Biodanza

Every time Biodanza surprises me. Today started out playful and turned into sensual. All to various styles of music.
Having fun, being playful, laughing without self-consciousness or judgement. Lying on the floor stretching and contracting which was so, so erotic. And connecting with others as a group and singularly and then dancing or moving on your own again. Making eye contact, hand contact, complete embraces.

And it all feels so right. Every since The Tribe of Doris last year, all sorts of things are coming together. And it comes down to how to live our lives. The mist is clearing, I'm learning what I need, my body needs and so my spirit.

Thank you to Antoinette Lorraine from the Bristol School of Biodanza for these few wondrous hours to integrate with myself and with others and with my place in the cosmos. And thank you to Maria Canizalez Jerez from Manchester for making it possible.
Next one 21st of April, 1pm-5pm, The Yoga Rooms, 483a Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton-Cum-Hardy, Manchester M21 8AG

Changing our World

I'm not sure about the phrase 'think big.' If we think so big, the vastness of the idea, plan, dream, is intangible. Can be.
I prefer, start small, but also, think in numbers. Each individual performs one small act that if performed by many, many individuals, it becomes that one big thing.
More and more I'm believing in the power of many rather than of one. It feels better and it is more likely to make that idea, plan, dream become tangible and the process of getting there, to that aim, so much more enjoyable. It's the getting there that is part of the process too.

So, to change our world, start small. I'll show kindness, I'll have kindness shown to me, I'll pass it on and that other person will, to another and another. If we pass on kindness, thoughtfulness, common sense, attitudes will change, we won't need to slam people up in prisons, punish, shout, hit out, blame.
How long will this take?

There are already people out there doing this, so all we need to do, is to hold out our hands and join in.

The Tribe of Doris

'Doris' means 'doorway.' The week spent at The Tribe of Doris Intercultural Summer School of Drumming, Dance and Song near Wellington in Somerset opened many doorways. You could be cynical about the whole thing, but being there, spending a week in the fresh air camping, creating music and dance with a feeling of sharing, forgiving, loving and concentrating on posititivity, it was impossible to resist the spirituality of the site.
I learnt to spin like a whirling dirvish and not fall over or feel sick because the spinning isn't about the physical act, but about concentrating on receiving love from the vertically, loosely extending left hand and giving love out through the loosely horizontally, palm downwards, facing right hand, eyes open, and slowly coming to a stop and then you can spin and spin. If your arms tire, place them crossed over your chest. Sheikh Ahmad Dede spoke and sang of forgiving - of how we are receptacles to ask for love and pass it out so that more love comes back. The whirling is because everything whirls, the earth round the sun, the earth on its axis, the moon around the earth. And we are all part of the universe. It made sense and felt a way to live that would be a relief in many ways. Keep it simple, think positivily, put away negative thoughts. Forgive. It's more effort and hurtful to all involved not to forgive. Follow your conscience nd trust the universe and it will work out. Similar thoughts came out in Denise Rowe's Contemporary African Dance classes too amongst other things. That was the main message from Doris. Trust the universe. And if we work together we can accomplish great things. Think we need that more than ever right now.
The skies clouded during the Saturday night Open Air show when everyone performed what they had experienced and learnt in the week's workshops. People waved away the clouds. The clouds went. The evening was clear. You couldn't not believe there was something in the power of collective positive thought.
There is so much to say about this week in Somerset. It'll have to be a daily update and I'll work through the week from the day we arrived, Tuesday the 9th of August at about eleven in the morning, for the Opening Ceremony at twelve, until Sunday the 14th, about two fifteen after the closing ceremony at noon until two. In the sunshine.