[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”28296″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d”][vc_custom_heading text=”“Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.“” google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_custom_heading text=”~ Cesar Chavez ” google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_column_text]Have you ever tried to communicate with someone who speaks a foreign language? How is it that animals seem to know what we’re saying, regardless of what language we speak? What’s your secret to getting your point across regardless of any language barrier?
As different as we all are, we all have a lot in common too. If you are reading this, chances are you are probably a human being! Despite the fact that we all belong to the same species, there are nearly eight billion different ways to express our humanity.
As infants, we share a common vocabulary understood by mothers throughout the world. As we grow into our various cultures, the overlay of society provides the foundation of behavior. What’s considered a friendly gesture in one part of the world might be taken as a serious insult in another.
Technology, of course, is intertwined with the evolution of communication. Before there were books, we relied on songs and storytellers. Books brought about the ability for a message to be translated across cultural lines. Then came radio which allowed one person to speak to many, and then television that brought our visual senses into the game.
With the advent of the Internet, and an audio-visual computer in everyone’s pocket with more processing power than the Apollo spacecraft, the power of broadcasting has been decentralized and it is truly a two-way street. The latest developments in simultaneous translation are using artificial intelligence to allow a person’s own voice to be what’s heard by the foreign listener.
Years ago as the computer revolution was revving up, I used to think that simultaneous translation was the key to world peace. Now that I see how the Internet has also facilitated the spread of fake news, hate speech, and mimetic warfare I’m not so sure. The jury is definitely still out and only time will tell.
But regardless of the Internet or technology in general, we humans carry within us some very valuable forms of universal language. And in fact, if you’re on this list you’re probably already a dancer, or at least appreciate the art, so that form of cross-cultural communication is likely to be second nature for you.
Beyond dance, however, is another vital practice that is often overlooked. I recently happened to pick up and re-read a copy of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. (It’s one of those books most of us read long ago, well worth a revisit!) In it, the main character known only as “The Boy” learns from a mysterious old king that “When you want something, all the universe conspires to help you achieve it.”
As he follows the omens through adversity and adventure he discovers a powerful truth. Fortune favors those who speak the “Language of Enthusiasm.” Everyone in the world understands the value of “things accomplished with love and purpose, as part of a search for something believed in and desired.”
Think about it, enthusiasm is recognizable across any cultural barrier, and those who exhibit it are always at an advantage. If there was one lesson I could impart to the youth of the world, this would be it. Coelho also talks about “Beginner’s Luck” and how the universe likes to give those who make firm decisions and set clear intentions a quick win to plant the seed of enthusiasm in their metaphysical garden of manifestation.
Enthusiasm, combined with belief, is a potent combination. When applied to a goal infused with love and light and put in service of your highest good, it’s an unbeatable combination for achieving your destiny.
And really, what is dancing but enthusiasm in motion? When we express our joy with our moving bodies we are much like the duckling shaking water off its wings or the puppy romping on the grass. Our body is the tool we are given to speak the universal language of enthusiasm for both our fellow humans and the universe to hear.
Enthusiastically yours till next Monday!
Much love and happy dancing,
Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Dance First Member Spotlight :: Visudha de los Santos and her summer SpiritFlight Intensive!!!” google_fonts=”font_family:Montserrat%3Aregular%2C700|font_style:700%20bold%20regular%3A700%3Anormal”][vc_single_image image=”28297″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.visudhadelossantos.com/”][vc_column_text]This week’s Dance First Members Spotlight shines on Visudha de los Santos and her annual 10-day SpiritFlight “Interdependence” Embodiment Intensive that she is co-facilitating with Chloe Goodwin from July 19th to 28th in her home base of Taos, New Mexico.
Visudha is one of the most well-traveled and diversely talented members of the global Conscious Dance community. A long-time 5Rhythms leader, she also is renowned for her vibrational sound healing gong journeys, embodiment & awareness practice, and her shamanic work. This is an especially potent time to join her in movement as she is engaged in a journey of vitality from the adversity of serious health challenges.
“ I love leading groups of people beyond the normal five senses into our extrasensory capacities where we can experience Oneness, and discover a depth of presence we lack in our daily moments. I love being with others as they come back home to the honoring of their own natural rhythms and cycles. I learned that communion and rites of passage were the deepest way to honor the self and mother earth. To give to ourselves informs and allows transformative change in relationship in all areas of life – honoring our own sacrality corresponds equally with the rising respect and love for the great mother. In this, we speed up the process of collective and earth healing.”
This ‘Interdependence’ intensive asks the question: “ In a culture that holds independence as a prime value – awareness is needed to know we rely on each other. In a society where so many of us feel isolated – courage and vulnerability are needed to create connection. In a system that separates us – practice in unity is needed: How do we lean into each other, be with each other, listen to, see, receive from and give to each other with grace?”
About this experience she says: “ Interdependence will be our teacher, our exploration, our mediation and our medicine. Through movement, art, ritual and community we will seek the embodied wisdom of reciprocity and cooperation. We will dance in the balance of generosity and receptivity, strength and vulnerability, reliance and trust. Together we will expand into the field of possibilities available to us when we are interconnected, co-creative and collaborative.”
Summer in the high country of New Mexico is a glorious and healing experience. Now is the time to make your decision and set your intention to join Visudha and Chloe for this life-changing journey, early bird registration is only available until June 1st.
Ask yourself: “ Are you ready to surrender? Are you ready to meet yourself? Are you ready to ride and fly high? Are you ready to be liberated? Are you ready to be free from all that restricts you?”
Visudha says: “Move and you will dance. Dance and you will fly. Fly and you will soar. Soar and you will know the Divine. Know the Divine and you will know Truth. Know the Truth and you will know the Mystery. And most of all, the Mystery lets you fly to freedom.”
Learn more about Visudha de los Santos and her School of Mystery in Motion at www.visudhadelossantos.com
SpiritFlight: Interdependence – 10 Day Embodiment Intensive with Visudha de los Santos & Chloe Goodwin
July 19-28, Teo Satva, El Prado, New Mexico
Fall Rites – The Time Between with Your Ancestors
Nov 1-5, La Roche Sur Le Buis, France
Spring Rites – Coming into the Light
April 10-14, 2020, La Roche Sur Le Buis, France[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”27927″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.tamalpa.org/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”28184″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://www.breema.com/”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]
