DANCING FLOWERS FOR PEACE: Rooting and blooming moving authentically in our life's gardens!

ROOTING AND BLOOMING. Creatively moving with The Dancing Flowers for Peace on Saturday, August 2, 2014, was rich with discovery, connection, and fulfillment that comes through being our authentic selves. (photo by Elizabeth Schowalter)

Hallellujah for DANCE! Hallelujah for PEACE! Hallelujah for the Dancing Flowers for Peace and their workshops at the Schwartz Performing Arts Center at Emory University! 

Today the Metro-Atlanta community of women 40-and-over were invited to move authentically as they experienced their "roots" and "blooms" and all that occurs inbetween! 

ROOTING AND BLOOMING. Here Lori Teague, a co-director of Dancing Flowers for Peace, asks us to dance in pairs. How would we express being "roots" and "blooms" with a partner as we moved across the dance studio from one side to the other? One dancer could be the roots and the other the blooms, or we could take turns. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

I was delighted to be joined by my sister, Elizabeth Schowalter, who is visiting after two years of teaching English, math, and science to fifth grade boys in the United Arab Emirates. And, to make it extra special? My dear art friend Callahan Pope McDonough, came to a Dancing Flowers For Peace workshop for the first time.

With summer in full heat, and all our gardens burgeoning with abundant blooms, Lori Teague, one of the co-directors of Dancing Flowers for Peace, invited participants, to start on the floor and to find where our "roots" were. I found my roots expanding from the back of my knees. Then one of my elbows decided it wanted to "root." I found that as I listened to the music and to my body, my connections to the Earth kept changing, evolving, releasing, and rooting. Oh what a glorious movement exercise!

DIVA WALKS. After close to 2 hours of rooting and blooming, we were invited to do our own individual "diva" walks. How did we want to express being fulling embodied--rooted to the ground...and to the heavens through our blooms? (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

As the morning progressed, we danced solo, in pairs, trios, and a flock. We stretched from the foundations of our imagined roots, opened into blossoms, then closing and blossoming again and again. We played with our roots connecting with one another, seeing ways to grow intermingled. Oh what fun!

Words on a white board invited our roots and full blooms to think about ways of being:

Curiosity
Hope
Resiliency
Strength
Willingness
Strength

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me about the ways your roots and full blooms express themselves. How will you experience these qualities in your body listed above? Have you done your very own "diva" walk?

ROOTING. I asked the bouquet to express the concept of connectivity with one another through their "roots." This wonderful photo captured the feeling of the rich and rewarding dance workshop. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thank you to Lesly Fredman, one of the co-directors for The Dancing Flowers for Peace, who invited me to their Saturday warmups starting in 2013. I have not stopped moving since! And thank you to my Chiboogamoo, aka Tony Martin, who makes all things possible. Special thanks to my dear sister Liz, who came to the Dancing Flowers workshop with an open mind and heart!

DANCING FLOWERS FOR PEACE: Dialoguing with our bodies and transforming the negative into the positive

Hallelujah for the seeds that the Dancing Flowers for Peace are planting in our world! Hallelujah for their mission of nurturing health and well being through movement and transforming the negative into peace and much much more!

THE DANCING FLOWERS. Members of the Dancing Flowers for Peace began the November 3, 2013 workshop with a performance to welcome participants. Visit the Flowers' website to learn more about the dancers.(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

Yesterday, I had the immense pleasure of participating in one of the Dancing Flower workshops dedicated to women 40 and older (I'm 55). For awhile now, I have been joining the Dancing Flowers on their Saturday workouts for the first hour. I value these imaginative warmups directed by Lori Teague, Emory University dance professor, for the way they help me understand my aging body and the spirit that dwells within.

CONCEPTS TO DANCE WITH. The dance studio where we had the workshop was decorated with flowers and "thoughts" or "questions" to think or answer through our dance.(photo by Hallelujah Truth)

The question, "How do I create a dialogue with my body," is an essential one for honoring what my body needs. Any woman who has "gathered" four decades or more knows that our body acts differently as we age. Knees begin to act up, hips don't move as fluidly, and if we are too stationary, everything tightens up. Therefore, we need to begin and maintain a conversation with this body of ours to keep HER healthy and feeling good.

QUALITIES WE ASPIRE TO. In the workshop, we identified a flower that we would like to be and associated the qualities of that flower that we would like to embody. Here workshop participants each wrote one of their qualities. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

The workshop began the "dialogue" with our bodies by asking us participants to introduce ourselves, the flower we had chosen to identify with, the qualities of the flower expressed about our emotional or spiritual needs, and to create a movement that expressed the "essence" of the flower. Then we chose one "quality" we wanted to share with the group and wrote it on the whiteboard (see photo above). Afterwards, we were invited to dance those qualities.

EMBODYING QUALITIES THROUGH DANCE--A DIALOGUE. Being an observer is a rich way to understand the body's dialogue with an idea. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

In another phase of this exercise, we divided workshop participants into half, so we could observe each other. Seeing, witnessing, observing other dancers, whatever you want to call it, is a different way of understanding the dialogue we can have with our bodies. 

The workshop was rich with exercises--too many to share all of them here. But for now, I would like to conclude with the grande finale of the workshop. We took our experience of "embodying" qualities such as "celebration," "vivid," and "float," individually to building a dance in groups of four or five to express some aspect of PEACE.

Incrementality is essential in this kind of collaborative dialoguing. Each group member created a "phrase"--a movement. These "phrases" were connected into a "sentence" or a dance. The dances were then given form and shape in the space of the dance floor. These images show only a few of the wonderful results. 
 

