Cure-ations from The Dancing Center

“Very few in the world know what great power is hidden in the wish of a person whose heart is in the state of dancing.” —Hazrat Inayat Khan,

Dance, life, flies by, feels ephemeral, even hazy, and is easily made inconsequential. Meanwhile, dancers and choreographers track the inner and outer dances like scientists. We make artful maps and become way-finders. Long ago, a wise teacher sang to his disciples, “Who does not dance does not know the way of life.” Let’s dance.

THIS MONTH’S CURE-ATIONS

On my Nightstand: There, There by Tommy Orange

There, There follows 12 different individuals from Native communities as they travel to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected in ways they don’t realize. The power of The Dance is a profound thread and at the same time, Orange’s novel necessarily extinguishes fantasies about native life. I understand why his book has a role in high school English classes and beyond, and I plan to read it again.

Indigenous wisdom is critical to my reflections on The Dancing Center. As a white woman in Oakland, I felt the absence of native people in my communities the need to protect indigenous wisdom from white people. Still, I leaned in where I could. I read. I was honored when Ohlone leaders chose to participate in Earth Day celebrations I helped create. I supported the women-led Sogorea Te’ Land Trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. I remember once asking Corrina Gould, the Co-Founder/Director, how best to be supportive. She suggested I take sage to elders where I live and ask them.

Corina reminds us all, “My ancestors have always been here. That’s my blessing, my grandchildren’s blessing, that they were born on the land that their ancestors have always been on. And maybe my great-grandchildren will be born here, too. Our umbilical cords are buried in this land. Our ancestors’ DNA is in this land. And we continue to stand our ground.”

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Quotes

1
“Very few in the world know what great power is hidden in the wish of a person whose heart is in the state of dancing.” —Hazrat Inayat Khan, with thanks to Claire Elizabeth DeSophia.

2
”Many native cultures believe that the heart is the bridge between Father Sky and Mother Earth. For these traditions, the *four-chambered heart*, the source for sustaining emotional and spiritual health, is described as being full, open, clear, and strong. These traditions feel that it is important to check the condition of the four-chambered heart daily, asking: Am I full-hearted, open-hearted, clear-hearted, and strong-hearted? “—The Four-Fold Way: Walking the Paths of the Warrior, Teacher, Healer and Visionary by Angeles Arrien with thanks to Spirituality and Practice.

3
“Body work is soul work,’ she, (Marion Woodman) said. ‘Imagination is the bridge between body and soul. To have healing power, an image needs to be taken into our body ... Only then can the image connect with the life force. Only then can things change.’ * …While she was in Jungian analysis in Zurich and was engrossed in dreamwork, Woodman had a dream in which she was instructed to take images from her dreams and, while in a meditative state, to ‘place’ them on parts of her body that were ailing, or that felt stuck or stagnant. For example, while suffering from long-term kidney problems, she spoke about placing the image of a glowing, healthy young girl into her kidney; she suggested that this practice eventually cleared up the condition..”––Sharon Blackie in Hagitude:

4
If love is really the active practice — Buddhist, Christian, or Islamic mysticism — it requires the notion of being a lover, of being in love with the universe… To commit to love is fundamentally to commit to a life beyond dualism. That’s why love is so sacred in a culture of domination, because it simply begins to erode your dualisms: dualisms of black and white, male and female, right and wrong.–

–bell hooks

5

BBC Podcast, Child: The Dance Begins

(Thanks to Annegret Zander for sending) A new look at the tiniest beginning of our life as a co-creative participatory dance. Peer through the lens of society, history, and science with interviewer India Rakusen. leading cell biologist Magdelana Zernika-Goetz, child psychologist Graham Music, and historian Elinor Cleghorn.

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Poems

Cleo Person’s poems in Emmaly Wiederholt’s dance journal, Stance on Dance, including these lines from WHY DANCE

For dancing is saying “Hello, here I am.”
And feeling my soft soul might wish to be known.
It’s like spoken gesture, ungrasped, coming true
Urging life into view when my spirit’s outgrown
All the old ways of hiding in patterns of pity;
Now with limbs strong, and heart filled with power to be,
I’ll stand grounded and call forth blood’s hymn:
Rich sung tones, through my bones,
Which for you grants wild hope to be free.

