Creativity

I've been in a rut.  I didn't realize it before but it's clear as the day is long from where I sit right now.  If I had to put a date on it, I'd say the rut began forming about 8 months ago.  Wow.

What happens on the other side of a rut?  HUGE WAVES OF CREATIVITY!  I had the honor of spending the last week away from home, immersed in bellydance at the hands of Rachel Brice - a dancer who I have long admired for her technique but now have her wonderful personality and integrity to admire as well.  In her 8 Elements: Initiation we were pushed to tap into our creative selves on a daily basis, exploring what our brains and bodies had to offer as well as collaborating with the other dancers in the room.  The result was amazing on so many levels - so very many levels - but one very important outcome for me was that the work pushed me out of my rut.  Look at how happy I am with her!


I've been choreographing combos as I walk around my house.  I've been thinking up new songs to use in a variety of classes.  Even scheduling is benefiting from this shift (stay tuned, ladies, the next few weeks should be a HOOT at the studio), all from this boost of creative brain usage.

Ruts are dangerous.  Looking back at the last several months I can see that a lack of creativity has had a negative impact on several areas of my life well beyond the artistic parts of my world.  Our brains are powerful tools that need to be stretched and pushed and pulled and prodded to keep working at optimal levels, and it feels like mine was running on auto-pilot for a while there.

No more - creativity WILL be a part of my everyday from here on out.  How about yours?  How will you be creative tomorrow?

Bellydance

Bellydance

I had no idea how much a part of my life bellydance would become when I set out for my first class. I saw paint on a storefront window – the kind of paint you would use to write “for sale” on the front windshield of a used car – advertising a class. I don’t remember the exact wording now, but I do remember that it had “belly” and “mama” and “bellydance” included. I thought to myself…I have a belly, and I’m a mom, I’ll give bellydance a try. That was about 9 years ago and I haven’t stopped dancing.

I love this art form. It enables me to spend time in my body in true bliss. This is quite a feat given the years and years of body image and self esteem issues I’ve racked up! When I’m bellydancing I’m able to lose myself in the music and the movement – like I said, bliss.

As I’ve taken on teaching and choreographing over the years I’ve seen my relationship with bellydance change a bit. Being in front of a classroom keeps me grounded, and my focus isn’t on how the movements make me feel – it shifts to being about how to describe the movements and transfer the knowledge of how to make them happen. It becomes about helping other women find that bliss and that self-acceptance and love of the dance.

When this post publishes, I’ll be immersing myself in bellydance as a student, studying with the incomparable Rachel Brice. Her teaching style is a good fit for me, and I ADORE watching her dance – she is one of the few dancers who brings me to that bliss place from my seat in the audience. I’ve been looking forward to this trip since taking the plunge and registering back in July and it’s hard to believe the time has finally come.

I will post on the other side of the week of learning, but from where I sit right now I am 100% excited. I’ve left the stages of fear and nervousness behind and will head into the first day of Initiation with the open mind of a student ready to learn. I am ready for the hard work that will be required, and I’m looking forward to some bliss moments along the way.

Bellydance, how I do love thee!

Anemia

I am, for the most part, a very healthy person.  I get well over the recommended amount of physical activity in per week, I eat a balanced diet focusing on proteins and vegetables, I have healthy relationships with both family and friends.  I avoid processed foods and empty calories.  I read food labels and shop conscientiously. 

And, as I discovered this month, I am anemic.

After feeling run down and generally unwell I FINALLY went to the doctor.  Well, a student clinic (no health insurance here) at our somewhat local Naturapathic college.  The lovely student interns led by two wonderful docs have, so far, diagnosed me with iron-deficient anemia.  The full fun is yet to come as we try to figure out why I am anemic, but that will be a story for another day.

The result of my anemia is that it is a bit harder for me to make it through my active days unscathed.  Zumba takes more out of me than it should, and Moxie Boxing pushes me to my limit.  Sundays, when I teach from 8 am - 5 pm, require buckets of resolve.  It’s hard, but in some ways it feels good.

Yes – it feels good to struggle a bit.  To push past that little voice in my head that’s trying to tell me I can’t do a class…that feels good.  It reminds me of all the benefits I’m getting from that workout, of all the other things that seem hard but are awesome from the other side, and of the simple fact that I’m human.

We all have barriers that keep us from working out and taking care of ourselves.  For some it’s time, or all the other people we need to tend to first, or fear of being welcomed, or the weather, or work stress, or whatever.  Pushing past those barriers make us that much stronger on the other side of the workout, don’t you think?  It feels good to step away from that never-ending pile of to-dos to sweat and focus on ourselves for 30 – 75 minutes, both because of the benefits of the workout AND because we’ve overcome a barrier.

What’s getting in the way of your quest for wellness, and what are you going to do to push past that barrier this week?