get up and dance::wellness wednesday

she's got moves...Journey dancing the night away at fall festival

I was talking with some of my family members yesterday about the tricks we know on opening our hearts to the joy that surrounds us in the every day "normal" moments of our lives. We were talking about how it is easy to find some kind of reason to not let "it" all go and take in the beauty of each moment for what it is. We tossed around confessions of not always making ourselves available to the happiness that is ours for the taking. I got to thinking about when I am really, truly, just in LOVE with the moment. Where, in all the corners of my mind, I am unable to come up with a better place to be. In fact...when I am in these moments, I don't even search for anything else...I just live it out. I just let my body fill up with everything the experience has to offer and I let go of any notion that there is something else to do or think or feel other than what that exact moment has to offer me. I feel most alive when I dance. Oh yes. I do. Especially when I dance with my children. And oh. These two really have the moves. Right now we have entered the world of fast and slow. Asher will talk quietly and deeply, encouraging us to move S-L-O-W. We move about in slow motion with every detail of dance defined and deliberate (how is that for alliteration?) and then quickly we are given the spastic, loud command to move fast...where our bodies suddenly fly about and take form that disappears before the next step even exists in our minds. We shake and toss and twirl and jump and we love.love.love to spin. My favorite moves from the two of them are when Asher is performing his SLOW motions. His body acts as a slinky and moves in contorted ways that mimic a gumby gone loco with music madness. I wish I could move like him. He makes it all look so cool and sneaky and slick. Journey's favorite is to grab behind her legs. One hand on each hammy...and then BOUNCE. Bounce.bounce.bounce. Never stop bouncing. It is the sweetest of things. She will bounce whenever music hits. Or before. I have discovered that anytime I walk near a stereo...the bouncing begins. She will even interrupt a very intense tantrum session to do a little bounce if music happens to begin to fill the air. My little bouncing bean. In college I began my journey into yoga, where I developed a great appreciation for movement therapy. Later down my life line, I was so delighted to be REQUIRED to take two movement therapy classes a semester during massage therapy school. I got to experiment further with yoga and got introduced to Tai Chi and Pilates...and dabbled in a spectrum of others. I haven't yet figured out how to carve out more time in my life to join one of these classes on a weekly basis. But they taunt me and beckon me and...well...someday. For now, I am blessed with my very own movement therapy masters. These kids really know how to use their cores and experiment with the ways their bodies can bend and stretch and hold and pivot. Our dance parties might not be at the caliber of, say, an African Dance class (note to self: must.go.back.soon) but they are comparable to a NIA class (note to self:must.go.back.soon). I always find myself feeling so much more FREE after a good wiggle and jig. I love this so much. Our favorite music at the moment? There is nothing as great as this funky soul. We are so groovin' his beats.

Happy dancing!