REVERB15 (Day 16) Embodying the MAGIC OF BEING through creativity

ALCHEMY OF BEING. This image is my language. I speak HALLELUJAH. These figures are symbols that I dance, draw, and tell stories with. Do you speak HALLELUJAH? Do you speak your own private language? (Art by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

Hallelujah for the MYSTERY and bowing before it! Launching a snake boat into the unknown and sailing off into the UNKNOWN. Hallelujah for faith and spirit to journey into one's life. This is my practice. This is my life. This is creative magic. I am a Spiritual Art Pilgrim--transforming before my eyes and your eyes too! Today's REVERB15 prompt about the magic we carry in our lives resonates with my Hallelujah-ness! How about you?

REVERB15 (Day 16) Prompt: "Ancient alchemical texts are things of beauty – filled with allegory and symbolic language; things hidden in plain sight; and plain things promising transformation.  If we were to peek into the book of your year, what might we find?  What magic do you carry that people need to look a bit deeply to see?" --Deborah Weber

I am the ancient alchemical text telling my STORY in the "Cosmos of Hallelujah," through image, dance, and story. As a visual artist, I have BIBO-ed (breathed in and breathed out) the improvisational system of InterPlay, EMBODYING the MAGIC OF BEING in 2015. I speak the language of the HEART and a COURAGEOUS WAY OF BEING. 

GUIDE TO THE COSMOS OF HALLELUJAH.  We are all PILGRIMS embarked on such an amazing journey. What text has your SOUL asked you to write? Mine spoke to me and gave me this cosmos. These figures are the stars of my soul.(Art by Hallelujah Truth)

Transform. Create. Be. Live. Magic make. Dance. Draw. Paint. Write. Friend. Love. Forgive. Heal. LIVING IS MAGICAL! Creating is Alchemical!

As 2015 withers naturally to a close and 2016 blossoms, I plan on learning another language. I have been speaking HALLELUJAH for about six years now and I am interested in learning how to translate my HALLELUJAH language into another language that others might be more interested in or able to comprehend more joyfully. 

HERE I AM! Do you see me? If you do, I count your perception of me as MAGIC! Now, let's dance! Let's share our stories in a language we both understand! (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

As HALLELUJAH, I have cultivated an internal/eternal strength. Shedding shyness, I crave discussion, collaboration, and community, during which I see you and you see me. What new language might this be?

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and give me suggestions for a way to communicate HALLELUJAH. What is the language of your HEART?

FLOWER POWER MOUTH. I speak Hallelujah and my language is exuberant with lots of dashes of flowers, snakes, polka dots, and Wandjinas. (Art by Hallelujah Truth)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thank you Kat McNally for hosting REVERB15 and engaging such wonderful prompt writers as Deborah Weber. I'm eternally grateful to Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter, co-founders of InterPlay for this deep and life informing improvisational system. Here in Atlanta, there is Jennifer Denning, the co-founder of InterPlay Atlanta, who has provided a strong foundation for our community to find the MAGIC IN PLAY. Her organization and structure allowed me to achieve certification as an InterPlay leader in 2105, in a relatively short period time (2 years). Great appreciation to Christine Gautreaux for her idea of Manifesting Mondays and suggestion that I find people to manifest with by posting on Facebook! Karen Phillips, Carolyn Renee, and Matt Blodgett--my Monday Manifesters (Coffee with Hallelujah) have supported my spirit and motivated me to action. So much of the MAGIC of my life are the PEOPLE. Acknowledgments must always including the BIG LOVE I receive from my husband and boon companion Chiboogamoo and dear dear friend and creativity coach, Lesly Fredman. Finally, I'm so grateful to the redeeming love of my mother and sister that has nourished me deeply this year.

CREATING ALCHEMY THROUGH INTERPLAY: Embodying the soul, experiencing joy and creating a group body in your community can be magical

Hallelujah for ALCHEMY! Hallelujah for the BODYSPIRIT! Hallelujah for INTERPLAY and for creating that magic in the presence of one another! I call this InterPlay Alchemy! And we can have an "ecstatic community" here in the metro-Atlanta area!


