Stretching

     Just a short post today; a sort of reminder if you'll allow me.  To all my fellow dancers out there, or even athletes or yoga doers (forgive the lack of a better word), learn from my mistake, and once you start stretching for flexibility, never stop!  I was getting very close to achieving the splits, and I went through a discouraged/busy phase, and stopped stretching.  Well, I am now having to re-teach my body all the stretching it is capable of.  And boy! does it hurt!  Painful as it can get, I would say.  And frustrating as well, because instead of moving forward, I am retracing my steps back to where I should be.  Just a friendly, considerate piece of advice for anyone trying to achieve goals in flexibility.  Well, I'm off then!  Good luck, and stay motivated, poised, energized, and most important, keep on dancing!

-Madel

Movements of the Heart?

     There is one thing that I love to do, that brings peace and focus to my soul.  It seems, and probably looks, nonsensical, yet it isn't; because it works.  In the picture above I am leaping in the air, off of a skinny brick formation.  That formation exists in our backyard; which isn't really a yard, more of a cliff with stones and steps and fields of ivy.  However, I love to stand on that formation, which is in the shape of half an oval, barefooted and quiet, feeling the movement of the earth around me.  Now of course the neighbors can see me, so they probably think I'm some sort of creepy ritual performer, but I don't pay any mind.  Next, after I have found myself swaying with the earth, I begin to move.  I move my arms and legs and body, poised with power yet unleashed, and I articulate the motions in my heart.  I see the trees swaying, the leaves falling, the grass blowing (or ivy), and I feel the sun shining.  Then, whatever happens, happens from the soul.  I can become a snake, or a flamingo; a giraffe, or even a fairy.  I can be anything, without labeling it, and it depends upon the movements of my limbs.
     Now the thoughts running through your mind could range from anything like, "What a weirdo," to, "I wonder if it works?"  But, whether the first or second, or an opinion somewhere in between, I don't pay any mind.  I'm sure my own family looks out the window and wonders, "What on earth is Irene doing?"  All I know, is that I have found something that calms me.  Some people, such as my little sister, bedazzle things when they need calming.  Others run, to face/or leave problems behind.  Even others watch movies, or TV, as a way of escape from being reminded of the present.  Everyone has something, weird or natural, that they do in order to calm them.  All I'm saying is that, yes, mine is very weird, but it gives me a sense of balance, not only physically, but in my life.  I just thought I would share with you my one odd activity, that I do consider of a sort of dance of the soul, so that perhaps you would be encouraged to seek your own act of finding peace when most needed.  Believe me, it can come quite in handy.


-Madelaine Irene