energy cleansing, yana chaqui, pico pico breathing, and more)
12 states of attention
nightwalking/peripheral walking
holographic repatterning
meditation
japalm/mantra
deeksha

These are therapeutic types of experiences:
therapy for PTSD/Waking the Tiger
re-evaluation counseling/co-counseling

These are systems for understanding types of people:
Enneagram
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Life Prints fingerprint analysis

And these are miscellaneous:
InterPlay
Tarot
astrology
journaling
dreamwork
hanging upside down
using a spine aligner
toning

There are probably more that I can't think of now.

I have spent a great deal of time and money obtaining most of these experiences. They have all been of benefit and a joy to experience. Some have become life practices. Some have been specific for a given situation. Some are occasional treats.

I'd like to put this life experience to good use. If you have a question about any of these or want a referral in Austin (a few in Dallas), please feel free to contact me.

poem: head of the year, by marge piercy

thanks to keith kachtick at dharma yoga for sharing this poem in class yesterday and sending it to me this morning.

this poem was originally written for the jewish "head of the year," rosh hashanah. it's a day of repentance and significantly, the year starts with a new moon, a time of turning inward.

for more on this holiday, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosh_Hashanah.

i liked find this out: "During the afternoon of the first day the practice of tashlikh is observed, in which prayers are recited near natural flowing water, and one's sins are symbolically cast into the water."

i recommend dharma yoga for the fullness of the practice there, the depth and breadth of the teachings. it's also fun! get there early! my class yesterday was packed and wonderful. keith and camilla are amazing and brilliant teachers.

click title to go to the dharma yoga website. i'm adding it to my links as well.

here's the poem:


Head of the Year
by Marge Piercy

The moon is dark tonight, a new
moon for a new year. It is
hollow and hungers to be full.
It is the black zero of beginning.

Now you must void yourself
of injuries, insults, incursions.
Go with empty hands to those
you have hurt and make amends.

It is not too late. It is early
and about to grow. Now
is the time to do what you
know you must and have feared
to begin. Your face is dark
too as you turn inward to face
yourself, the hidden twin of
all you must grow to be.

Forgive the dead year. Forgive
yourself. What will be wants
to push through your fingers.
The light you seek hides
in your belly. The light you
crave longs to stream from
your eyes. You are the moon
that will wax in new goodness.

dream dance

if you have a dream that feels significant but has you stumped, i highy recommend going to trance dance with the dream fresh in mind, with an intent to get more out of it. or you could do this on your own, by yourself.

move through the entire dream in your dance. make the same movements and gestures you did in the dream. face and change direction just like you did in the dream. walk, lie down, raise your arm, make the same facial expressions just as you did in the dream. you can pantomime running or sitting in a chair if not practical. be safe if you're trance dancing with a blindfold and others in the room!

take your time. repeat parts that don't flow until they do.

you will notice more. perhaps new details appear, new associations connect, awareness of where in your body you feel it grows.

then forget the dream and just dance.

when the dance is over, lie still and notice what comes into your mind. you may have images or words or feeling that seem totally unrelated to the dream come into your experience--and something new will connect.

this happened to me last night at dream dance. i moved through the dream, repeating one part maybe 20 times to get through its stickiness. (by stickiness, i mean some part of the dream that seems difficult to get through, for instance a brief scene that felt ominous when i danced it, as in "there's something i don't want to see/know behind that door.")

then i just danced.

afterwards, seemingly unrelated thoughts and feelings came to mind, and i had an AHA! moment about one of these feelings, connecting it to an emotional pattern that goes way back for me, a thread running through certain relationships.

to start changing the pattern, write it down 3 times, and then write down what you want to feel 3 times in as many ways as you can.

for example, write "i feel so hurt and cheated" 3 times.

then write "i feel so loved and cherished" 3 times.

write "i feel so honored and respected" 3 times.

write "i feel so awake and alive" 3 times.

keep writing until you run out.

my belief is that you have ALL these feelings in your repertoire, but somewhere along the line, you got stuck in a story that emphasized some feelings at the expense of others.

you can unstick your story!

honor your dream, your dance, and your fullness of being.

feet and earth

what is the relationship of your feet to the earth?

this is one of the most important connections you can make, in my opinion and in my experience.

walking, standing, sitting, lying, bring your attention to the soles of your feet and their energy.

the more attention you give, the more you notice.

love your feet! ask them what they want. they are amazing and often ignored body parts with a lot to say.