What is an "Ecstatic Community: The Group Body" as one of the chapters in the InterPlay book, What the Body Wants, is titled? To understand this, perhaps, you must experience it for yourself at InterPlay Alchemy with me or one of the other offerings of InterPlay Atlanta (see our blog).

However, to give you a little better idea of what I am talking about when I cheer on the idea of creating a "group body" and one that is celebratory or "ecstatic", I will offer you just a few choice tidbits from the chapter mentioned above in What the Body Wants: 

“A group that plays together often stays together.”

“A thriving group consists of thriving individuals. The more we can claim our individual physical style, energy, and truth, the more fullness and fun the group can have.”

FINDING REST IN COMMUNITY. You are invited to embody what you need. (photo by Ruth Schowalter, aka Hallelujah Truth)

“The group body wants play, creative challenge, rest, and communion. The body does not want to suffer. Dreams, visions, religion, education, and the body politic are born from our desire for grace. We are here not just to put an end to suffering, but to have true grace.”

“Each body in community has potential to change history for better and for worse. Since health is contagious, then bodies that move freely, breathe deeply, and play fully can change the world for the better.”

What wisdom and magic there is in playing together and experiencing our entire selves--in having it all--body, mind, heart and spirit all together! For me, I am learning so much as I facilitate InterPlay Alchemy on Tuesday mornings from 10:00 to noon. I trust that those who long for this kind of "ecstatic community" experience will find me and join these play shops.

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! Soul Blog with me and share your alchemical wanderings and experiences. Do you dance in community? When? Where? With whom? How long? What do you notice?

TESTIMONIAL FROM AN INTERPLAY ALCHEMY PARTICIPANT:

"As a teacher (of improvisation), I relish opportunities to be a student. In Ruth's class, InterPlay Alchemy, the thrill of discovery and the awakening of the mind and the senses that come with learning, were present for me from the very first moment. Under Ruth's tutelage, the class became a gathering place where we could each attend to our individual needs and desires and engage trustfully and joyfully with each other. From her place of deep knowing and love of InterPlay (as well as years of artful teaching), Ruth excelled at synthesizing all the elements of material and meaning."

 –Lesly Fredman, Director, Performer, Creativity Coach, Laughter Yoga Leader, Teacher

UNLOCKING AND EMBODYING JOY: savoring grace, making things, and having fun

UNLOCKING AND EMBODYING JOY. I am deep in my spiritual journey and yet I feel so new and renewed. What does it mean to unlock and embody joy? How does one savor grace? How does the making of things connect me to the Mystery I seek? And really? Can having fun bring me in closer connection with the Unknown? (Art (c) by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for LOVE! Hallelujah for the LOVE that expands you, gives you breadth and depth, and engages you in NEW WAYS OF BEING--like unlocking and embodying joy!

Hallelujah for Cynthia Winton-Henry, who I LOVE for her body wisdom garnered and distilled through decades of experience and shared in her book, Dance the Sacred Art: The Joy of Movement as a Spiritual Practice and her Monday "virtual" sacred dance classes, "Dancing the Ruby Way."

Cynthia Winton-Henry, online Dancing the Ruby Way

As a newly minted InterPlay Leader still waiting for the stamp of certification from my InterPlay mentor, Phil Porter (who is brilliant in his own right and co-founder of InterPlay with Cynthia Winton-Henry), I am a busy woman intently distilling and making my own meaning of my InterPlay education and training as I teach my first InterPlay series, InterPlay Alchemy.

Can you imagine me facilitating others in savoring grace, making things, and having fun? These are the three keys that Cynthia leads readers through in the chapter, "Unlocking the Dance of Joy," and that she shared in a Monday night's (February 16, 2015) online "Dancing the Ruby Way" class.

Well dear readers as the saying goes, "The best way to learn is to teach," and I know that Cynthia doesn't mind the sharing of her ideas and practice! Thank you Cynthia!

It is a deeply profound and joyful experience me for me to be embodying these ideas about unlocking and embodying joy in this way:

Step 1: Read Cynthia's sacred dance book.
Step 2: Then participate in 60 minutes of online sacred dance with her and other people from around the United States and the world (one from Australia and another from India). 

Cynthia is skilled at the modern technologies of inviting class participants on and off the screen to greet one another, dance, and notice while muting and unmuting the class as necessary or inviting communications through the instant messaging function. Who would have thought that ancient wisdom and something as vital as a spiritual practice could be transmitted through the softly lit screen of a computer and a dancing mystic in California?