Penny Hackett-Evans
IN THE TEMPLE OF THE ORDINARY

you don’t have to be quiet
or kneel or repeat any phrase.
You can worship with eyes wide open
to blossom, cloud, stars, mud.
You can worship with hands unclasped
stirring, shaking, waving hello
to wind, sunset, Sequoia, ladybug.
You can listen to the chorus
of katydid, hummingbird wings, creek.
You can smell basil, vanilla,
bread coming fresh from the oven.
You can hear the altar call
of wild geese, of the happy barking dog,
Of the voice inside of you
that sings “Amen.”

WHAT I KNOW From Tom Henderson
whose memorial I attended last month.

This is what I know
That this world is this world not that one
one set of truths and that their discovery
is not the same as the truths themselves
that learning is a beautiful thing
and that a body comfortable in physical expression
may have its own truth and is also beautiful
that all that seems perfect and wonderful
may not be so and that what seems foul and to be
rejected may not be so, respect it all
that I have far still to go in understanding all of this
that love is the most powerful force for change and
that I have loved well yes and been loved well
that I can love another to heart’s breaking
and that joy is only possible because of loss
that it is hard to be depressed when running harder still
when walking running and stopping with others
that both the outer world and the inner world
are beautiful and whether or not we are alone
and whether or not there may be parallel states of being
and whether created or uncreated
these billions of stars that are ours are beautiful
that the cherry and the dogwood and the cedar are lovely
and John Coltrane
Bella the cat
and also the blank grid of the Times crossword puzzle
on Sunday empty, waiting
that those we call animals to elevate
ourselves are really just other animals and beautiful
can we not be less arrogant?
that we have enough most of us
and more than enough
can we not stop trying to take the few
things from those who do not have enough
that we should stop our assault on the climate
and on other countries
because our own country, our own lives, are not free
of guilt or prejudice just stop
that I have never had cause to regret any act or thought
of generosity, but only those times when I was not generous
that I am sorry to leave this world where heaven and hell
exist and only here exist
that I am sorry to leave this world to my children and grandchildren
and glad also
and that I will to them the beauty here now
do not waste much time in mourning
look see create
choose joy.

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A Song and Story

Long ago, in Body and Soul Dance Company, I danced to Susan Osborne’s sublime Lay Down Your Burdens. Susan died recently. I am so grateful I carry her voice and that dance is in my deep memory. If I ever get Alzheimer’s disease, please, someone play this for me.

Phil and I were interviewed by the kind souls of Interior Mythos, who quest to articulate and explore contemporary mythic language in a context of depth that is in harmony with the 21st Century, Global, Quantum Scientific, and Universal Reality. This clip is on Play as Beloved. Check out more segments with Phil, me, InterPlayers Kaira Jewel, Susan Pudelek, and others.

I’m in conversation with a growing circle of friends, writers, artists, dancing theologians, and thinkers who uphold the Dance of Life.

I send out Cure-ations every month or so, and I also share wisdom bites on The Hidden Monastery Facebook Group. Email me at cynthia@interplay.org with anything to share.

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Last Call for Divining Life Purpose Workshop, which I offer once a year.

Friday, April, 1 pm–4:30 pm Pacific

If you want clarity for your next steps, this workshop offers that and more! Ask your body to clarify the “What, Who, and How” of your Purpose!

Our purpose is alive in us all the time. When we consciously align with purpose we gain a potent clarity that calls us to make wise and holy choices on our life path. 

Purpose isn’t easy, It's at the heart of our learning curve. One key is to differentiate one's gift or call from one's purpose and honor the purpose bestowed upon us by our ancestors. Surprisingly, the best way to do all this is to dance, sing, and attune body and soul to our most resonant truth. Instead of thinking, seek the poetry—not the answer! Another secret is having affirming witnesses who mirror, ground, and resonate with our path.

With the workshop, I provide extra resources and the Divining Purpose chapter in the Art of Ensoulment Playbook, the recording, and more.

$125/ $75 for low-income and all present and prior ensoulment participants. (No one turned away.)

Register Here

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It means a lot to receive financial support for my hand-crafted offerings. I honor paid subscribers with occasional gifts from my cornucopia of resources.

Thank you for dancing with me,