Move and Be Moved

Join us Sunday Feb. 20th for “Gotta Dance” at 7:00 p.m. Several 5Rhythms dancers from Taos will join me with talk show hosts Randy Forrester & Donna Howell to talk about the 5Rhythms. The program airs at 101.1 FM with live stream broadcast at www.ksfr.org.

On Valentines, 14 Taoseno's danced their collective dances of support and healing for Haiti through the global 5Rhythms effort initiated by Canadians Anne Marie Hoyga and Joanne Winstanley. Many 5Rhythms tribes throughout the world participated in this effort.

in the fundraising event organized locally by Visudha de los Santos, the 'Wave'(the 5Rhythms played sequentially) featured the rich and diverse music of the Haitians, both traditional and current musical themes.

One participant shared tearfully after the dance that she understood how our dances for healing are shared with others. Our tears and our sweat find their way back to the waters of the mother earth, and those tears and sweat carry our intentions through the waters and back to all of the people.

The Taos event raised $139 which has been donated to Doctors Without Borders.

Many, Many Thanks to all!

Taoseno dancer Mona Frastaci recently wrote an article in the Horsefly, the local paper of Taos, NM featuring the 5Rhythms in Taos with certified 5Rhythms teacher Visudha de los Santos.

Check it out: Horsefly 5Rhythms

I don't know what it means, and I just keep coming back to the dance, again and again.

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. "
- Albert Einstein

I'm navigating the abyss you told me would come. I'm in boot camp with God and all I know so far is that I need to dance slowly and quickly and sometimes I see a spark of the God in me and I listen to her because she knows everything at once. What choice do you have? You can't breathe and you can't see and you can't hear and it's over you're pretty sure it's over. The darkness is so real, so tangible. Learn or die. So, you come to yourself. Quite simply, you come to yourself. There is nothing else.

So. Long. Ago. Another person wrote that and I know her. She still speaks to me, questioning, crying, screaming. I listen.

J. said watch nature for how to die gracefully. So much depth from pain, sorrow, trauma. Now, it's time for light.

If life is what I decide then let me decide this:
To die gracefully.
"To be wounded by my own understanding of love."
To look at myself in the eyes.
"To bleed willingly and joyfully."
To find depth from joy.
To accept.

I dreamt about you months ago. You were a giant spiderweb and I was stuck in the middle of it. You were surrounding me. I had a sword. After a year of pain I stood up and looked at you, looked right at you. And in utmost joy I started cutting you down, chopping as fast and as hard as I could. There was so much freedom there, in those spaces without you. I got scared. I fell to the ground crying, remembering, the joy and the pain, the letting go letting go letting go killing me killing me killing me. Then a voice said to me "Do something different." I stood up. And instead of running away, instead of weeping, I stuck the sword down face up in the mud and I bowed to each side of you, each side of the cutting I had made, each moment of ecstasy and bereavement, and I sat down in the center and smiled.

This is the story of my death and rebirth. No less. My entire life written between these pages. Childhood, a quick death, and an awakening.

Something ……. "Be your own mother. Be your own mother."

Nearly 30 amazing dancers joined in for the First Annual Gratitude Wave in Taos last Sunday. We explored the 5Rhythms through a 'G Wave' which included Garner, Gratitude, Generosity, Genius and Grace.

The dancers raised nearly $300.00 which was given to 5 local non-profits. The beneficiaries were Taos Feeds Taos , Communities Against Violence, Stray Hearts, The Hanuman Temple and Casa de Corazon.

Visudha de los Santos, creator of Move and Be Moved, has just completed a year long journey with guides Gabrielle Roth, Jonathan Horan, Kathy Altman, Lori Saltzman, Andrea Juhan and 80 dancing colleagues from around the world. I wanted to take a moment, as her friend and witness, to acknowledge this initiation into the sacred territory of a 5Rhythm teacher. She offers herself as a beacon of light, facilitating movement and ritual in Taos and around the country. In my view, this offering is vital.

I started dancing with Visudha many years ago in the Olympia ballroom, even before I knew her. And, eventually, we had our first "road trip" to California and became instant soul sisters. I have witnessed her journey over the years, her dances, her surrender, her work, her play and her continual willingness to travel that higher road - to be beauty, love and light. I love you and I'm proud of you!

And, so, I want to recognize this essential moment in time, this lovely silly delightful preciously fleeting moment. And, honor the person, Visudha, for her devotion to movement meditation, to art and ritual, community conversation, and helping others to free their spirits. Thank you for living in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. Congratulations. May we dance together again soon!

Please join me in celebrating Visudha via the e-waves, give her a call, and show up on her dance floor!