A Simple Guide to Being Present

Zen Habits really just has some of the best articles! Here is an excerpt, and I encourage you to pop over and read the rest for yourself:

"How often are you driving while talking on a cell phone, or thinking about work problems, or the errands you have to do? How often do you eat without thinking about the food you’re eating? How often do you drift off while doing other things, thinking about something you messed up on, or worrying about something that’s coming up?

I would submit that most of us are elsewhere, much of the time, rather than in the here and now.

If I could only give one word of advice to someone trying to find peace in an overwhelming and stressful and chaotic world, it would be this: simplify. But if I could give two more words of advice, they’d be: be present."

This article came from a suggestion from commenter Mark, after I wrote about ways to create a peaceful, relaxed workday. It’s an article I’d been planning to write for some time, but Mark spurred me to do it sooner — so thanks Mark!

Focus On Now
There are three things we can think about:

1. The past. Reliving things we messed up about. Being embarrassed about something we did. Wishing we could have something back that is gone. Living in memories of good times past. Being angry about things done to us. You get the idea.
2. The future. Worrying about things we need to do later. Worrying about what might happen, or a big event coming up. Being anxious that things might go wrong, or that we might mess up. Hoping for something wonderful. Dreaming of great things to come.
3. The present. What is happening right now, at this moment. What we are doing now.

Teachers - by T. Thorn Coyle

T. Thorn Coyle posted this over on her Facebook and I enjoyed it so much that, with her permission, I wanted to share it here with you all. Don't know who Thorn is? Why, she is one of the original members of FatChance (pictured right with Paulette, at the Ancient Echoes Retreat), and while she doesn't dance much these days, she is a big part of the tribal family tree.

Read other thoughts by Thorn HERE

At the gym this morning, my body, mind, and emotions felt engaged. My breath was working and energy was flowing. My muscles strained and my heart pumped. I felt really good. There were some things that just felt strong in the workout, and other things I could barely do today, but did them anyway, as I was able to sense the ways in which they were helping me to grow more powerful.

Sound familiar? Yes. It is the same with any practice: the stretching, the engagement, the feeling good, and the feeling at the edge of our comfort zone.

My workouts last week were nothing like this. I was doing things by rote, and because I felt I should. My mind and emotions were not very engaged, though I made attempts at being present and aware, and at moving energy, because I have enough other training to do so. The contrast with this morning was huge. Last week, I had to try to harness and move energy, this week, the energy just moved, and I could concentrate on controlling where it went, and on moving my body in a more finely tuned fashion. It felt great.

What made the difference? I got a teacher.

Name correction!

I managed to muck up Megan Hartmann's name, despite even going to check to make sure I had it right. *smack forehead* Sorry Megan!!

So make sure you pop over and visit http://meganhartmann.wordpress.com/ to bear witness to her bloggy awesomeness! She is linked in my blogroll at the lower left sidebar of my blog as well.

Carolena can read minds...

...and other wonderful tidbits in Part 1 of 2 interviews with Carolena and Megha by a couple of gals in Florida, Mary and Tammy. I love especially the discussion of preparing students for performance starting at around 25 minutes.

http://www.yippodcast.com/2009/07/episode-11a-fatchance-interview-pt-1.html

Here is a transcribed snippet, from around :50, in brief, to whet your whistle:

Yip: "Through the years...how do you keep ATS fresh? I mean, do you guys add in new moves, and how do you decide if you're gong to add something in or...the creative process behind that."

Carolena: "You know, I don't even think about keeping it fresh. I just do it. And I don't consciously say, you know, 'This is getting stale. We need a new move." We just do what we do.

And it's like an energy bounce. It just keeps rolling and rolling and rolling, and I just, I follow it. I don't direct it. D'you know what I mean? It's like I really feel like it never really intended for it to happen in the first place. It just sort of showed up and like, said, 'Chase me,' and I was like 'Okay, I'll chase you.'

And it's still like that. I really feel like there is a Dance Goddess who wanted me to present this to everybody, and I was like, 'Me? I'll try.' And she's been running ahead of me all these years..."

You don't love dance...

Discovered that Aziza S'aid has a blog, and really enjoyed her post today on why we (don't) love the dance. Give it a read!
http://azizasaid.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/its-4-am-and-my-brain-is-burning/

"You do not love yoga, or dance.

You think you do, but you don’t. The “it” is not the object of your love… you do NOT love yoga or dance.

What you really love is Who You Are when you do it.

The dance, the yoga, it is a vehicle. It is the way, the path, the mechanism. It is Your way, it is what is working best for you right now, and may always be what works best for you, but it is still just a tool."

Teaching/learning to take criticism...

