dancer's perfection

On daily headspa this week we're posting about Practice. When I think of practice and its rigors, dancing and dancers immediately spring to mind. Although dance is one of the most accessible forms of expression - one can move to the rhythm of their own drums - the art of dance is so incredibly demanding.

Who should come up in these thoughts but Michael Jackson and we have shamelessly posted about him today. Well, about practice but with MJ as a reference point. Serendipitously, it led me to a quote about practice from Martha Graham, one of the greatest names of modern dance. She said, "Practice is a mean of inviting the perfection desired."

I'd heard of her but wanted to know at least a little more and found this in the wikipedia page about her:

She invented a new language of movement, and used it to reveal the passion, the rage and the ecstasy common to human experience.

And this quote from her:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."

I'm not a dancer. Maybe I'm not even an artist. But I resonate with "a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive..."

If my art is to enjoy myself, to truly engage in this one wild, precious life (thanks, Mary Oliver) that is mine...then I invite its perfection with daily practice.

unsticking with giggles

Today on daily headspa we posted a video of some kids in Finland making sticky buns. It was about having fun with the topic of "stuck" and we were thinking sticky thoughts. But what I really loved was the giggling. Now that's a way to get unstuck. Have you giggled today?

something completely different

On Thursdays at daily headspa we aim to do something with the weekly topic, which is "stuck." Saturdays are meant to be fun, but feeling as stuck as I do I couldn't wait to have a little fun. We posted this sketch from Monty Python about two bored airplane pilots having a go at the passengers over the intercom. The post is titled after a signature phrase from the troupe - "and now for something completely different."

Do you ever feel like doing something completely different just to get yourself unstuck?

It's what I do when I'm feeling stuck sometimes, because "stuck" in my experience is usually equal to "bored." So I bust out at the seams. If I can't untie my hands, I start working with my elbows, you know what I mean?

The worst case scenario is when I'm not in a position to bust out even just a little - I let social norms restrict my bid for unstuckness and freedom from boredom.

I've been in a workshop for two days. It wouldn't have mattered much if it had been the best workshop in the universe, me sitting in a circle of people talking for two days makes me feel my entire life is on hold and I'll never break free. How many times did I want to say the stupid thing, but held back or said something sensible "for the good of the order." Meanwhile, what about my dis-order, the feeling of holding back wild horses all the time. Sigh.

The trick is to know what is completely different and socially acceptable, or at least the consequences of which are acceptable to oneself. A life's work perhaps?

stuck in the middle with you

We're blogging about being stuck at daily headspa this week. I'm feeling so stuck, I'm stuck with nothing to say about being stuck. Except that stuck sucks.

I could think about what it takes for me to get unstuck. Some of it is so passive: something needs to happen that draws me out. But that makes me feel, well, passive. And stuck.

We played tennis again today. Movement and thinking about some one thing, like this shot and that one and the next, helps me get unstuck.

Sometimes I wish I would remember the magic of movement when I'm feeling stuck and there's a pile of dishes to be done or one thing on the to-do list that could be knocked off in a few minutes. When I'm stuck, it feels like if I do anything it won't be the right thing so I wait until I know what the right thing to do is but the stuck feeling blocks my perception. Perhaps sometimes doing something is in fact the better move.

Action-reflection-action...some kind of unstuck formula in there I think.

playing at presence

Saturdays on the daily headspa blog are about playing with the theme of the week. We've posted a really great little video of some people playing on gymnastic rings set up in Venice Beach, CA (at least, that's where it looks like they are).

I love play and yet sometimes I can't figure out why people do the things they do for the sake of doing them. I have never been a "hobby" sort of person. There is something so great about losing yourself in something that is essentially non-productive. Today we played tennis. It isn't productive. I'm not going to be the next Venus Williams. It was exercise, and it produced great endorphins and a sense of well-being (and some frighteningly sore muscles that promise more pain to come). But it was really just fun.

I wasn't present at every shot. Sometimes I thought about how I'd forgotten that tennis has been part of my life for a long time. Back in the day, I took lessons at a club. And played at summer camp. And on the high school team. How can you forget all of that? So I spent some time walking to pick up a stray ball wondering about all of that, remembering those feelings. And feeling the way I used to when the sea breeze picked up back home and brought that salty sunshiney smell across the courts, just like tonight here.

Every once in a while, in the sweet spot, I was totally there. And that was good enough. For Now.

isn't it ironic

Is this ironic: this morning I was gardening and listening to a podcast about being in the present moment through meditation. I'm wondering about the irony of doing two things at once, one of which (gardening) lends itself completely to the topic of the other (meditation). So I was neither gardening nor meditating, but some other thing that is a conflagration of these. Oh my.

Being in the present moment is our topic this week at daily headspa.

present moment fireworks

On daily headspa, we're blogging this week about being in the present moment.

Today is Territory Day in the Northern Territory of Australia, a day marked with copious amounts of fireworks. You can only buy fireworks up here for the few days leading up to today. I have no idea how long people save up the cash to buy the stockpiles they do.

It's challenging to settle into the present moment with bangs coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once!

No different than thoughts, really. Not that my thoughts are as exciting as fireworks, but they are just as random and just as distracting.

I played tennis today, which is a fantastic present moment activity. I love the concentration of it. In that sweet spot moment, all is now and I'm totally present. Sweet indeed.