Tales of the Alien in mah Belly

Have a Mission.

2012-01-17T07:25:00.001-08:00

‎"Have a mission. Plan ahead. Question everything. Listen. Collaborate. Assume nothing. Study the past. Keep it simple. Communicate. Draw a diagram. Never sell out. Push harder. Say what you mean. Be open. Roll up your sleeves. Dream. Welcome change. Add value. Aim higher. Foster intuition. Do more with less. Laugh. Innovate. Think sideways. Focus. Mean what you say. Take it to the edge. Relax."

Entranced...

2011-12-04T10:48:00.001-08:00

Colleena Shakti and the Elephant

2011-12-04T10:45:00.001-08:00

Our Deepest Fear

2011-10-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us.We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?Actually, who are we not to be?You are a child of God.Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.Source: A Return to Love, by Marianne Williamson, as quoted by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural speech, 1994

Let the fire light your way...

2011-09-30T18:35:00.001-07:00

Inner Light

2011-09-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

"Your first and foremost responsibility is to blossom, to become fully conscious, aware, alert; and in that consciousness you will be able to see what you can share." ~Osho

Fire burns most brightly when it is fed regularly with care

2011-09-30T14:52:00.000-07:00

Dance is Joy

2011-09-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Red Sand Tribal

2011-09-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

Capturing the Soul

2011-09-30T14:42:00.000-07:00

Make Life Fun!

2011-09-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

Art feeds the Soul

2011-09-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Finding Peace...

2011-09-30T14:37:00.000-07:00

Never give up on a dream just because of the length of time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.

2011-09-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

Quan Yin

2011-09-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

Red Sand Tribal

2011-09-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Beginner's Mind

2010-06-16T07:38:00.001-07:00

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." - Shunryo Suzuki-Roshi

Knowing how to do something is so incredibly limiting. If we already know how to do it, why bother learning different ways, why bother exploring? The possibilities go from endless to concrete when we know. Working with dancers, the concept of beginner's mind is very visible, especially in the intermediate level dancer.

In the beginning, a dancer knows nothing, no technique, no posture, no vocabulary. At this point, dance is extremely fun and challenging, everything is new and exciting. Beginners focus diligently on their posture and trying to make their movements better. They attend practice regularly and practice at home. Over time, something changes. Dancers begin to understand technique and posture, and they build a vocabulary of dance movements. They attend practice less frequently and discontinue home practice. It is easy at this point to stop paying attention to the things they think they know. This usually happens in intermediate level dancers. This is the point where dancers can become stuck. Once dancers 'know' it, there is nothing to learn, nothing to improve, they are 'there'.

I believe that drills are essential for all levels of dancers, they increase awareness of the foundations of good dance, strong posture, solid isolations, expression, etc. Once a dancer thinks they know the basics, dance basics can become boring, because essentially, they have eliminated the chance of exploring the movement by convincing their brain that they already know everything about that move. I wholeheartedly believe that we can never entirely 'know' dance. Each move, no matter how basic, has unlimited possibilities IF one can maintain beginner's mind.

Almost every advanced dancer I know has one thing in common. They continue to approach their practice with beginner's mind. They never take for granted that they already know something. Basics are constantly worked, posture is consistently checked, and drills are regularly practiced. The reason this works is two-fold. First, it keeps practice fun and exciting; and second, every exercise, no matter how basic is an opportunity to create, learn, grow and explore.

Next time you try something you think you know, forget everything you might know, and try it again with the mind of a beginner. It is amazing how changing your perspective can completely change your experience within the practice of a discipline. If you think you have nothing to learn, you will likely learn nothing. If you keep your mind open to the possibilities, there are no limits!

By Satya

If you never did, you should! These things are fun, and fun is good!

2010-05-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

Play! It's not just for children!

2010-04-22T10:31:00.001-07:00

Growing up is overrated. I recently heard a statistic that children laugh 400 times a day but adults only fifteen. Anyone who has spent time around children can attest to their jubilant delight, endless imagination and fearless approach to playing. So what happens to us as we grow up, and more importantly, what can we do about it?

In our culture, as people get older they tend to stop playing. It's sad, I know. Why do we do this? Play is FUN! It feels good, it makes us laugh, it allows us to explore the world and grow physically and emotionally. Play is a teacher and a friend!

When was the last time you rolled around in the grass laughing, ran around and threw your arms in the air with wild abandon or skipped instead of walking?

There are so many forms of play, and I find that some of things adults call play are really not that fun. We need to think more like children. Play does not require expensive gadgets and huge chunks of time. Sometimes all it requires is the fearlessness to actually do it. Right at this moment, how would it make you feel to do a summersault?