Criticism really is a double-edged sword. It can be so hard to hear, and so difficult to parse into something motivating. Yet as performers, it is part of our job to do just that. From an early age I studied theater and dance, and it was always parroted in my ear to "get a thick skin". The implication was that we eventually develop some kind of emotional armor where criticism just bounces off and we ignore it. But that is not a productive or wise way to approach criticism, because critique can be a tool to bettering ourselves. Shutting it out is counter-productive on every level. A better approach is to learn how to let the constructive information in, and leave the emotional reaction at the gates.

"Constructive criticism is criticism kindly meant that has a goal of improving some area of another person’s life or work. Often constructive criticism refers specifically to the critique of someone else’s written or artistic work, in perhaps a teacher/student setting, that would allow that person to further improve the work or to improve their approach to future endeavors." (Wisegeek.com )

Ah if only all criticism were "kindly meant"! But for now, let's focus our energies on these kinds of criticisms: honestly constructive critiques from our mentors, close peers, family, and friends.

Make it impossible to say "no"...

I tried to link this directly, but for some reason the link was completely jacked and wouldn't show me the essay on its own. I didn't want to link you just to the blog and then make you scroll to look for the article in question, so I have posted it here in its entirety. But please stop by the original poster's blog at http://tipsfromthehip.blogspot.com/ and express your appreciation if you like the essay.

In the article below, really like the idea of framing new ideas in such a way that it is not a black and white "fail/succeed". As a teacher, my instincts are often to give my students all these up-front provisos and caveats and warnings when they are trying something new, to try and help them understand that it may be difficult and to encourage them to not to be frustrated by the attempt should they not "get it" right away. But really, aren't I just setting up an expectation for frustration or failure by planting that seed at the outset? Would it be better to practice the "Daughers of Rhea Way", and simply say "try it"? Read on and let me know what you think...

Tying it all together: soft addictions

Jonathan Fields from Awake at the Wheel posts again about social media replacing actual living, which ties nicely into both my recent post on that very topic AND the soft addictions post from less than a day ago:

"People keep talking about what a huge time sink social media can become…

But, I’ve noticed something else happening with increasing frequency. It seems like more and more bloggers and social media regulars are actually living their lives through social media, rather than living extraordinary lives outside of social media and blogging, then tapping it as a means to share their experiences with a like-minded community online."

Read more at http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/into-the-social-media-abyss/

Soft Addictions

Thanks to Andrea Wagnon for linking me up to this over on Facebook!
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=52408

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Do mindless activity and bad habits have a hold on you? Get the tow truck, you're in a rut.

By Jeanie Lerche Davis
WebMD Feature
Published Feb. 18, 2004

Downtime is America's favorite pastime. We zone out via television, the Internet, shopping, parties, movies, hanging out, and working out. Sure, some are bad habits; some are "therapy." Most are escapes from a gerbil-wheel life.

That's when it hits you: Is this all there is?

Developing your dance...

I was tracking linkbacks and blog followers this morning and through a series of clicks I ran across a post by dancer Heather Sara from Newfoundland. She was writing about solo'ing, but more generally about how to bring her dance to a new level of polish and professionalism. I really appreciated her thoughts on it from the perspective of one doing solos or choreography, and have included a cut of a portion of this detailed blog post herein. The full post is at the link.

By Heather Sara:
"I read a snippet from an interview with Zoe Jakes recently and all of the things she said really stuck with me:

'Develop yourself as a soloist. Find your own creative voice and practice, practice, practice. Also, Find ways to get comfortable onstage, do haflas and renaissance faires. Make your own costumes, or at least have a heavy creative hand in the process. And try your hardest to not lose sight of why you are dancing, getting too wrapped up in a goal can sometimes make you forget to enjoy the process.'

Art Is A Verb, Not A Noun

http://www.artadvice.com/advice/article20.php

"Most people don't realize how much courage it takes for an artist to show their work to people. Courage, as defined by Mark Twain, is not the lack of fear, but rather being able to move forward in spite of it. In my previous article, If You Are Addicted, I introduce the notion that there is a difference between making art and making a painting (sculpture, photography, or whatever your medium is)...

As I define it, art is the activity that occurs in the space that exists between my eyeballs and that object you have created. It is the interaction between the collective experiences in my brain, as I process the way you have chosen to express the collective experiences in your brain. It is only when this exchange takes place, that your work becomes art. It is when you share your creation with the outside world that you truly become an artist. "

Know Your Venue:

Know Your Venue
A fantastic article by Seattle's own Laura Rose on considerations one must take into account when planning a performance.

Creating a Following, Nurturing Community

I found this article through the "Now, This is Yoga" blog that Ali turned me on to. It is about teaching yoga, but the concepts absolutely resonate with me as a teacher and facilitator of a dance community.
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The Art of Teaching
By Rusty Wells

Creating a Following, Nurturing Community

Where do teachers come from?

When I first began teaching yoga, I had already been working a full time job in an acute health care setting. In addition to my forty hour per week commitment, I worked on-call much of the time and spent most of the remaining hours either on my yoga mat or fast asleep in bed. I was practicing a lot of yoga, loving the experience, and I took my first teacher training program in order to delve deeper. When a studio owner asked if I would start teaching a Friday 6am class, I realized that this was one of the few spaces in my schedule when I could actually give it a try.

