Attend to Your Spirit Through Moving Your Body
By Lisa Solis DeLong, RN
Photo: “My Marilyn Moment.” Spontaneous joy erupts while accidentally dancing over a sidewalk vent. Notice how the singer plays along.
I’ve always been a dancer. As a little girl I took ballet and tumbling, which led to gymnastics and then cheerleading. The feeling of throwing my arms over my head, forcefully pushing off of my feet, and arching blindly backwards was counterintuitive. It required that I fully trust my body to go the wrong way and upside down at the same time. It was thrilling to override logic and discover that I could land on my feet.
That truth still serves me well today. You see, grief taught me to dance. After a difficult loss, I got tired of feeling sad and volunteered to raise money for kids with cancer through a “Dancing with Our Stars” event. I was paired with a pro who taught me the Cha Cha Cha. We competed, scored all 8’s and I was hooked. The pro and I became friends. He taught me how to follow and how to steady my frame so that he could steer me. He used to say, “Your arms are like a steering wheel, if you don’t keep a firm frame it’s like driving a car with no steering wheel.”
Dance taught me how to lead myself through the steps I needed to take to find spiritual balance and that included movement. I also learned early on, that after dance lessons and socials, emotions would come up. I often cried on the way home even if I had felt happy prior to dancing. Latent emotions were moved to the surface, stuffed emotions swirled up. I soon realized how to distinguish between my emotions and those I had picked up from people I danced with. This may sound strange but it is very common among empathic people. The same is true whether at work, play or social gatherings.
But how does this connect to spirituality? There are many physical activities that can take you to the higher realms of consciousness. There’s the Native American Ghost Dance, the Classical Indian Dance, The Whirling Dervishes of the Mevlevi Order, The Fire Walking Dance, The Cobra Gypsies of Rajasthan, and the Eleusinian Mysteries or Bacchanalia of antiquity (just to name a few). Also, on the rise today is ecstatic dance. For many people, dancing is a fantastic way to lose themselves in the vibrating rhythm of the music. It helps them to forget the problems in their lives and to simply enjoy the present moment. Dance legend, Martha Graham said, “Dance is the hidden language of the soul,” and I agree.
Moving the body moves energy. Energy is life-force or spirit. It’s what flows through us and breathes us into being all the time. Indrani Margolin, author of Dance, Movement & Spritualities, states, “When the body is attended to with ever-present openness to arising sensations, feelings and images, and drawn on to move and be moved from an inner wholeness, emotional and spiritual transformation occurs.” Makes sense to me.
But maybe dance isn’t your thing. Every day, millions of people around the world practice yoga. In the West, yoga is treated mainly as a physical exercise that offers many potential health benefits but in temples especially in India and China, it consists of meditation, breathing exercises, a range of different body postures, and dynamic movements that help yogis to balance their Chi or wind energies.
Yoga, chi-gong, tai-chi, also move our energy. If you’re not a fan of putting your body in uncomfortable positions for extended periods of time, you may try a walking meditation. It’s very simple yet can lead to profound insights. There’s also an interesting chapter on this topic in the classic, Jon Kabat-Zinn’s, Wherever You Go, There You Are.
During our busy lives, we often feel compelled to get somewhere fast. There’s constant pressure to make every minute count and produce something of value. When was the last time you just went for a walk without any purpose in mind? That’s the premise of the walking meditation. Just go outside, walk slowly, make small steps and concentrate on breathing. I love doing this after being on my computer all day. Don’t look at your watch, and don’t listen to music, or the newest podcast. Just observe what’s going on around you. See the details that you’ve missed before. Try it for yourself.
There are many ways to attend to your spirit through movement. While I don’t do back hand springs anymore. I do partner dance regularly. Whether dancing or simply walking outdoors, give thanks for being able to move your body and remain open to spontaneous joy.