yoga journal and sally kempton

i just added yoga journal to my list of favorite links (scroll down to view), and you can click the title of this post to go to yoga journal's website as well.

i subscribe to their emails about yoga--they come from the tabs on the home page--practice, wisdom, health, lifestyle. you can also look up poses on the site.

i get the paper magazine at home and hang onto old issues for their practice sequences and other goodies. i tapeflag articles to refer to later.

i particularly enjoy reading sally kempton's articles, mostly under the wisdom tab. i just love, love, love her groundedness in communicating about a subject in which there is so much misconception and woo-woo. she rings true.

plus i dreamed i was turning into an angel after reading her wisdom on prayer.

today i was inspired to add YJ to my blog links and post about it because of one sentence about meditation techniques: "Perhaps the most important thing to remember about any practice is to keep looking for its subtle essence."

this quote is from an article called "points of entry" by swami durgananda under the practice tab.

after i read it, i found out that sally kempton IS swami durgananda! that's her monastic name. and... she's written a book, the heart of meditation: pathways to a deeper experience.

here's a little about it: The book presents principles and practices for opening gateways to the inner world. It offers detailed guidance through the subtle terrain of meditation, and practical methods for living from the heart while integrating spiritual insight with daily life.

i'm going to order it! she's brilliant and a fabulous communicator.

no pain

i woke up monday morning with no pain, stiffness, or tightness anywhere in my body.

that was pretty amazing and unusual.

i attribute it to several things:

--sunday morning, waking up in mini-cabin #3 in buescher state park, i felt sore and stiff all over, so i did yoga. for about an hour. i mostly did the sun salutation, doing each small move slowly, over and over and over, until i felt complete with it.

--wearing my keen crocs on sunday all day. these shoes conform to my soles well, and i can feel the ground through them. oh, for some winter shoes with the same qualities!

--paying attention to my footstrike, particularly to spreading my weight evenly on 3 points: ball of big toe, ball of little toe, and center of heel. rising on toes to get those pads even, and then lowering my heels.

--peripheral walking, both day and night. the eye position somehow lowers the center of gravity into the pelvic bowl. the theory is that it activates the parasympathetic nervous system.

--and of course, all the body work i do--the regular yoga practice and working with patrice who does acupuncture and myofascial release work, the hanging upside down, foot stretches, knee circles and so forth that she has taught me.

may such days come with more frequency, so i may be healed of scoliosis.

feet

Tias Little, yoga teacher and anatomist, writes about the importance of the feet. This in-depth article includes practices you can do that increase awareness. You don't have to be a yogi to benefit.

Walking on uneven surfaces is good for your whole body. Walking on concrete doesn't activate all the little muscles used to keep balance on uneven terrain. These little muscles help keep the whole body pliable and flexible, able to accommodate variations, from the ground up. And what a metaphor that is for life skills!

piko-piko and embryo rising

i went to my monthly cranio-sacral therapy appointment this morning. my therapist, nina davis, has a marvelously refined sense of touch and a deep understanding of the body's rhythms and processes.

i told her about piko-piko breathing, the huna technique that has many variations, but which i primarily use in this way: i breathe in through the crown of my head and fill my body with energy, and breathe that out through the soles of my feet into the earth. then i inhale through my soles, fill my body with energy, and breathe out through the crown into the cosmos. i repeat this cycle many times, not every day, but several times a week.

somewhere in my NLP/shamanic wanderings, i encountered the q'ero belief that breathing in from the crown and out through the feet cleanses the human body of "hucha", heavy energy from being imbalanced with nature that only human beings accumulate.

from what i remember, the q'ero also believe that each of us is energetically connected to the "center of the cosmos", which i can't really imagine, so i interpret it as "the source of being". for some reason, i associate this with individuation.

to breathe from crown to sole is to release what really doesn't belong in our energy bodies into the earth, which neutralizes hucha.

to breathe in from the soles to the crown is to incorporate energy that develops the self and connects us to the source.

so anyway, i was telling nina about this, and then doing it in silence as she was working with my energy. (i should mention that mostly she works with my energy from the head down my spine.)

a little while later, she mentioned becoming aware of a body rhythm she hadn't perceived before in my body. she related it to a "white streak" in a developing embryo, which later becomes the heart and the spine. the rhythm is called "embryo rising" or something like that, and it moves from the base of the spine upwards. and we always have this as one of our subtle rhythms.

it's kinda cool to get an external affirmation of a natural energy flow in the human body (so ignored by western medicine and science) that pertains to the shamanic teachings of indigenous cultures.

she also mentioned getting a stronger impression of my mid-line, mid-tide, and images of the eyes moving from the side of the head to the front in embryo development, while working on me.

it's all fascinating!