Hulu has some dance...

If you like dance like I like dance, you are always drawn to movies and television which features dance and movement. C'mon, you loved Bring It On, Centerstage, Save The Last Dance, Step It Up, Stomp the Yard, and even Showgirls. You call them your "guilty pleasure", but what's to be guilty about? We love to watch dance!

Well Hulu has some dance videos on demand. Not much, but some. Here are some highlights I just dug up:

A snippet of the Roxanne Tango from Moulin Rouge. Click here and find other 2 minute clips from throughout Moulin Rouge (one of my fave movies).
http://www.hulu.com/watch/14222/moulin-rouge-a-dance

Nigel Lithgow giving his own angle on the performers from Superstars of Dance. Unfortunately, I thought the show somewhat lame, but Nigel's insights into the different groups and dance styles, as well as some of the clips from the show--sans the insultingly biased country-by-country voting and insipid meanderings of The Lord of the Dance-turned-MC, Michale Flatley--are fun to watch online!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/50985/superstars-of-dance-gumboot-roots

Don't miss Team South Africa, Tam India's Rajasthani dance, and the Australian modern dance group (can you say boundless energy?!)
http://www.hulu.com/superstars-of-dance

Step It Up and Dance, which I am surprised to learn is a show I had never heard of before (maybe it wasn't all that good?), is hosted by Elizabeth Berkely and is a competition dance show. There are some fun clips among them..and there are a looooot of clips. Pages and pages.
http://www.hulu.com/step-it-up-and-dance

There is also an...interesting...series on LiveMojo on bellydance.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/23591/livemojo-guide-to-belly-dancing---dance-1
Just search for "belly dance" in the search box to see them all.

There are a lot of links to ABC's Dancing With The Stars online lessons and "dance tips", but I have never been a big fan of the show. You can see them on ABC.com if you are a fan!

Oh and here are some clips from Bring It On!
http://www.hulu.com/bring-it-on

Do you have a favorite online source for video outside of the usual YouTube and Google videos?

Ego vs. Pride

I really dig this article on Wisegeek examining the sometimes subtle, but important, difference between ego and pride. In my estimation, ego can get in the way of progressing in our dance, while pride can be motivating and bolstering in our attempts. What do you think? Read on...

Since ego and pride are rather linked, and their definitions are so similar, it can be difficult to figure out exactly how they are different. However, a simple way to consider ego and pride is this: ego is rather selfish and often has no basis in fact while pride tends to be less selfish and is typically based on the facts of a person's achievements and qualities. Some people think of ego as self-respect. While it can lead to a sense of self-respect, it too often leads to arrogance instead.

When a person has a genuine ability in a particular field, this could be a source of pride. Instead, however, the person may begin to feel that he is the best in this field and that no one else is or ever will be worthy of working with him; he may feel this way regardless of whether or not there's actually any truth to his perceptions. Pride, on the other hand, would make this person feel happy about his skills and accomplishments, without having to be the best or only one capable of achievement. Pride leads to confidence instead of the arrogance.

The quality of a teacher...

Posted by Ali of n.o.madic tribal, taken from a yoga blog kept by a Jivamukta:
http://athayoganusasanam.blogspot.com/

Thanks for sharing this wonderful sentiment, Ali!

"Teachers are extensions of their masters. Average teachers are merely mimicking their masters. The great teachers have found the master within from which they project.

Teachers are not measured by what they know. They are measured by what they can instill. 

True teachers are supposed to enable their students to become self sufficient, strong and independent people who choose to be with them. Quality teachers remove codependency and or attachment from the relationship. The ultimate goal of teachers is to make students into masters. By doing the latter the student is free. Students who experience this should never forget where the direction came from.

The quality of the teacher is defined through the student’s practice. As the student grows so does the teacher. Thus the student’s progression is the teacher’s top concern."

And Asharah does it again...

So part of why I dug up my older kudos-post to Asharah is because she continually asks the tough questions, and gives some thought-provoking and worthy answers. Her most recent post about "Vintage Fusion Bellydance" is again right on the money with regard to the Victorian/Burly fusion fad. Here is a snippet to whet your whistle, then pop over and read the entire thing!

"What if someone from the general public came to see one of these performances? What if this person knew nothing about bellydance? Do we want to give the general public the impression that we’re only comic relief and slapstick acts that have no qualms about showing our frilly panties to strangers, particularly as we lose (or pretend to lose) our inhibitions through the imbibing of alcohol on stage? Is that bellydance, and, more importantly to me, is that tribal? And, I know that many of us bellydancers are trying very hard to elevate this dance into the realms of both popular and high art… and in order for that to happen, we must earn the respect of not only our peers but also the general public. How do we expect to be respected as an art form when we’re stumbling around on stage in our underwear?"