So welcome.
This is a guided conscious dance practice.
It's a form of moving mindfulness.
You don't have to consider yourself a dancer to do this practice.
We're not going to be learning steps here.
There's nothing to get right.
You don't have to keep in perfect time,
Be in immaculate physical shape.
We're going to practice being present in our own body as a way to become more aware,
More authentic,
And more in touch with ourselves.
No fitness levels needed.
You need to be willing to get off your chair if you're able and get into movement.
To be prepared to investigate what it's like to come into contact with your moving body,
With your physicality,
And with the wisdom within you.
I encourage you to stay all the way through,
To move through any resistance in your mind.
To stay with the practice and whatever arises.
My teacher Gabrielle Roth said that the only way out is through.
When tricky things come up,
We find wise ways to be with it.
We use the dance as an act of truth-telling,
As a place to hear our own hearts,
To feel life more fully.
This isn't a dance of performing or showing off.
It's a chance to come into contact with ourselves,
To feel into our bodies,
To become present.
It's like moving,
Meditating,
And working out all in the same moment.
I love the dance as a meditation practice,
As it teaches us to be mindful in motion.
We can learn so much about the way that we move through the world and the patterns that we practice by listening into our dance.
So let us begin.
Have a stretch,
A yawn,
And come to your feet.
You might want to take off your socks so you've got bare feet on the floor.
We're going to begin by listening into our bodies.
So start with just walking around the room,
Feeling your feet on the ground.
Feel the way that the soles of your feet touch the ground underneath you.
Feel the sense of the floor underneath you that you can push down on it.
Gently warm up your ankles by circling them.
Crunch and then crunch your toes.
Feel your calves and your knee joints.
It's rare we warm up our knees.
Give them a wiggle,
A wagga.
Then feel your thighs as you step.
The strength of these muscles.
So circle your hips.
And flex your spine forwards.
Fits backwards.
Sideways.
Feel into your belly,
Let it soften.
Feel the back of the body.
It's an area we rarely pay attention to.
Feel your shoulder blades.
Let them open,
Drop your arms into motion.
Your shoulders,
Your elbows,
Your wrists.
Reach up.
Stretch down,
Reach out.
Gently,
Gently warm up your neck.
And come into the sense of the whole body in motion.
Follow the movements that feel good.
The parts of the body that want to move.
Like having a good Sunday morning stretch.
You might find tight spots.
You want to work out.
Areas that just want to move.
We're listening in to our own body.
Giving it the gift of our own attention.
And as you warm up your body,
Bring some attention to your breath.
To the way the body breathes in and out without us doing anything.
You might want to stretch your jaw,
Soften it and sigh.
If you have any sense of I've got to get this right,
Am I doing it right?
Let that go.
Your way is a good way.
It's all an investigation,
A practice.
A practice of falling into the moment feet first.
Dance as an act of dharma.
A practice of becoming present.
Beat,
Body and breath.
And see if you can consciously breathe a little deeper so that we use our breath to resource our movement.
The way the athletes do.
You can try exploring some movements that are outside your usual range.
If you're feeling awkward,
Find the way the awkward wants to dance.
If you're heavy,
How do you dance heavy?
If you're furious,
How do you dance furious?
If you're tender,
Then move your tenderness.
We use the dance as an act of truth telling.
This is what it's like to be me.
To be here,
To be moving.
Notice if you're stuck to the spot.
Let your feet travel.
If it feels awkward to be dancing anywhere,
That's okay.
It's brave to try on a new practice.
The dance is so powerful as a way to bring us present.
To move energy that's stuck in the body.
Trust your way is a good way.
See if you can find ways of expressing yourself through the dance.
Arms reaching,
Feet stepping.
Maybe moving the middle of the body too.
Yeah,
There we go.
See if you can move the inner feelingscape to let your inner world out through movement If your mind spins out,
Come back to the feeling of your feet on the ground of muscles moving,
Of body breathing the felt physical visceral sense of being here in this room,
Dancing on this day,
In this moment it's a practice and as the tempo increases,
You can literally shake your hands and shimmy shake out your fingertips use the dance as a way of releasing what doesn't serve let your arms drop let your jaw drop we practice letting go of what we no longer need and you don't have to push yourself to keep time with the music follow your pace and the music is for you keep feeling your feet on the floor we're not looking to get out of that we're looking to get into it,
To get close to it let's think of a life and keep your feet moving as the tempo changes feeling breath in the body,
The way the spine wants to move how your shoulder blades feel how your feet feel,
How your belly feels and see if you can follow what the body wants to do so we're not doing our dance we're seeing what shapes want to come out of the body what wants to be moved through us you can follow your fingertips round your own room notice if you're trying to do this right and soften that just be here moving mindfully to music we're not practicing being perfect we're practicing being alive,
Being awake,
Being aware being based in our body being present to the preciousness of our lives we're practicing being here now if your mind is muttering about something bring your awareness back to the body you can feel into the emotional tone of this moment and let that have some expression through the body you don't have to know how to do that or figure it out with your mind it's not about the body lead it's something we're not used to in our society but it serves us well keep some part of you moving so that we don't space out when we slow down we travel in into breath,
Muscles this moment coming into closer contact with yourself coming into connection less of us moving and more being moved letting the dance have its way with us you so sense in how the body feels having danced for 20 minutes see if anything needs to be stretched out you can place one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart give yourself some soothing touch so I thank you for taking the time to practice in this way it can be daring to try a new form of moving meditation listen in to what your body needs after this session you might need some water to stay hydrated you might feel a little tender the dance can sometimes stir things up so be gentle with yourself as you go forward I encourage you to take some time each day to move mindfully so that we practice not just on the cushion but being mindful in all the ways we move through our lives I wish you days full of dancing and delight and goodness I hope this meditation has left you resourced and resilient thank you for being part of this community and thank you for taking the time to practice may you be well,
May you be happy,
May you be embodied on earth