Poetry in Motion

Moving Our Body

Our bodies love movement. When we stretch or dance, our bodies adjust, realign and start to become fluid with the rhythm of life. Our mood lifts and we feel more connected with the world around us. If you are feeling stuck, ready to release old energy, or eager to feel more alive, try moving your body. By giving your muscles a chance to do what they were created for, you may find that all areas of your body and your life benefit as well.

Many times we can be so busy that we forget moving our body is even an option. Some of us remain seated at our computer for hours every day or rush from task to task with robotic precision. When we are caught up in crossing items off our to-do lists, we tend to neglect all the opportunities there are to enjoy our bodies in the process of living. If this is true for you, begin looking for opportunities to move. You might try dancing or moving about freely as you clean your home, tend your garden or care for your children. If you are able to devote a set amount of time to self-care, practices such as yoga, dance, tai chi and walking are all great ways to keep your body in motion.

Imagine how freeing it would feel to trust your body’s movements completely, knowing it has a perfect strength and rhythm of its own. See if you can sense your bones providing graceful support, your muscles and tendons expanding and contracting in just the right measure, your lungs changing pace to fill deeply with fresh air. Movement is a vital celebration of life. It is a way to proclaim your own existence and relish in the joy of being alive. Today, and into the future, give yourself the gift of your body in motion.

from today's DailyOM email

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!

5R error

Try saying that 10 times as quickly as you can.

I created a music program for our peer group on Sunday, but my second CD didn't "burn." I didn't test it; I just assumed it burned because the laptop spit it out as if it had.

Played warmup, flowing, and half of staccato, switched CDs-----and nothing happened. Lisa had to finish out my program from some of her 5R CDs that she just happened to have handy.

So...I get to do the program again on April 20, our last dance together. I will switch up warmup, flowing, and staccato a bit so as not to repeat myself. It's my pleasure.

I danced vigorously, which was good, but my back hurt a lot later. It's the floor at the Khabele Studio. It has no heart, as Lisa says. I add, especially for people with back problems.

5 rhythms peer group disbanding

I feel sad about this. We've been dancing together on Sunday mornings for 7 years. I love this group--its familiarity and intimacy. Some people have come and gone, but a core has remained. Gary, Lisa, Elizabeth, Steve, Scott, Cherrie, Karin, Lakshmi, and others more recent or sporadic.

It's been just wonderful to enter the studio (we've danced at 3--at Zein's Arabic Bazaar, Quicksilver, and now Khabele) on Sunday morning and know I was entering a sacred space, nonverbal, to move to programs we put together ourselves. It's been like entering into silence, only the silence has music, movement, and companionship.

No one is needy or intrusive or very sociable--or unfriendly. We all know there's time to interact in a "regular" manner later--this is our sacred time to move, together in a space but separately. I love that. It's been a gift that has allowed me to focus deeply on my body, my habits and patterns, and become more authentic in my dance, and more graceful, more centered, more grounded, more aware, more whole, more healed.

Lisa has been training to become a 5 rhythms teacher. She wants to teach and can't do both. (She and Gary have been the mainstays of the peer group, doing the music most of the time, renting the space, buying the equipment.) Plus, Gabrielle Roth doesn't like peer groups.

I'm glad Lisa is pursuing her goal and actualizing her life. I wish her the best teaching the 5 rhythms, and I will go to some of her classes. I hope I never get to a place where I think I know enough, that no one can teach me anything. Beginner's mind no matter how much experience you have is a reverent approach to learning. Because you never know it all. There's always more to explore, and my years--13 or so--with the 5 rhythms have deepened my exploration and appreciation of the wonder and complexity of life.

But I still feel like I will want to rent a studio sometimes and go into it with some peers and just move to music with reverence.

I'm doing the program this Sunday, and I loaded it with favorites over the time I've been dancing the rhythms: Peter Gabriel, Rusted Root, Geoffrey Oreyema, Toni Childs, Rachid Taha, Gotan Project, Suru, Leftfield, Ashkara, Doug Sahm, Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang, Thomas Barque, Rachel Bagby.

