I had a dream the other night that I was at a huge Whole Foods, going down this long marble staircase. It was about 6 flights tall and I was going down fast and began jumping from stair to stair. First two stairs, then four and before I knew it I was jumping 20 stairs at once and found myself flying above the stairs and very far from the ground. I began to descend and thought that I would surely break my legs, but I spread out my arms like wings and parachuted down landing softly by the raspberries and blueberries.
I have many dreams like this, me in flight or landing from an incredible height or rollerblading down the highway , enjoying my body in a way that I rarely let myself do in awake life. Maybe I should take up X-treme sports for this is what my dreams feel like. But awake, I feel way too fragile to risk life and limb for the thrill.
I move a a lot, in fact, even at rest my energy is getting ready to speed away. Not only do I teach the Nia Technique for a living, I take every opportunity I can to dance and play outdoors. When Debbie Rosas coined the term “movement lifestyle” to describe Nia, I was right there on the same page. I live to move and I move to live. Whether dancing or meandering through the world of my day, I am happiest in transit.
Recently, I’ve been exploring more stillness, especially when I am not feeling well. I have been using stillness as a practice. Being still and sensing my body in stillness. In doing this, I am also cultivating an inner stillness, stillness of my mind. Movement comes to me easily, stillness does not.
Today I am not feeling very well. I have a cold and although I should rest, my inclination is to keep going. Right now, I am writing when I probably should be resting. What happens when I rest is this: At first I feel resistance, a desire to get up and drink something, or send another e-mail, or blow my nose. When I sit with this, I begin to feel the resistance as my friend, showing me how under all that energetic activity there really is a desire to rest. When I surrender to the rest, everything falls into place. I can almost feel the self healing happening in my body. I begin to participate in not just recovery from my day, but truly resting into the moment, into the space and into my sensate body.
Maybe then I will fall asleep and dream of scaling the heights and let my body heal while I continue my movement lifestyle in my sleep.
Love this blog, can really relate to this love of being in movement, in action. Also teach Nia. Really need to rest now but find myself emailing you! Off to rest 🙂
You are a master of Movement Lifestyle-and such a potent spellcaster/purifier through movement! All the more reason to integrate the gifts and wisdom of stillness so that you are a vital and regenerated force of love in the world. As a dream seer, I totally get that your dreaming is showing you how much movement is a transmission and receptor for your spiritual life. How wonderful that you can also land softly and ground in stillness with berries and breath. I love you. I Welcome all movement and stillness with you anytime!