I have returned from 5 days in the bush. I danced there. Not as long as when I am home, not as fast, but I danced. And I realised that it was a different kind of dance. My listening was different. I thought I would be dancing to the Sounds of Nature – but actually it was not Sound as much as Connection. Feet on ground, hands touching space, body opening to the sky, turning to the trees, touching earth, feeling breeze.
I think this may be in our dance always but it took being away from music and even other people, to realise that my whole body is an organ for listening. Not only listening through ears, but through skin, and heart, and yes perhaps soul.
It was not easy, and not always sweet. My inner judge and critic showed up ample times. But when she stilled – when I was just there in the dance, with the land – how beautiful. Magical. Even if just for a split second :).
It made me conscious of how incredibly difficult it is to be in that place, of Openness to life. In This Moment. It made me realise how fast I am moving; Mind often one step ahead of This Moment, and so not really in This Moment.
Apart from the lions… Because of course I encountered two male lions about 200 meters from where I had been dancing for 20 minutes or so, on my own! So, apart from the lions, it made me want to explore more of this slowing down to the pace of nature, whilst joining with her in movement; whilst joining with her in dance; touching her with my palms, as they circle into the sky, out to the trees, down to the earth…
It reminds me of the Anna Halpren documentary titled Breath made Visible.
Dance is…Breath made Visible
The Bush reminded me, that
We don’t need music to Breathe.
And actually we don’t need music to Dance.
Breath and Presence – and there is Dance
Breath and Dance – and there is Presence
Dance and Presence – and there is Breath
Post Script:
The day after my Lion Encounter I had a little more nerves in entering the bush to dance. And so my dance became a dance of attending to everything that surrounded me – each sound, each feeling. I whirled around tending, attending, presencing to what was in my field. Slow, Fast, Present. Perhaps because of the adrenaline that truly brought me to Presence – it was one of the most exquisite of my days of learning to dance in nature. It was brief, but it was Potent, Awake.
How to cultivate the gift of Presence, in the Gift of Dance, in the Gift of Breath?
Dancing Universe 