I'll miss the following Sunday, and our final dance together will be April 20. That date is a turning point for me. I don't know what my map will be after that, but I know I will follow my heart, and that it will be a moving experience.

accepting scoliosis

I sent a post to the DanceTribes forum about needing people to accept my boundaries. I've danced with a lot of people with big, playful energy, and at this time am not able to dance like that.

I went to Body Choir last night. I've only been a few times for months, where I used to go once or twice a week. I danced mostly by myself, which felt safe.

I feel vulnerable because of the work I'm doing to align my lumbar vertebrae. I didn't want anyone to pick me up or try to dance vigorously with me.

I noticed that I just do not have the desire to move in a way that pounds my back. No chaos! Or, perhaps, chaos lite.

I did a little contact with Brucie on the floor, but felt that sharp shooting pain from the adhesion on my piriformis insertion point. So contact doesn't work. It's 5R all the way, except for chaos.

That said, I enjoyed moving and dancing with Anna Sergi's beautiful program for John and Anna.

And I mentioned in shareback (because apparently a lot of people don't read the forum, like me) that I was working on back problems, and thanked Anna for mentioning in the opening circle that we respect each other's boundaries and we are each responsible for setting our own boundaries.

The good news is that this is taking me out of my unmindful patterns and putting me into a more mindful place. I can always grow--the minute I think I know everything is the minute I'm shutting myself off from learning.

conscious movement: a first-draft definition

I've been trying to come up with a good definition of "conscious movement". Here's my first draft:

i consider conscious movement to include any kind of movement practice that
involves training one's awareness or shifting one's energy. the practices all
have to do with inhabiting our bodies more fully and more deeply.

the intent is more than just having fun, getting exercise, blowing off steam,
although those can definitely occur! the intent is to notice any
shifts in states that may occur as you do the activity and to learn new ways to
shift states.

the result for most people will be feeling more joy, openness, vitality,
well-being, centeredness, empowerment, and brainpower.

conscious movement techniques include yoga, yana chaqui and hula (both shamanistic techniques), trance dance, 5 rhythms, brain gym, eye movements, walking
meditation, mudras, tensegrity, feldenkrais, sufi whirling,
and lots more. i would include breathwork, too. the participant is active,
rather than being a passive recipient.

i'd like feedback, and will continue to refine this definition.

i have done quite a few of these practices.

dancing makes you smarter!

i knew it! i just knew it! dancing makes you smarter, and here's proof. click the title to go to the article.

it's split-second decision making that creates more neural pathways and prevents dementia. so not just any dancing, especially not choreographed dancing. dancing with spontaneity, reading your partner, reading the space, reading the music and responding responding responding. dancing where you are mentally engaged moment by moment.

my waking protocol

Last fall, I came up with some exercises that I do each day before I get out of bed. Several people have asked about them recently, so I'm writing it up and posting it here.

I got started with ankle rotations to prevent plantar fasciitis several years ago. I've added exercises for hip flexibility (some from Feldenkrais), for lymph flow (courtesy Nina Davis, my cranio-sacral therapist, and EFT), for brain enhancement (from Brain Gym and Smart Moves by Dr. Carla Hannaford), for neural pathways to representational systems (courtesy NLP), some yoga, exercises to release energy blocks (shamanism), and for life force (chanting).

I don't always do all of them, and I don't always do them in the same order, although I always work from foot to head.

Another main principle is that I do an odd number of repetitions, although sometimes I just do however many feels like enough.

I make sure each side of my body gets balanced exercise.

I notice where I feel tight, achy, and uneven, and work for relaxation, pain-free, and balance. Awareness is a big part of this. I have a mild lumbar scoliosis, and getting my back and hips aligned has been a major ongoing project since last summer. I do several yoga classes each week, and see a chiropractor and cranio-sacral therapist. Some of the morning exercises I do are designed to increase flexibility and strength in the areas where i have an imbalance.

