TO CHANGE, YOU NEED TO MOVE: Working Out My Soul Through Dance

MOVING IN THE WAVE 1. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for inspiration in the form of others! Thank you to the Dancing Flowers for Peace and the wonderful women who got me MOVING in 2012 during their Saturday warm-ups! Hallelujah for Dance Church, an open group in my Decatur community that welcomes individuals to MOVE in their own unique way! And, YES, I am SO inspired by Wave Atlanta, and the multi-generational group of people who gather at the Existentialist Church on Tuesday evenings to dance to Gabrielle Roth's Five Rhythms!

We are now in February, the second month of 2013, and I have dedicated myself to MOVING both physically and spiritually. I welcome CHANGE in the form of new insights leading to new ways of BEING. As a Spiritual Art Pilgrim, I have discovered that I can JOURNEY right here, right now. No need to climb aboard a boat or wait for trees to grow spring leaves.

MOVING IN THE WAVE 2. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

To be AUTHENTIC is to be PRESENT to who I am now, each day. No thought of yesterday. No thought of tomorrow. What does my body need? Do I need to release the muscles in my neck and set my head free to roam around the curves of my shoulders, back, and chest? Will my feet follow as my head explores the universe of these bones and muscles? YES!

MOVING IN THE WAVE 3. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

MOVING to the Five Rhythms (flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness) is a way to work out your soul as you work out your body!  As a pilgrim, the spiritual travel I am doing right now is through MOVING my feet in accordance with my head, shoulders, spine, and hips. 

MOVING IN THE WAVE 4. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

This spiritual practice requires the deep and profound practice of listening to oneself at many levels of BEING...muscles, bones, emotions, and mind....

MOVING IN THE WAVE 5. (art by Hallelujah Truth)

What will you do today fellow pilgrims to MOVE within yourself and create the change you are seeking? Will you lean into yourself and listen to what your body is asking for? I will leave you with lines from a poem by Jewel Mathieson:

I turn to the Goddess, pray for forgiveness
She says "there is no forgiveness because there are no sins"
She places God on the tips of my fingers
on the tips of my toes
and tells me that everyone has to learn how to pray 
in their own way
in their own way with everything, everywhere

--from The Search for the Feminine in My Bones

For me that prayer is dancing, and that dance is electrifying me to my finger tips and toe tips!