The Wind in the Dance and Samskara

As I take a few weeks off from onsite dances and create my inner space to “retreat” a few things are coming to mind/heart that I wanted to share.

One is the way natural time works with intention, the way we have to “wait” for spirit to arrive in a dance, for inspiration to come forth, the natural workings of letting go and being ready for the gifts in the present moment. body told me it needed more internal self care. It was feeling a continued sense of fatigue and a subtle grasping for stimulants, coffee, food, people….distraction….a sure sign I need to root down deeper inside. Im so grateful to know these signals and be able and willing to draw back. The online dances offer me deeper introspection, time to do art, meditation, and I love setting up altars at home and creating a container for myself from love. Each dance becomes a time for me to check in on my inner rhythm, what’s peeling off? What is underneath? Where am I still “putting on a mask” or being dishonest with myself. What feelings are ready to move??? Somehow, the stories that get “acted” out on the dance floor seem to solidify and create a pattern that’s hard to dissolve………and this retreat is giving me space and time to move and be.

My morning read, in a yoga book called “The Secret Power of Yoga” by Nischala Joy Devi and the topic was “samskara” which means when our thoughts solidify into seeing things one way and that one way limits our view of the possibilities of what’s out there. The thoughts we think become “things” and then it’s hard to even believe there is anything outside of what we’ve created. I remember during covid taking time and intention to very clearly “think out of the box” and to come home deeply to my heart. They say the “soul” or consciousness resides there…..not so much in the mind as in the heart. Our “oneness” of where we come from and return too……that when we are babies it’s the love around us that “calls us in” from our astral travel. This love is where we return to after we pass, it recognizes itself and calls us back home. Samskara’s are the patterns in movement, habits, and thoughts that take us OUT of the flow of this love. When we become so entrained in our beliefs and patterns we miss subtle cues and realities happening before our eyes. We also get disconnected from our hearts truth…from our soul flow. “Once the sandbars have developed, it takes great wind to modify or change their shape.” So the quest begins to release patterns, change habits of thoughts, be more free and detached and open to subtle awareness shifts…..soft breezes, whispers……

Im reminded again and again that it takes courage ( “coure” meaning from the heart, the consciousness”) to soften the heart, to be authentic, to find your heart voice beneath all the protection we build. This area of the heart is where we “take life in” with each breath, and let go on the exhale. It is a part of the body that needs protection as in the ribcage….yet, to connect and to create with others….it is most creative when we are moving thru the fears and creating in the tension of soul and love. Consciously carving out our desires with care and nurturing with what others want or don’t want. If we don’t work thru this tension there is a lot of discontent, armoring, lack, and fear. It’s certainly livable…..it’s what our ancestors did….but not as fruitful and doesn’t utilize the wisdom and consciousness that is possible….especially as we evolve and consider the limited amount of time we are each here on earth and resources diminishing ….the earth itself and biosphere condition, climate change.

It is art. This listening, resting, noticing, creating change…..it is a dance. We all have moment to moment opportunities to do our “yoga”….which means uniting consciousness in the heart. Some will wait….some will come forth….some will leave. It’s nature….and there is an intelligence far greater in that then in “thinking our way through”. I trust that. I also think tho, that samskaras built up block the view of the bigger picture for many of us. We’ve just inherited a lot of fear that has become habitual. We create beliefs around the fear that serve us in “thinking “ it’s love. Then life serves to create “heart breaks” over and over till we see a different path beyond the walls.

My prayer is that we all find our way, releasing patterns that inhibit and create from more love. From deeper truths and connection to nature around us. That we heal and open more into the potential that resides within to create a heaven on earth….Let it begin with me.