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This body I live in
Mar. 8th, 2012 08:36 pm This week, the Spiritual Nomads are getting down to earth, getting down with the beat, and focusing on spiritual self care.
I have always danced, gypsy-style, and always felt closer to my authentic self when in motion. I have always smiled, and am just learning so much about the power of a smile from reading the works of Thich Nhat Hanh. Smiles and dancing, what is the link? Both make me feel good, make feel so alive that anything is possible. It really is.
In the early years of this journal, I used to write a lot about dancing and my relationship with my body. I was recovering from being hit by that taxi, and was mostly aware of my body in terms of what I couldn't do. I kept on dancing, first with my hands, later, swaying in place and moving with gentle, sliding steps. Now, I mostly can dance as I used to dance. I am slower than before, but filled with deeper feeling and more expressive movement. I am one of those ruby-dark wines now. I dance for myself. I dance to connect with the energies of the South, of fire and of will and passion. I dance in unison with the Goddess.
What a beautiful thing to honor the body, the smile and movement as sacred. I should honor this body, because it is the only one I will have in this lifetime. I am comfortable in my own skin, and I believe I am still a work in progress.
Thich Nhat Hanh said, "To love is, first of all, to accept ourselves as we are." That's something written in my Journey book.
So much of my spiritual practice is about accepting myself. Yoga comes onto the mat and meets me where I am. Some days, the asanas I choose feel easy and I slide deeply into them; other days, those rainy and cold ones, the same asanas feel completely different, and I merely sketch them with my body, because that's where the edge is.
Sure, I could be thinner and I should eat healthier food.
In loving-kindness meditation, the first intentions are for the self...may I be happy, may I be healthy, may I be safe, may I know peace. Then, filled with these intentions, I am ready to smile them forth to you, to them, to all beings--especially to those I struggle to understand, like my political and spiritual opposites--people who probably struggle to understand me, too.
I am more than my body. I believe I am part of something more permanent and Something more universal. But all that needs a sacred vessel to contain it. That's the body I honor. The smile comes out on my face, but it comes from deep within the spiral of the heart.
I have always danced, gypsy-style, and always felt closer to my authentic self when in motion. I have always smiled, and am just learning so much about the power of a smile from reading the works of Thich Nhat Hanh. Smiles and dancing, what is the link? Both make me feel good, make feel so alive that anything is possible. It really is.
In the early years of this journal, I used to write a lot about dancing and my relationship with my body. I was recovering from being hit by that taxi, and was mostly aware of my body in terms of what I couldn't do. I kept on dancing, first with my hands, later, swaying in place and moving with gentle, sliding steps. Now, I mostly can dance as I used to dance. I am slower than before, but filled with deeper feeling and more expressive movement. I am one of those ruby-dark wines now. I dance for myself. I dance to connect with the energies of the South, of fire and of will and passion. I dance in unison with the Goddess.
What a beautiful thing to honor the body, the smile and movement as sacred. I should honor this body, because it is the only one I will have in this lifetime. I am comfortable in my own skin, and I believe I am still a work in progress.
Thich Nhat Hanh said, "To love is, first of all, to accept ourselves as we are." That's something written in my Journey book.
So much of my spiritual practice is about accepting myself. Yoga comes onto the mat and meets me where I am. Some days, the asanas I choose feel easy and I slide deeply into them; other days, those rainy and cold ones, the same asanas feel completely different, and I merely sketch them with my body, because that's where the edge is.
Sure, I could be thinner and I should eat healthier food.
In loving-kindness meditation, the first intentions are for the self...may I be happy, may I be healthy, may I be safe, may I know peace. Then, filled with these intentions, I am ready to smile them forth to you, to them, to all beings--especially to those I struggle to understand, like my political and spiritual opposites--people who probably struggle to understand me, too.
I am more than my body. I believe I am part of something more permanent and Something more universal. But all that needs a sacred vessel to contain it. That's the body I honor. The smile comes out on my face, but it comes from deep within the spiral of the heart.
