My Music…There Goes Joanie!!!

“The human voice conveys who you are through a unique combination of rhythm, melody, timbre and dynamics. It not only reveals who you are, but it also reveals from what sphere or plane you draw your greatest energy. Our voice is the personal vehicle for spiritual and creative expression…..Each voice represents a unique personality that defines an individual’s character….Our voice is our most creative and musical instrument. It has great power to touch our lives and the lives of others.” Excerpts from “Sacred Sounds: Magic & Healing Through Words & Music” by Ted Andrews.

I love the thought and the awareness of every time I speak I am creating my music. This awareness brings with it a responsibility of what I am saying, the tone I am using and the intent of my words. My music changes constantly and I use my tone to sing my love, to calm, to excite, to express my anger, to state my desires, to exude my enthusiasm….so many sounds, so many instruments. As a Sacred Athlete I use my music to teach and heal, guided by my awareness that every action in my life, including my sounds, are sacred. With love as my healing energy, I use the full potential of my music to manifest my greatness and the greatness of the world.

As a Sensation Scientist, I am devoted to continually explore my voice, my sound, my music. I have recently been exploring my voice in relationship with the 7 cycles of my Nia classes and the power my music (my sound and silence) has on my students and the class experience. Setting my Focus and Intent, my voice is sparked with confidence and enthusiasm as I to create the space for students to feel safe, excited about the possibilities and relaxed. When we Step In to the class and the Warm Up cycles, my tone is relaxed and reassuring, that invites students to connect to their body, their MUSIC, so they can be in the NOW. In the Get Moving cycle my music creates excitement and motivation to enhance their experience and provide the environment for everyBody to reach their potential. As we cool down and move into Floorplay, my music inspires playful exploration and self healing. And then as we Transition Out, my music creates the space for harmony and peace as we all prepare to Dance Through Life. All my music/sounds infused with love and joy. My exploration continues and will never stop. There is so much to discover.

 

I believe the most important skill to develop for receiving the healing benefits and the power of sound is 2 fold: The art of listening to sound along with the awareness that our whole body...organs, bones, muscles, cells, connective tissue...everything, is listening and responding. Listening is one thing; however if we have the awareness of the affect music has on our body, our mind, our emotions and spirit, and understand that music stays with us long after the sound is gone, we raise the consciousness of the healing aspects of music and sound. We can listen to a song from long ago, and if we had a past emotional experience in life with that song, the memories come flooding back as if we are back in time. With this our physical body may take on a different shape. Our mental realm is flooded with the images of that moment and our spirit becomes alive and transformed by the experience as if it is real and now. “Every cell within our body is a sound resonator. It has the capability of responding to any other sound outside of the body. Every organ, in which cells of like vibration have gathered to form that organ, will respond as a group to particular sound vibrations, as will various emotional, mental and spiritual states of consciousness. The human body is a bio-electrical system.....strengthened or balanced through the use of sacred sound."  Sacred Sounds, p. 9 by Ted Andrews.

Music has the power to inspire, to relax, to excite, to make you sad, happy, chaotic .......allows us to transcend our imaginations and our dance. Music heals the body and the soul. I have used Chinese gongs, Tibetan bowls, my sound and silence, and music that is healing to me in my recovery from surgery and from my broken foot. And music is my entry into each new day. Oh the bliss!! As a Nia teacher, soon to be trainer and a healer, I am conscious of the power of music and the ability it has to transform people’s lives. I am aware every time I choose my playlist for every class, every workshop. The power of music to create magic within everyBody’s dance!

I personally experience the vibration and resonance of music throughout my entire body! I am a receiver of sounds, vibrations, rhythm and melodies and it stays within the fabric of my body for years. I’m thinking it will for my entire lifetime. Nia gave me this gift, and through the practice of RAW, I have developed the skill of listening to music...the art of listening. Nia has opened me up to all types of music, sounds and silence, and it continues to inspire and excite me, and flood my body. This is particularly evident with the Nia routines I learn. Through my listening practice and awareness, I can recall the movements of a Nia routine from my body, even if I have not danced the routine in several years. The resonance is present. The sound is a part of me. I love this!!! This body memory has been proven, and as Daniel Levitin states in “This is Your Brain on Music”, research at Keele University in the UK found that a year after a child is born, they can recognize music they were exposed to when they were in the womb. It’s in all of us - all the sounds we experience in our lifetime, and when we connect physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually to the music/sounds, the sound waves become part of our being.

I’ve been contemplating/meditating on what Debbie Rosas said in her April NGT call about the 8 BC system and how we may need to first focus on the music and then the beat/count/bars in our Nia white belt. Listening to the music, understanding the music has given me a greater appreciation for the 8 BC system.  When I started my Nia practie, I first listened to the music..constantly... and I discovered the sensation of music permeating into my cells. This was in 1994 and I still get high with this sensation!!

 
I am unique, I have my own tone, my own syncopation, my own tempo, with the tools to change my song moment to moment. Music, Movement, Magic. I make music everyday. There goes Joanie!! (Thanks Debbie for this phrase !)