I start lying flat on my back, legs extended.

ankle rotation: rotate ankles in each direction (circles), then outline a square with toes each direction--prevents plantar fasciitis

hip wiggle: alternate right and left hip and leg stretching down--scoliosis

hip circle (actually an oval): round and round--for scoliosis

hip figure eight--for scoliosis and cross-lateral nervous system

sacrum circles: with knees bent and feet on bed, move head in synchrony with pelvis. go slowly for places with hitches. After doing both sides, I move pelvis and head in opposite directions. --for scoliosis and coordination

lymphatic massage where legs join torso--for cleansing toxins from lower body

bridge pose while breathing into lower back--for scoliosis

cross-crawl (opposite elbow to knee)--cross-lateral nervous system

hug knees to chest--for scoliosis

spinal twist with legs extended--for scoliosis

tap upper chest and collarbone while affirming "I, Mary, completely and unconditionally love myself."

lymphatic massage at collarbone--for cleansing toxins from upper body

chant "om" three times--makes my energy field feel sparkly!

thinking caps (unroll edges of ears)--stimulates brain center for hearing

massage skin behind ears--ditto, also for cerebellum

massage triangle where with open mount, jaw and skull meet--for speech and hearing

eye rolling and +X pattern--creating neural pathways

tap face--for lymph flow, prevents wrinkles

pico-pico breathing: inhale earth energy through feet, bring up to fill body and head, exhale through crown chakra (prana for developing the undeveloped selves); then inhale cosmic energy through crown chakra, fill body, and exhale through legs (release baggage, stuckness, unconscious destructive patterns and habits)

alternate nostril breathing--balances brain hemispheres

By now, I'm fully awake and ready to get out of bed and go about my day. I know it must look silly, but I don't care--it really helps me prepare for whatever may happen that day, and I believe that doing these exercises daily builds long-term resources.

I'm willing to add to these as needed, and perhaps I will start an evening protocol. Right now I usually just collapse with a smile of gratitude and drift off to sleep.

hang shape swing thrust

when i was studying interplay, i learned about the four coordination patterns from my interplay teacher cynthia winton-henry. these are neuromuscular tension patterns that link body, mind, and emotions. the primary interplay application is in movement.

these patterns are swing, shape, thrust, and hang.

today at the 5rhythms peer group dance i noticed a lot of swing in my dance. (by the way, we're dancing every sunday from 10 to 12:30 at the khabele studio on west seventh and rio grande.)

i'm grateful for the swing because it's fun, and also, it's a sign that my locked-up lumbar area, which has been a focus of awareness, chiropractic care, and exercise since last summer after realizing i had minor scoliosis, is finally freeing up.

later i looked up swing in my interplay secrets book, which includes an article by cynthia, "the primary colors of movement: swing, thrust, shape, and hang."

cynthia wrote that SWING relates us to the ebb and flow of our weight. swinging is moving side to side, through or around the center. swing takes in all sides and lets momentum and gravity do a lot of the work.

to me, swing is about hips, and to a lesser extent, chest and head. it's about moving the center of gravity from side to side like a pendulum. when you've really got it, there is a swinging feeling that makes it a really fun way to move!

we all recognize when a piece of music swings. if music swings, movement follows quickly! swing is very fun and playful. there's a bounciness to it.

...and while i'm writing about swing, let me add something about the other movement patterns, to provide this fascinating information in the same place.

THRUST, according to cynthia, is about energy inside that needs to move out. thrusting is jabbing, pointing, pushing. it focuses and directs energy outward. it catalyzes and makes things happen, intensifies, articulates, creates energy through expending it.

to me, thrust is linear one-way movement. thrusting is directed. thrust is running, karate, marching, kicking, boxing. heil hitler! it often has some force to it, but it can be a small movement, i.e., flicking your fingers.

SHAPE, cynthia says, is about gathering and containing energy to our center. it's about boundaries, dimensions, differences. you shape when you sit still, hold a position, contain yourself, place things in order, and are aware of being in your place and being centered. shaping forms, composes, balances, sorts, and proceeds one step at a time.

to me, shaping is about moving from the center and returning to the center. shaping is namaste, yoga, chakras. it is about being separate, self-contained, centered in one's own body/being. shaping is like stillness in gabrielle roth's 5 rhythms--move. be still. move. be still.

HANG is being at one with flow and the energy field, according to cynthia. it doesn't have a direction. it's being acutely aware of mystery, sensing connections between disparate realities. it's flowing, following, meandering, falling into things, floating, improvising. it enjoys physical contact. it accepts the body on its own terms. it's tai chi, snorkeling, contact improv.

hanging is slow. it's feeling the weight, letting it drift. it doesn't have a center, a direction, repetition. hanging floats and drifts.

readers can google these pattern names for more information, if desired. there are personality attributes associated with these patterns. a choreographer, betsy wetzig, has discovered that shape, swing, and thrust have different centers of gravity in the body, while hang has a moving center of gravity. she associates these with personality characteristics: thrust = the driver, shape = the organizer, swing = the collaborator, and hang = the visionary.

