New Moon Gratitude 2: Dance

Continuing to honor the sweet beginnings of Autumns first new moon. Tonight, I bow in deep gratitude for something very dear in my life...DANCE.

Dance has been a core aspect of my life. Dance is how I move feelings through my being. Dance is how I express soul and play with spirit. It is how I find myself, and how I let others find me.

When I was young, jazz class was therapy for me. It provided me with a safe place away from my parents to emote and process the energies of growing up in my household.

In high school I choreographed dance routines for flag teams and cheerleaders. In my twenties I taught ballroom and latin dance classes at Arthur Murray's dance studio (and was the first person to bring Hip Hop classes to the franchise)

4 years ago I moved to Denver and found myself welcomed into the ecstatic dance community of Rhythm Sanctuary. Being a part of this tribe 500+ people strong has been deep medicine for me. It not only supports my individual expression and evolution, it bridges connections between my heart and the hearts of others.

Dance is a powerful and primal language that unites communities, cultures and lovers. Dance shares prayer between bodies, bringing our species together in rhythmic and primal ways to explore and express the energies we all experience simply by being human.

Happiness, sadness, anger, hope, love, strength, fear...these are all emotions we share as humans. They are the waves of energy that ebb and flow through us as we travel the spiral of life and death. Dancing with self and others supports us in honoring and celebrating the collective in beautiful, integrative ways.

I am so grateful I have a body that can move, a soul that has deep longings, and a spirit full of fire. These elements within me find voice through dance and I am so grateful for this creative outlet in my life.

New Moon Gratitude 1: Body

Tonight is the first new Moon of Autumn 2014; a powerful time to set sacred intention for the upcoming season of harvest and release.

To honor passage from my Heart Chakra Summer into my Throat Chakra Autumn, I will be expressing (chakra 5) gratitude (chakra 4) each day during the waxing phase of this moon cycle. This is a great way to cross the bridge from my heart up into the expressive channel of my throat.

To initiate this process I start with the Root Chakra. I am thankful for my body. It is healthy. It is strong. It is durable. It is flexible.

I am thankful for the cells in my heart that have their own proactive rhythm that keeps me alive and active. I'm grateful for the white blood cells coursing through my veins that fight off infection and help me heal quickly.

I'm thankful to have my limbs, my organs, my senses and my flesh to protect and hug me to my core.

There are so many people in this world that have debilitating illnesses and minimized capabilities for movement. At some point I may be one of them. So right now, and as many moments as I can bring my attention to, I honor my body as an amazing vessel for spirit.

I am thankful my body evolved from sperm and egg, into an organism that can breath air, absorb nutrients and expel wastes. I am thankful for the strength of my muscles to propel me through this world, so that I can move towards things that bring me pleasure (and away from that which brings me pain).

What a gift, this flesh being I get to ride around in. Thank you body for all that you are, all that you support and all that you embody in this world. I bow to you and intend to treat you with deep respect, honoring the animal of your being through my fullest living.