COLLABORATION: BUILDING A DANCE FOR PEACE. In the beginning, we moved, discussed, and melded our ideas to build a dance for peace in small groups of 4 or 5. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

INDIVIDUAL GROUPS PERFORM PEACE DANCE. Each group's dance was a unique expression of peace.  (photo by Hallelujah Truth and Lynn Manfredi)

For me, the outcome of this workshop with the Dancing Flowers was the fulfillment of dialoguing with my body and spirit in a few simple steps: 

1. Honor what my body wanted to express by creating a simple movement that could be repeated.

2. Honor and accept the movement that each member contributed.

3. Collaborate in piecing together our individual contributions to generate a meaningful dance that could be given a name.

OBSERVATION. Lori Teague (left) and Jennifer Denning watch the groups perform. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

Lori Teague concluded the workshop by telling us that we had been given "seeds" at this workshop and that were welcome to go out and plant them in the world wherever we wanted to! Thank you Lori! Thank you all Dancing Flowers for Peace! It was meaningful and fun. I plan on continuing this dialogue with my body--honoring its needs and transforming the negative into the positive.

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me. Tell me how you are going to dialogue with your body today. Can you dance PEACE?

AUGUST MOON 2013 (Day #4): "Mother" has been my guiding word for 2013 and it has been fruitful!

REACHING MOTHER. My guiding word for 2013 has been MOTHER. I created this "Reaching Mother" image in December for my response to the Reverb 2012 prompt looking forward to 2013. MOTHER...has it been working for me?(art by Hallelujah Truth)

AUGUST MOON 2013 (DAY #4) PROMPT: 

What word did you choose as your traveling companion in 2013? How is it working for you? Where have the surprises been?

If you didn’t choose a guiding word, what word sums up your year so far? And why? --from Kat and Meredith

Dear Readers, I chose a word as a traveling companion for 2013. It was

MOTHER!

And here is an excerpt from the blog entry I wrote about my intentionality around this guiding word MOTHER.

THE WORD "MOTHER" AS A TRAVELING COMPANION FOR 2013

"So, for 2013, I am joyfully cultivating the MOTHER in me, and will MOTHER IT UP in the following ways:
First of all, I will MOTHER the NOW, holding present time close like a baby and attending to its ever present burps and gurgles.


I will MOTHER my ART SPIRIT, lovingly tending to its flame, daily feeding it fuel until it bursts into fireworks like the Fourth of July and tenderly putting it to bed each night in a warm bed of ashes for rest.
 
I will MOTHER my BODY listening to its needs, moving when my muscles need to be flexed and lengthened, laughing when my vocal chords need to vibrate, eating healthful foods to ignite the brain and flesh, and maintaining sleep cycles in accordance with the Earth's revolution to experience rebirth each day at Sunrise.


 
I will MOTHER the PLAYFUL GIRL in me that loves to run fast and ride bicycles, lie down under the trees in the park and feel the Earth beneath me,  compete in board games and tennis and have decadent luscious tea parties with friends.
 
I will MOTHER the WOUNDED CHILD in me, listening to her hurts and saying "OUCH" in unison with her as we gently rock together for comfort.
 
...and by BEING MOTHER to MYSELF first, I will heal wounds, nurture strength, foster joy, and deepen in experience in understanding and compassion. Thus making it possible in the future to be PRESENT to MOTHERING."
 
AUGUST MOON 2013--HAVE I BEEN MOTHERING IT UP IN THE PAST 8 MONTHS?
Applause! Joyful Hallelujahs! YES. YES. YES. Dear Reader and Fellow Pilgrim, let me share the success of my intentionality with you! MOTHERING the child in me took me to the following places: 

• Mulberry Fields in Candler Park, Atlanta, to plant my own tomatoes 
• Atlanta Beltline to walk, ride bikes, see art, and talk with friends
• Dance Church, Decatur, to move creatively with my community
• Five Rhythms to dance waves Gabrielle Roth style
• Dancing Flowers for Peace, to share movement with women dancing their convictions
• St. Catherine's Island, Georgia, to track alligators, raccoons, and ghost crabs
• Istanbul, Turkey, to experience the culture many of my international students have told me about

One of the most important issues I addressed concerned my inner child. My inner child ached to move and play, and because of my intentionality (MOTHERING) I discovered InterPlay, a joyful way of being, moving, speaking, and interacting with others. My MOTHER took me on a journey and in the past months, I have found new amazing friends through InterPlay. Hurray for Atlanta's Jennifer Denning and for the co-founders of InterPlay, Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter!

There is so much more to say and share about what MOTHERING myself has done for me, but let it suffice for now to express my surprise.

ATLANTA INTERPLAY. Today (August 24th), we had the Atlanta InterPlay, led by Jennifer Denning, who is moving behind me. In this activity, we had the opportunity to move in threes and be "witnessed." My loving spouse, the brilliant Tony Martin, accompanied me, played, and took this photo. Thank you! (photo by Tony Martin)

WHERE HAVE THE SURPRISES BEEN?
The major surprise has been in the magic of intentionality! I created the intention of MOTHERING myself and focusing on how to develop and apply this nurturing skill to myself.


To develop the intentionality, I wrote about a blog entry about MOTHERING. I also had my paper calendar have the word "MOTHER" printed on its cover as a reminder. Now, I am reviewing the results of my intentionality 8 months later. And I am surprised at the magical quality my life has taken on by being MOTHER and CHILD simultaneously.

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what word has guided you for 2013 and how it has served you! If you haven't had a word to guide you, what would you choose now and why?

I REACHED and now I HOLD!