Step 3: During the "Dancing the Ruby Way" class, in addition to participating in the dance and discussion, I take notes and skim pages of the "Dance the Sacred Art." 
Step 4:Then the next morning, I synthesize my class notes and passages from Cynthia's book--ta dah...MAGIC! I have an outline for one of my InterPlay Alchemy play sessions.
Step 5: Embellish the magical outline with other InterPlay forms like babbling, one-breath songs, and DT3's and find the music I want to use. 
Step 6: FACILITATE INTERPLAY ALCHEMY!!!

INTERPLAY ALCHEMY PLAYSHOP. Cold temperatures and icy conditions kept many of our InterPlay Alchemy participants from joining us this morning as we played around with savoring grace, finding humor, and making things through using our voices, telling stories and creating dances.  (photo by Ruth Schowalter)

In this way, I am getting newly reacquainted with myself. I am finding my FLOW through finding MY dance. By moving in community with others, being witnessed and witnessing, I am beginning to unlock and embody joy. 

In this image that I created, I am expressing how my body feels as I breathe in and out (BIBO). I am both daughter and mother, leader and follower, dancer and that being danced. Ahhhhhh....

I will conclude this blog post with something I jotted down as Cynthia spoke during one of the "Dancing the Ruby Way" classes: 

Welcome the wisdom of the body and its energy systems.  It’s amazingly easy in our world to forget how much grace is in our body. Savor this grace, this complex quilt of our layered experience—joy, spaciousness, and ease.

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me about your way of being in this world. Where do you find grace, make things, and have fun? I want to know.

There is so much more to say about this topic of unlocking the dance of joy in your body. I recommend getting Cynthia's sacred dance book and joining us with Cynthia online for Monday nights at 8:00pm (EST) for "Dancing the Ruby Way." Experiencing movement with the co-founder of InterPlay is something you might really LOVE. What an invitation: to dance the way YOU dance!

THE ETERNAL RETURN: Hallelujah for the Ouroboros

OUROBOROS HALLELUJAH! (image by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter)

Hallelujah for YOUR PRESENCE my dear spiritual art pilgrims! Hallelujah for ETERNALLY RETURNING TO OURSELVES for new beginnings after old beginnings have ended! Hallelujah for the OUROBOROS!

EARLY ALCHEMICAL OUROBOROS (source: Wikipedia)

The OUROBOROS is an ancient symbol for renewal and rebirth, much like the phoenix, a mythical bird which ascends into flight, reborn from the ashes of its fiery death. The OUROBOROS also offers us the meaning of "feeding off of oneself," accepting the idea that we are the prime material with which to work--and play--during the length of our amazing human lives.

"Ouroboros Hallelujah," belongs to my "Protector" image series in which I am dancing with and exploring who my protector is and what her presence in my psyche means. Both figures in the  "Ouroboros Hallelujah" image represent me, Hallelujah, visionary artist. The one on the left is me as the parent and protector. The one on the right is me, the once uncertain child who is gaining confidence in relation to her protector.


The protector wears the "all seeing" and "all knowing" eye on her breast while the child wears a diadem of flowers symbolizing fertile growth and a sense of awe for life. The OUROBOROS embraces us both in a magical circle representing the cycle of life! We are part of the eternal rising and setting of the sun.

As I move forward into my life as an InterPlay Leader in the metro-Atlanta area, I feel all kinds of new spurts of growth and renewal. My protector and I are dialoguing. There are risks to take, and I am requesting the freedom to jump.

I would like permission to easefully fly, fail, succeed, live, and experience the joy of discovery. How sweet is change! Here is a link to my blog about my first offering as an InterPlay leader. How awesome it is to eternally return to ourselves as we grow and change!

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me where you are in the cycle of life and its eternal return!