in fact, here's a great chart that explains more about these patterns as archetypes: http://www.moves4greatness.com/mainchart.htm

the studio maui: a template for a successful studio

i got to dance the 5 rhythms at the studio maui several times in december. in fact, that was the original reason for making the trip to maui. lori smullin, formerly of austin's sweat your prayers, was the guest 5 rhythms teacher at the studio maui from early december 2007 to early january 2008. in february 2007, she invited participants at her austin 5R workshop to come dance with her in maui. maui + 5R = ecstasy! several of her california dancers came as well.

at the studio maui, lori taught a 5 rhythms class on tuesday nights and facilitated sweat your prayers on thursday nights and sunday mornings. interestingly, the largest crowd came on thursday nights. the average for that night was 85; 150 came for lori's last SYP on jan 3.

i want to share information about the studio maui, because i was very impressed with the quality of the facility, teachers, programming, and professional way it is run. i wondered, why isn't there something like this in austin? austin could easily support it. so i'm putting it out there to get a discussion going and to see if i can generate an intent for it to happen in enough people that it CAN happen!

the studio maui is in haiku, a spectacularly beautiful area in the northeast part of maui. haiku is near ho'okipa, the beach renowned for its windsurfing, and pe'ahi, the wave nicknamed "jaws" by surfers, who must be towed out to surf it. haiku is inland a few miles, where it's rainy and green and rainbows and moonbows are common. the town isn't large, but there are a lot of rural residents in the haiku and paia and makawao and hali'imaile areas. maui being not a very large island, it's in driving distance for anyone who lives central, which is the majority of the population.

the studio maui has a website that you can check out. www.thestudiomaui.com. you can get a 360-degree view of the studios on the website. yes, there are multiple studios. the floors are fantastic, the sound system is great, the whole design is lovely, with niches for sound equipment and altars, cubbies for purses and water near the entrance, and plenty of in-wall storage for chairs, etc. (they do satsang, deeksha, and kirtan there too.)

the entrance lobby is well-designed, with a desk and attendant, a seating area, a counter with stools, a cooler with water and local raw chocolates, and a store selling clothing, CDs, books, etc. you can see it on the website.

i loved dancing the 5 rhythms there! i have long danced with a small 5R peer group in austin a couple of times a month on sunday mornings. it was lovely to experience a crowd all dancing the rhythms. no one sitting out, no one lying on the floor until stillness, everyone dancing the rhythms with great presence. no flying leaps or running. it was too crowded for that, anyway.

in fact, lori was adamant that in her 5R classes and SYP, she expected dancers' feet to be on the floor. two or three men voiced objections, and she pointed out that they had paid for a 5R class or SYP, and that was what she was going to provide, not to mention that it hurt her feelings to have something she's committed her life to teaching slammed like that, in a place where she'd been invited to teach. that effectively shut them up, and they stayed and danced the rhythms.

one of the sweetest customs at the studio maui was the basket of washcloths. in one corner of the big studio, there was an attractive lined basket filled with rolled-up clean white washcloths. they were for wiping the sweat off. next to it was a different shaped basket for depositing used ones. many dancers tucked one into their waistband as they danced.

i'd never seen anything like it and asked geordie (jahner, the visionary, co-investor, managing director, and 5R teacher who created the studio maui, and whose architect husband designed it) about it. she said that because maui is so humid and often warm, it just made sense.

it seems like an eminently adoptable custom to adopt in austin. in fact, since i returned, i bought 4 dozen white washcloths and a couple of containers to use at 5R and lakshmi's dance events.

i hope body choir would consider adopting this custom, seeing as how some grievous injuries have occurred there on sweat-laden floors, when the number of dancers overwhelms the HVAC capacity, particularly in the warm seasons. i'm not volunteering since i don't attend regularly. i just want to put the idea out there.

the studio maui's website lists its mission as one of facilitating the growth of "conscious movement." i like that term! it includes yoga of all types, pilates, 5R, soul motion, qi gong, belly dance, nia, tango, hip hop, dance jam, and feldenkrais classes, and workshops in all those areas plus continuum and authentic movement and areas so on the cutting edge, they aren't known yet.

the studio maui also serves as a community center for spiritual gatherings, such as satsang with ram dass and others, kirtan with jai uttal and others, and deeksha.

so...if anyone has a will to create something like this in austin, please get in touch with me.