MOVEMENTS AND SPIRITUAL EXERCISES AND 'WORK'

At the recent workshop on SACRED DANCE and Its HISTORY,a 'movement' ritual along with exercises was given. Since I was not versed in the movements and the ritual, beyond a certain level, it was really an exercise for me, and I had not done many things for exercise of late....so I allowed my body to imitate the Teacher, a Dancer and a Historian, and to become 'absorbed' into the proceedings with a group that was active, nubile, mobile, flexible, and focused.......I soon became aware of several things aside from the usual breathing needed and the patterns of weaving, bending, moving, etc. that went on in semi-darkness to various recorded music and songs.....all under the guidance of the Teacher...... In many dances and movements of special kinds, principles of Ancient Knowledge, science, are embedded and this comprises 'a special language'..We assume postures and attitudes and carry them with us and in such 'events' we often resort to these and parade them about, but usually based on our past experiences with them in our 'comfort zones' and so we do not attempt to get beyond these......or break out of them..... In this respect, my participation in all this, being the only male present, was a way to escape the automatisms of my daily life....to a newer possibility of thinking, feeling, and action..... In this environment, at this event, I allowed my body the freedom to move in the ways and directions that the Teacher, the Leader, directed and led us,rather than allow myself to 'resist' or view from the sidelines...though I did not know exactly where all this would end up.... For anyone who might have looked in at this from the outside, like casual passersby, it might have seemed to them like some kind of 'frenzy',with cavorting and frolicing, twisting and turning, jumping and singing and shoutin now and then, plus a lot of other imposed conceptions that fill such minds...... To the more imaginative, it might have seemed like ancient dances from Greece or other Pagan areas, with a spot of 'witchcraft' or Wicca or 'Gypsy' in them, and other somewhat 'new age' doings......But whatever was culled out of the past and ancient times, certainly added to the affair and raised the intensity levels for most of the participants...... BODY RESISTENCE is something most of us experience in learning new things, whether skills, sports, cooking, dancing, martial arts, or canoeing,hiking, bicycling, or walking dogs or whatever...cutting grass, hammering a nail, picking up papers and trash, or any other activity and most of us attempt to do things with the least amount of effort along the line of least resistance......the usual, ordinary way....so is it any wonder why things remain as they are? We seldom make 'real' efforts and rarely 'super-efforts' and we do not have the control of the body that we seek..the body resists, runs away from exertions, and it is this body that we have to begin everything in life with.....but we tend to ignore this fact.... So if thoughts and emotions arise in these things we need to establish connections for them to the body otherwise, our efforts evaporate and more so if we do not continue, follow up with 'correct' practice or 'right' practice, which is always uncertain and unsteady....despite claims otherwise for most people who attempt such with guidance..or direction or intensity, which individuals find hard to maintain without a leader or guide..... As this is a difficult topic to discuss as is needed, I shall defer for a time and 'recover' my thoughts and emotions and bodily memory of this event that I attended as best I can....... `