11 Things I Learned from Awakened Embodiment
This last weekend I went to a dance workshop in Olympia called Awakened Embodiment. It was awesome, challenging, empowering, scary and all the good things that push you out of your comfort zone. I find myself at this tender in between in life. My kids are figuring out life for themselves and for the first time in many, many years, I have time. Things like workshops and hobbies and big questions like who am I? are percolating. So, I signed up for this workshop. I love to dance, I dance in community every week at Presence Studio (my church) and “sweat my prayers” and it fuels my entire week. An entire weekend of dance sounded so luxurious, so extravagant to take that time for myself, to go ALONE and do something I wanted to do. I tried to talk myself out of it a few times, even on the way down – started to get real anxious. I am so glad I didn’t turn that car around! I learned a lot and am so ready for more after I integrate this new info into life.
Here are some quick tidbits that I wrote in my journal that I want to write again – to share with you and to help cement them into my brain.
Sometimes your body is a container and sometimes it is so much bigger – a field.
Why does it feel so incredibly vulnerable to dance with a stranger?
Why do I cry when I make prolonged eye contact with some people?
The embrace of a stranger at the completion of a dance was one of the most tender embraces I have ever experienced.
Dance class was a scent free zone. This was hard for me. Scent is huge for me. I love smells. I love to smell myself. I love to smell other people. I like to see what some people choose to scent represent themselves. This was a challenge that I didn’t expect.
The teacher giggled when someone asked her at the beginning of class after dancing with her for a bit, “Oh, are you the teacher?” She laughed and said no honey – YOU ARE!
We are our own first teachers.
Struck by how beneficial it can be to be pushed out of your comfort zone with moments of pure safety. Safety then stretch. Safety then stretch.
The support of another human can recharge you. It was quite beautiful to feel this at the most basic level. (more below about this exercise).
That whole thing about put your oxygen mask on first is a real deal.
When you listen to your body over time and move with what it needs, your emotional resiliency and emotional regulation increases. (a whole BLOG post on it’s own).
We talked about some of the main points where you can touch someone to help support them. Feet, hands, belly, heart and head. We practiced each of these touch points – asking our partners comfort level (direct touch, no touching but energetically close to the area, or just dance around them with a focus on the area). Music would play and we would touch the belly for example – front and back of it and move with the person however they wanted to move while holding that spot. As a mama with a mama belly – it’s a tender, vulnerable zone that doesn’t get a lot of attention (on purpose) from anyone other than brief little moments from my kids and Clint. It felt SO good and SO attended to, to have someone securely hold my belly. A STRANGER – touched my belly. Actually a few strangers held my belly and it felt beautiful. After going through all of the zones, and integrating them into dances by ourselves we partnered up 1 person went into the middle of the large circle to dance while the partner just tended to their partner. Held their hands out in supportive way and watched just them during the dance. The dancing partner could at any point stop moving or come back over to the partner holding space for them and they would intuitively choose a point of touch to support them. A human charging station, and when the dancer was ready, they would continue their dance. Knowing someone had me when I started to feel dim as the dancer felt so securing. When I was the partner of the dancer, it felt powerful to know I could quickly charge someone up with a thoughtful touch.
Awakened Embodiment – you rocked my world. I made so many sweet connections. Some that will just be this weekend, some for longer. Thank you body! Thank you Conscious Movement/Azul community. I am recharged and ready to support others.