I have a fascination with circus, play, dance and joy. I fill my life with it. I teach it to others through poi, staff and dance. I share it through performance and watch gleefully as others do the same. Even at work I surround myself with toys, hula hoops, poi, markers and paper. In fact, some of my "work" is playing! Through this, it's become more obvious to me how many adults are afraid of playing, afraid of looking silly or being ridiculed by their peers, afraid of stepping outside of the norm and having fun. They then end up angry, unhappy and unhealthy. But fear not! Now is the time to regain your love of play!

If you are not sure where to start, just watch a child for a few moments and take note. They can teach us invaluable lessons of letting go of fear and embracing joy. Walk the edge of the sidewalk as a balance beam, fly a kite in the park, climb a tree, roll in the grass, stretch your body and mind to their limits dancing and laughing and enjoy this beautiful, precious thing we call life, before it passes you by!

"If you are not dancing and singing and laughing your way through life, my friends, then you are doing something wrong. But take heart- it is never too late to start living right! Trade your furrowed brow for a clown nose, switch the treadmill for a dance floor, find the music that makes your soul sing and then share the treasures you have found with friends and strangers alike." ~ Lucent Dosier

Belly dance is more than dance. It's women's magic.

2010-04-06T10:48:00.001-07:00

By Satya

Who am I to write about women's magic? I don't fully understand it and don't claim to, and yet through the process of teaching belly dance to countless women over the past seven years, I've begun to see the potential.

Breaking patterns that we create through our everyday movement or lack of movement is difficult. It can be uncomfortable, painful, and even threatening. We stand, sit, walk and eat. We talk on the phone and type on the computer. All with a very limited range of motion. It's easy to forget sometimes that our bodies are capable of doing more than what we do each day. And yet, when we are able to move beyond our normal routine and push our bodies to find our true limits, it is amazing how good it feels!

That's where the practice of belly dance comes in. From the first breaths of warm up, to the undulating spine, circling hips, and staccato shimmies, it breaks the patterns of our normal daily movement. It may be surprising to hear that through a practice of movement isolations in dance, pathways can be opened in the body. The effects of this dance form are far reaching, and may not be fully understood.

There is more than just a physical reaction, these moves open channels that may be blocked, and release stagnant energies simply through doing them. The chakras can open. Body image can shift. Attitude can change.

Really? All through dancing? Yes! Belly dance is magic and medicine with tangible, positive effects on the body and mind. It is no wonder that it is such a draw for women who are on the edge of conscious change and alternative living. Spiritual seekers of many varieties come to belly dance, maybe not even knowing why. Women looking to change their lives, change their attitudes, change their bodies end up in classes. They form tribes all over the world through movement, and connect with each other on the dance floor. It is powerful and beautiful.

The effects can be incredible. Give it a try to see for yourself. There is magic and medicine in this dance that is needed right now more than ever. What are you waiting for? Join the tribe if you dare!

Satya is the director of Bella Rouge Dance Company, with weekly ongoing classes at Dance Works Studio. More information can be found at www.bellarougetribal.com

Published in the Spot Magazine, April, 2010

In the midst of a dream...

2010-01-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

Belly Dance and the Sacred Feminine

2009-06-16T13:45:00.001-07:00

June 14, 2009

The growth of belly dancing, as it relates to the rise of the goddess and the sacred feminine.

I want to start this article with the view of a small girl, a girl dancing around the room. She wears her sister's skirt and imagines herself dancing in far-away lands. She has in her hand a scarf that she twirls and twirls, spinning around the room. In her mind, she is exotic (though at the tender age of 6, she doesn't know that word), beautiful. She dances in the palaces only heard of in children's tales. She dances joyfully. In the child, you can see the woman she will someday become. She is already a lover of dress up, of movement, of jewelry. That girl is the author, and her love of movement has never diminished.

Over the past several years, I have become acquainted with the power of belly dance in the average woman's life. Fairly new on the scene, or at least new to our small valley, is tribal belly dance. The thing that I have noticed is a push back against the ever-so-thin style of ballet that was advanced as "the thing to do" when I was a child growing up. Myself, I have a strong history of dance, mostly modern and jazz, and, being a woman of some size, ran afoul of that particular prejudice against true woman-shaped dancers. If someone had a weight problem, breasts that were larger than average, or she was too tall, she was not encouraged to be a dancer--or at least a ballet dancer, especially professionally. Dancers, for years, have been encouraged to be a certain shape and size. There was even a story (this was a news story I remember from 60 minutes) about women who had collagen injected into their lips and had bone removed in order to look like a particularly favored famous ballet dancer. It was difficult to be a plus-size dancer back then because the scene was not one in which being able to dance well was the ultimate deciding factor, it was how you looked. One of the most beautiful women I know ran into trouble because of the size of her chest. She persisted and even started her own dance group, while I moved to dance types that were a little more tolerant if you didn't look anorexic. However, in college, it was clear that to go pro, you couldn't look like me.

