“The body is fundamental and necessary for the realization of the Divine Intention” ... Rumi

I am tired. It's a good tired, the kind a 20 minute nap might take care of.

Today I am pondering commitment. Reveling in the sweetness of the staying.

Depak Chopra's "7 Spiritual Laws" made commitment come to life for me. Before it felt so stagnant and rigid. Now I am understanding the deep textures and constant change that make commitment feasible. The flexibility necessary to navigate the changing conditions of life while staying the course.

I write my intentions each week. Some intentions remain the same, others change. I write them juicy and larger than life sometimes. Other weeks I write them gently, subtle and more focused. Each morning I say them out loud, a declaration of my path. A reminder to my intellectual, emotional, and physical body of what my Spirit is suggesting I hold in this day's awareness. My internal GPS, a compass for my intentional life.

Then I go into meditation. Sitting to notice. Some days my breath and clarity only illume for 3 breaths, the rest is watching the mind thrash. Once in a while it is heaven. Perfect silence, body humming, timeless, breath, light, everything/nothing. Regardless each day I show up, check in, and calibrate.

This practice has changed my life. It has kept me motivated thru the lulls, the doldrums, and the frustrating details of birthing a dream, as well as kept me calm in the exciting bliss when I want to shout from the rooftops.. instead I am harnessing that energy to keep on my path...to stay committed.

Thank you Depak!

Circle within a Circle.

We are powerful in community!

What a beautiful weekend with new sisters, my family keeps growing.

Thank you Dina for our "Going Deeper" choreography wkshp. Filled with magic, laughter, tears, and power!

by Jewel Mathieson

We have come to be danced
not the pretty dance
not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance
but the claw our way back into the belly
of the sacred, sensual animal dance
the unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance
the holding the precious moment in the palms
of our hands and feet dance

We have come to be danced
not the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him dance
but the wring the sadness from our skin dance
the blow the chip off our shoulder dance
the slap the apology from our posture dance

We have come to be danced
not the monkey see, monkey do dance
one, two dance like you
one two three, dance like me dance
but the grave robber, tomb stalker
tearing scabs & scars open dance
the rub the rhythm raw against our souls dance

WE have come to be danced
not the nice invisible, self conscious shuffle
but the matted hair flying, voodoo mama
shaman shakin’ ancient bones dance
the strip us from our casings, return our wings
sharpen our claws & tongues dance
the shed dead cells and slip into
the luminous skin of love dance

We have come to be danced
not the hold our breath and wallow in the shallow end of the floor dance
but the meeting of the trinity: the body, breath & beat dance
the shout hallelujah from the top of our thighs dance
the mother may I?
yes you may take 10 giant leaps dance
the Olly Olly Oxen Free Free Free dance
the everyone can come to our heaven dance

We have come to be danced
where the kingdom’s collide
in the cathedral of flesh
to burn back into the light
to unravel, to play, to fly, to pray
to root in skin sanctuary
We have come to be danced
WE HAVE COME

The dust of life is settling.

This week was the Sensual Heart Dance http://www.vividexistence.com/WTWW_event_Seattle.htm

It was a beautiful gathering of women dancing to create change! We raised awareness and money for survivors of war.

It is horrifying what is happening there. Women being used as weapons of war, as rape destroys individual lives, families and communities. What is a even greater tragedy is that we who have so many freedoms, privileges and luxuries know this is going on, and yet we choose to do nothing.

What if everyone of us just picked one thing, anything that calls to your heart, and we choose to acknowledge the pain of another, to left a finger to give aid, and our one small act eased another's suffering, or changed many lives????

What if?

We would be the change we are seeking in the world!

Here are some links if you wish to learn more about the Sensual Heart Partners:

http://www.darfurpeace.org/programs/womens-center- recipient of live tour funds raised

http://womenthrive.org/- recipient of virtual tour funds raised

http://womenspeacecollection.com/- Inkind sponsor providing baskets for raffle and director of the Darfur Peace Women's Center basket weaving cooperative

Just about the time I teach something...

I am slammed back into the universal classroom.

I've come to believe we teach exactly what we are learning, over and over and over again.

I am diligently taking the left brain steps to bring what I do to the world in a shiny box. Soon I will magically appear on your screen.

This grueling process is perfect. It is the opportunity of a lifetime. How do I show up authentically for cyberspace?

I had a rather psychedelic awakening from a nap this afternoon. Have you ever woke up and had no ego? No grasp on time or space, let alone the "who am I, what am I doing here?" part!

The sensation seems to go on forever and yet it is over in an instant. It left me with this urgency, a reminder of something I keep forgetting and can never quite articulate...

One of my teachers, Wilbert Alix, says “ immediate felt

experience is a determining factor in our aliveness in each

moment”. Alberto Villoldo, another shamanic teacher, says that

the difference between religion and spirituality is that religion is

based on beliefs, while spirituality is based on experience. I

would emphasize experience here to mean the immediate felt

experience, that Alix speaks of above, also referred to as felt

sense experience

A word from one of my teachers, Leela Francis, quoting her teachers.