Living with Eyes Shut.

Everyone is always telling us to live with our eyes wide open, but l think first we need to start living with our eyes shut. This came to me on my last day, in my last class, at Wanderlust. The class was called "5 Rhythms" and was led by Douglas Dammond, who is a huge New Zealander and looks like The Rock. I never would have guessed that someone who looked like him would lead a crazy, free-movement-flowing dance party- which just reassures the Truth that you cannot judge a book by its cover. This class,"5 Rhythms", is a moving mediation which was created by a woman Gabrielle Roth back in the 70's and the idea behind it is that everything is energy, which moves in waves, patterns and rhythms. The 5 Rhythms are:

1. Flowing

2. Staccato 

3. Chaos

4. Lyrical

5. Stillness

When you dance these together, they form a wave. "Roth describes the practice as a soul journey, and says that by moving the body, releasing the heart, and freeing the mind, one can connect to the essence of the soul, the source of inspiration in which an individual has unlimited possibility and potential."

I should rewind a bit. My first class this morning was Kundalini with Kia Miller. It was powerful and challenging and started my inward turning. I left her class totally tuned in, which carried over into the moving meditation. I decided to dance my way through the class with my eyes closed (most of the time) so that I wasn't influenced by anyone around me. We danced through the class with our ears open to the music which was helping to guide our inner rhythm, but our mouths were closed. If you bumped into someone you simply smiled at them. Now, I always let my Freak Flag fly- but in today's class, I flew it the highest it's ever been, and I flew it proud. The dance was controlling me, movement coming from deep within, flowing and moving through and out of my body. At one point in time we created a circle and a dozen or so people would enter at a time- and the circle was holding space for everyone's inner joy, demons, sadness, and excitement to express itself in any way, shape or form it pleased. I danced so hard, so hard, so hard, and as LCD Soundsystem sang, I "danced myself clean" (and into a puddle of sweat).

Towards the end of class I opened my eyes and danced the last few songs taking everyone in, and I saw people in a whole new way - a totally different perspective than I had when I walked into the room. Everyone was beautiful, and everyone's dance embodied that beauty. Judgement: it's a really ugly thing. We judge people by the way they look, the things the do, the things they say, and even by the things that they *dont* say. We judge people if they dance too weird, or provocatively or silly. And the crazy thing is that when we are judging others it's really just a reflection of our own ego and insecurities. We are judging because people don't fit into a box or criteria that we've assumed for them, and this is the same box and criteria that we try to fit ourselves into. If you move through life with eyes closed then you can tune into who YOU are, your subtle vibrations, your essence and inner sense. And from that space you are fully able to embrace your authentic self. When you are content in your being, free from expectations and limitations, then you can really *see* and *appreciate* those around you for who THEY really are. We are all divine beings...so let you freak flag, dance and dance HARD, live with your eyes closed- so that when you open your eyes you can truly see the beauty and divine all around. 

Aho. 

Cailin Callahan

www.cailincallahan.blogspot.com