Now there is belly dance. Small women, big women, all women are accepted and encouraged in this type of dance. One of my favorite names of a dance group is "Fat Chance Belly Dance," and this group sort of formed the template and set down the rules, according to what I have learned, as to the moves that define American Tribal Style. As you can guess, in this troupe the women are of various sizes, beautiful in motion, comfortable (or getting comfortable) with their own bodies. My own dance troupe is a cross-section of body styles and ages, as well. My teacher long and lean, and young. My dance sisters are older and younger, short, willowy, pudgy, voluptuous. In tribal fusion, our style of belly dance, there are elements of jazz, ATS (American Tribal Style), cabaret, modern, and even a little ballet. As its name suggests, the styles are fused. We learn the basic elements of ATS, and then add on.

Speaking further of the belly-dance style. I believe it shares a part in the rise of the sacred feminine recently, with its the empowering of women. I believe this is because it embraces all the various physical forms of woman, promoting an opposite view of Hollywood's physical beauty of so many years--the bulimic, anorexic stereotype that extends back to Twiggy, who was the anti-heroine and the bane of my pudgy growing-up years. The belly dancer celebrates the belly, complete with its stretch marks, the battle scars of childbirth.
The moving dance meditation calls on us to honor ourselves, our ancestors, the floor we dance on, and our dance sisters. In the tribe or troupe, we are accepted and we are beautiful. To look for strength, we only have to look as far as the sister beside us. In addition, we get more fit (who knew?). Belly dance is all about "core strength."

In general, movement is basic and trends come and go, but the interest in belly dance goes back a long way in America. The Cabaret style of belly dance came down from early motion pictures. Who can forget the dancing girls in their glittery costumes dancing on the silver screen? Their smoky looks burned holes in men's minds. In our town, we have many troupes of various styles. We have several cabaret troupes, with their flashy costumes. Sequins and shiny material is the basic here. The hands are flashy. The moves are sharp, and, somewhat unfortunately in my own opinion, this style of belly dance is associated with sex and seduction. We also have a more traditional Arabic style of belly dance, while occasionally incorporating various folkloric styles of dance. One of the groups here calls their style Pagan-style.

In the cabaret style and the more traditional style, they also have men dancers. However, in the tribal style my troupe does, it is a women-only club, making it comfortable for all of us who participate to be ourselves. Though the styles of belly dance are many, all of them have this is in common, the joy of movement, the closeness of sisters and fellow dancers.

It is not my goal here to get fully into the various styles of belly dance. There are many writers who have already written on this. I want, instead, to look at the social trends in belly dance. It is more than movement that brings women out. There is the costuming, along with the simple joy of having a tribe or a troupe that a woman belongs to. In our troupe, we got together for a sewing circle, working on our costumes. I had never been to a "sewing" circle and came with my own angst about what was to transpire, being convinced I was going to embarrass myself. Instead, I was amazed at how many women had no clue how to sew, or how to use a sewing machine. My own fears were for nought. I found there were several professional women there who had never sewn anything (I actually had Home economnics and had to learn to sew to some extent, though it is not my bliss by any means).

I realized, through this experience, that missing from our busy lives, in this day and age, is community. I have friends who talk about it all the time, this lack of community. We seek it now through Twitter, Face-book, My Space, I guess even in Triond. In our cyber-world, we seek connection. Our hard-won freedom, as women, of going to work and having our husband's participate fully as partners in our world, has resulted in a disconnect with many of the coffee klatch, the connection over the back fence with our neighbor, the women's clubs, sewing circles, knitting circles, and/or simply learning at our mother's and grandmother's knees. In my small community where I grew up, for instance, all the women in the town got together to make quilts for everyone. I have a quilt that group created. In it are patches my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother put in. I am lucky to own it, this representation of a time when the women of a community were so connected. Please don't get me wrong. There are women in community groups; however, we are more likely to get involved in a work-related coalition or organization (that was all I was involved in until this dance group), rather than something with a more homey twist.

I have seen the need in myself and other women to reconnect, in a very basic way, to our feminine self. If this were not the case, why would we be so fascinated with the skirt, the decorated bra, turbans, sequins, veils--all of it so opposite to a power suit, or the sensible shoes of the nurse. In this form of dance, we celebrate the feminine--the belly, the place that life grows. This form of dance, the belly dance came out of the harem. It was made for women by women. Those who have practiced it for years tell me of its origins as exercises to strengthen the body for childbirth, and to recover afterward. These moves are beautiful, fluid, and each movement strengthens the body as it isolates each and every muscle. So many other forms of exercise also strengthen these areas, but in belly dance the emphasis is on the beauty of the movement, and its history is that of women's strength. In the belly dance, we see the face of the goddess, the goddess in ourselves and every other woman we dance with. We come back to our homes feeling stronger, more connected, ready to go on with the mundane work in our lives. In our daily lives, we remember the dance and are children again, dancing around the room--beautiful, exotic, complete.

The crazies are out!

2009-01-01T19:32:00.000-08:00