PLAY-TITUDE #14 DANCE!

“When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor.  It is to enjoy each step along the way.”                                                                        ~Wayne Dyer                                                                                                                               

 Last Tuesday I was in my kitchen making dinner.  I turned on the radio to listen to the weather report to hear about the impending blizzard and to listen to music as I cooked.  I was busily chopping mushrooms for the Hunan mushroom dish I was making.  I was alone except for my cat, cutting vegetables and listening to the news when suddenly a peppy song erupted from my radio.  Without hesitation my body started to move and before I knew it I was in full-out dancing with abandon motion.  I moved around the kitchen, hips and arms swaying to the tune, crooning to my kitten and moving with the rhythm of the music.    The dance done, I resumed my cutting with a smile on my face and a lightness in my heart.

Dance is great fun.  It releases and creates energy.  It gets me in touch with my body.  It gets me in touch with how I am enjoying life, each step along the way.   I have used dance to spontaneously express what I am feeling inwardly.  I have also used it to create a shift around how I am feeling inwardly.  Dancing is a good way to release tension.  One time I was dealing with a problem that I couldn’t resolve.  The problem festered and heaviness consumed me.  The problem was bringing me down.  My answer to that down trodden feeling was to dance.  I turned up the music loud and danced through a number of songs, sweating to the beat of the music till I had spent all my energy and collapsed on the couch.  My heaviness lifted and hours later the problem resolved itself as I continued to work to find an answer.

When things are going great dance!  When things are not so great dance!  When all else fails, dance!  Dance is like a partner in marriage.   It is there in the good times and brings me to a place of lightness, playfulness and joy.  It is there in the bad times, allowing me to release energy and let problems take their rightful place while allowing me to figure out where I need to be with the problem.

So, dance!  Dance with abandon!  Dance the tango or dance to your own rhythm of the music.  Dance in the kitchen or in the bathroom.   Dance on a beach or in your backyard.  Any way—anywhere!  Do it with friends, do it with loved ones, do it with strangers—just do it—dance! 

All of us love to dance from babies to the most senior of seniors.    Here  is a link of a baby dancing.  Be ready to laugh and enjoy!  And while watching—why not join in on the fun!

PLAY-TITUDE #13:  If all else fails--or if the music just calls--DANCE!

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for dedicating space and time for writers and teachers of writing to come together to share ideas, practice and life experience.