Duncan Dance, Free Spirited Honest Movement

I'm currently reading Done Into Dance, Isadora Duncan In America by Ann Daly, a gift to me by one of my best friends, Robbie Hudson, who introduced me to Nia.  I am having a great time reading this lovely story and learning more about Isadora, and the gift her dance form brought to the world.  Isadora Duncan lived from 1877 - 1927, a time of great change, and brought into the world a "New Dance" that liberated the body and gave expression to the soul.   Her theory of dance and her core beliefs changed forever the face of dance.  She believed dancing creates beauty (our body expressed as art), the source of our dance is from nature (her teachers were the trees and the plants), and movement should be harmonious with our body.  I just love this!!  In Nia, just like Duncan Dance, we believe everyBody should experience their body, and use dance as an opportunity to explore and discover who we are - to connect to our body, mind, spirit and emotions.  Sensation Scientists in all forms.

Duncan Dance is a wonderful compliment to Nia and is one of Nia's 9 movement forms, with the catch phrase of  "free spirited, honest movement".  Pearls that evoke the spirit and essence of Duncan Dance are:  freedom, play, rhythm, awakening, skipping, effortless, imagination, unbound, exploring, healing, soulful, creative, authentic, Universal Joy...... 

The spirit of Duncan Dance takes me back to my childhood where I find myself running, skipping and laughing with no worries, totally uninhibited!  Do you remember those times?  My sisters, brother and I would dance outside with abandonment to the music of thunder roaring on a hot Texas afternoon, wind blowing through our hair, with the anticipation of the cool rain on its way.  I love this sensation and I can still feel it in my body!

I invite you to step into a Nia class and connect to the essence of Duncan Dance energy ....dance your dance, your passion, your excitement, your beauty, your grace.  "Our Dancing Body, Our Natural Body, Our Expressive Body"...all brought to light through our dance.  I love Nia!!!  Dance with me this week at The Synergy Studio:  http://www.thesynergystudio.com/. 



My Playlist this week...fun, fun!
1.  Water and Fire by Pangea
2.  A Canterbury Tale by Dreadzone
3.  Journeyman by Bob Holroyd
4.  Dancing is Important by Moodswings
5.  Tantrika by Makyo
6.  Booma Lena by Baka Beyond
7.  Out of Heaven by Dreadzone
8.  Pure Essence by Maneesh DeMoor

Here is a link to the book I am reading:
http://anndalyconsulting.com/author/books/duncan/index.html

I am a Sensation Scientist - Exploring all my Connections Inside!!

Connective tissue largely defines the shape of my body. Everything in our body is connected through a continuous network of connective tissue from our head to our toes. I love the sensation of this and knowing that through all of my movement I am continually conditioning my connective tissue and shaping my body for what she needs in the NOW. My NOW body. It is not static, it is dynamic and is internally supported by a connective system that is fluid, allowing my body to mold and fold, sending messages to my brain in the form of pain and pleasure. I like to visualize my connective tissue as this beautiful piece of fabric that weaves within my body, surrounding my organs, bones, muscles and cells with a protective covering that makes me feel loved and safe. As Linda Hartley in Wisdom of the Body Moving so eloquently states: “When we move in the spaces between the organs, bones, muscles, blood vessels, or cells, we are moving through the connective tissue sheaths. This movement is sensual, internal, flowing, and elastic, like the luxurious stretching of a cat. It flows on and on, rebounds and flows again. It gives vital support to the integrity of the whole in both movement and stillness.”(page 289).

I was brought into a heightened state of awareness of my connective tissue and her role in my body’s shape a year into my healing from a cervical spine surgery that was brought on by an accident. Focused on my healing of my neck and head, I didn’t notice the imbalance on the left side of my body, that was also a result of the accident, until the tension manifested as pain in my left knee. I went for months where I was not able to bend my left knee with out pain. At an Inner Idea conference, I told Debbie my story and asked her if she would observe my movement and give me feedback. After the session, she came up to me and said “It is your connective tissue. Focus there and you will heal.” So that is what I did. This simple message lead me on a path of discovery and learning, reading and exploring, movement and magic. Through Nia’s 5 stages of healing, conscious movement and directed therapy I was able to restore fluidity to my connective tissue and “unglued” my iIliotibial (IT) band (a thick connective tissue that runs from the outside of your hip to the outside of your knee). The pain in my knee vanished and I regained 90% range of motion in my knee. The exploration and healing continues!

Everything is connected. The structure and function of all parts and the body as a whole are supported by connective tissue. I see my connective tissue as my guardian angel within that is dedicated to giving me form and freedom of movement as I Dance Through Life. It is a dance of loosening and tightening, sound and silence, mobility and agility, strength and flexibility, opening and surrendering, volume up/down, fast and slow, sinking and rising, hard and soft, masculine and feminine, Martial Arts, Dance Arts and Healing Arts; and it is through awareness that I discover where there is pain and pleasure so I can play with theses dynamics to bring my body to homeostasis. Stability and Peace. I move on this earth with dynamic ease knowing the potential I have for unlimited ways to shape/reshape my body through my awareness of the connections inside. ...”balance of movement and awareness, it becomes both a vehicle of dynamic expression and a support for all the other systems and movement qualities.” Wisdom of the Body Moving, Page 291.

So when I found myself recently with plantar fasciitis after my boot was removed from my metatarsal break, I knew I would be able to heal myself. Yes I was scared having to deal with this at the same time I was still healing my broken foot. Nia gave me tools of sensation, self love, patience, movement, and touch. I Am Now self healing....I am a Sensation Scientist and I am becoming body literate. These are the gifts.

As I explore the connections inside, I am awakened to the rhythm of the connective tissue of my thoughts, emotions and spirit. Each of these voices connect to my body as a sensation, and I am connecting in loving ways that bring healing, pleasure, and connection to my purpose in life.  Shaping Consciousness!