FLAPS UP--InterPlay Alchemy: The Creative Magic of the Embodied Soul, a Playshop Series

REACHING FOR THE HIGHER SELF. "Flaps Up" is a phrase used in InterPlay to express reaching up to the "big self" as opposed to the "little self." Both big and small selves are equally valid and treasured but different. Perhaps it is our ability to navigate between these selves that is the challenge. Do we know when we are making choices from our smaller, finite selves that dwells in the specifics of every day life and when we are tapping into a higher self that mingles in the great infinite mystery? (Image by me, Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter, titled "Baptism at Sweetwater Creek")

Hallelujah for transformations! Hallelujah for celebrations! Today, I am celebrating the magic of becoming, by acknowledging and marking a transition point in my life.

My dear fellow soul pilgrims! I have stepped out into the arena of my ever expanding life by creating my first InterPlay series of playshops! Hurray for me, Hallelujah Truth, for completing the requirements of my InterPlay training in my Atlanta community!

Here is the flyer I created to announce my playshop series, "InterPlay Alchemy: The Creative Magic of the Embodied Soul":

InterPlay Alchemy: The Creative Magic of the Embodied Soul

Facilitated by Ruth Schowalter

“Learn how to walk in the sweetness of the possession of your own soul.”  -D.H. Lawrence

What is it you alone know and want to express? Are you being called to speak from your soul? Each one of us has a private way of speaking that yearns for support and to be heard in community.

InterPlay allows us to speak to one another in the marvelous flexible languages of movement, voice, story telling, and stillness. But what is InterPlay and how is it alchemical?

InterPlay is an improvisational system that is an active creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body. Devoted to fun, InterPlay integrates body, mind, heart, and spirit in a “sneaky deep” way. It also teaches the language and ethic of play in a powerful way. If you would like to be a “recovering serious person,” InterPlay might be for you. For more information about InterPlay, visit http://www.interplay.org/.

In this eight-week series of Tuesday playshops, “InterPlay Alchemy: The Creative Magic of the Embodied Soul,” we will play around with themes related to the meaning of life--thresholds, “flyingtime,” the little self and higher self, grace, joy, wholeness, health, and more.

InterPlay invites us to create from where we are, and not where we think we should be. At the same time, creating from our embodied souls can transform us in ways that feel magical!

This course is open to both experienced and new InterPlay participants.

Tuesdays 10am to noon

February 3^rd-24^th and

March 3^rd  to 31^st.  

*(March 10th, no class)

Fee 8 classes:  $120.00

Decatur First Christian Church, 601 West Ponce De Leon Ave., Decatur, Georgia, 30030

Contact Ruth Schowalter for further information and for signing up at: RuthTruth@mindspring.com  or   404-580-2392

For more about InterPlay in Atlanta see:

http://atlantainterplay.blogspot.com/

Ruth Schowalter. photo by Lisa Alexander Streib

https://www.facebook.com/AtlantaInterPlay

For more about me, see my blog,

http://coffeewithhallelujah.blogspot.com/

Ahhhh...I am experiencing the sense of wonder at taking my ideas--ones that I have been dancing, singing, drawing, painting, and speaking into the world. My love of celebrating each and every individual's uniquities including my own has manifested into InterPlay Alchemy!

I believe in living vibrant meaningful lives shared in community! How awesome to be able to celebrate this vibrancy through the marvelous languages of movement, voice, story telling and stillness in InterPlay playshops! 

This is a "flaps up" moment for me! Hallelujah!

FLAPS UP ON FACEBOOK! Experiencing my higher self, expanding into the world of friends and new possible friends using the social media of Facebook. This image accompanied my announcement of InterPlay Alchemy on the Facebook page of InterPlay Atlanta.

That's Coffee With Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and share your moments of transition with me! What do you know about your big and little self?

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: Thanks to InterPlay co-founders, Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter for giving us what the body wants and ways to access having it all by reuniting the body, mind, heart and soul--at last! Thanks to our ever expanding InterPlay Atlanta community, especially InterPlay Atlanta director Jennifer Denning and soon to be certified InterPlay leader Christine Gautreaux. I am also so grateful to the members of the InterPlay Atlanta performance troupe, whose soulful playing so inspires me. And gratitude to the Reverend James L. Brewer-Calvert, the senior pastor at Decatur First Christian Church, who opened the doors of his church for me to teach my first series of InterPlay play sessions. What an awesome community to be a part of! I also want to acknowledge Callahan Pope McDonough, Lesly Fredman, and Lynn Hesse for helping me shape this new class in words and place.