photo of Michael and Anneli by Lewis Sheriff
A few weeks ago I received a notice for a workshop called Beyond Skin: A Spiritweaves retreat with Michael and Anneli that would take place just down the road in Dallas. When I read the description of the workshop, my soul knowingly said to me, “GO!”
A movement meditation that encourages you to move your body beyond the surface: to a place within where you can be content with your strengths and your struggles. A dance exploration that inspires you to move beyond the patterning to a place of source. You will be called to move beyond the separation to bring what is outside of you to play within and what is within to pray out int he world. We will use the potent practices of the 5rhythms and Soulmotion.
These words, in particular, deeply resonated with me : a dance exploration that inspires you to move beyond the patterning to a place of source. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this!
photo of Anneli by Lewis Sheriff
I’m so happy I followed my intuitive impulse because last weekend with Michael and Anneli has now become one of my all time most breathtakingly transformative dance experiences EVER. And this old modern dance major has taken lots and lots of classes and workshops in the 5rhythms, dance therapy, authentic movement, trance dance, life/art process with Anna Halprin, etc… The masterful, and I mean MASTERFUL, guidance of Michael and Anneli was beyond magnificent to experience.
On Saturday, Anneli and Michael purposefully guided us through three hours of moving before we officially took a break. It took me nearly three hours of moving before I realized that my thoughts aren’t thinking me. Anneli encouraged us to find that place where the breath breathes you.
I am out of my head.
I am in my body.
I have surrendered to my spirit.
I am beyond my skin.
My breath breathed me.
photo of Michael by Lewis Sheriff
And boy oh boy did I need that release AND realization. Like many of you, I’ve got so many projects and it is easy to slip into that default place of busyness. This shift that transpired within me in that moment is still reverberating through me. And now, the clarity and creative energy I’m bringing to those projects is ever so much better.
What shape waits in the seed of you to grow and spread its branches against a future sky? −David Whyte
Another HUGE experiential takeaway for me was the dynamic with which I want to bring my dreams into the world. Michael and Anneli encouraged us to play with the dynamics of different shapes, especially playing with moving a shape with less effort. I LOVED this! I can manifest my visions with a sense of ease and play rather than with a forced energy that doesn’t feel authentic for me. Simplicity is powerful!
If you ever have an opportunity to take a workshop with Anneli and Michael (Spiritweaves), listen to your knowing soul and go for it.
Allow yourself to reach the place where your breath breathes you, to move beyond your patterning to a place of source.
This sounds amazing! Sounds as if you had a refreshing and yet energizing experience!
It seems that you got exactly what you needed! How typical of this wondrous universe that the resources for us to grow always present themselves on our paths!
Literally, it was a moving experience for you. Ha! I enjoyed your “out of my head” poem.
Hi Silky,
Happy you decided to “go” for it. Too often we circle things in the catalog, get all amped up and then talk ourselves out of it …
Sounded really fab. Perhaps, they’ll come to Greater Boston? I’ve always loved to dance myself – mainly freestyle, although I took up tap for a bit.
It’s like you were painting with your bodies on the dance floor. I got a really “free” feeling from the way you wrote about it.
Do you feel looser?
We all need to loosen up even more.
Thanks! Giulietta
Pingback: Why Wouldn’t You? « Expressive Hart·
Pingback: Dancing in the Flow « Expressive Hart·