Radical Aliveness

Want to feel more relaxed, spontaneous and confident interacting with others?   So many of us have trauma around human interaction. We lose our center as soon as we encounter and engage with another. Our minds immediately get involved in trying to manage the encounter, and in the process, we lose our spontaneity, our authenticity, ourselves. We can't interact successfully with another person unless we are clearly self-connected and grounded in ourselves.   So how do we achieve that self grounding, that centeredness? In my experience the simple answer is through our body. We can achieve single-minded, self-connected attention and focus by bringing our awareness inward, into our present moment body sensations.   When we focus inwardly on our own kinesthetic experience, our body's sensations, or our own movement as it unfolds, we practice moving with awareness, breathing with awareness, inner energy awareness. When sustaining one of these proces

Waiting for the Invitation - A story of Divine Timing   It can be painful when we are outcasted or 'othered',  especially by someone who's friendship we've enjoyed. But people are human and can be fickle, seemingly stubborn, and opaque.  Despite our best efforts,  sometimes we simply have no control over others' perceptions of us Here a friend witnesses as I tell of, and celebrate a relationship repair.  But wait! Time, growth, grace, whimsey, any and all of these can turn someone around How did I manage it?  I kept my heart open and waited...

I had an exceptionally satisfying experience yesterday, participating in our local, monthly Berkeley Contact Improvisation Dance 'Underscore', hosted by Vitali Kononov This is basic overview of the 'Underscore': The score observes states that occur in the practice of Contact Improvisation and improvisational dance practices and follows the stages of arrival, development, and resolution that naturally tend to occur at Contact Improv Jams as well as other improvisational contexts, hence the name suggests the underpinnings of our practice. After the initial "circle" of verbal check-ins, the score is done without speaking until the "Harvest" time of sharing reflections of individual experience. In our local version, we are invited, during the opening circle, to set and perhaps share our intentions for our 2.5 hour group dance exploration. And Vitali invites those who wish, after we disengage, before we verbally 'harvest', to w

Using self-inquiry, I unpack a recent personal interaction and mine it for insight, understanding, and deeper self awareness. *Can we impede another's learning by 'rescuing' them from a situation we believe is harmful to them? *Might the insights I share here may make us more effective and helpful as coaches/ advisors/ friends? * When something feels extremely alarming to us... is that the moment to take action? *Are you ever tempted to defer your decisions to an expert? *Who can we trust to know our reality? I'd love to hear your thoughts...have you been the experiencer of any aspect of the story I share? How or what did you do? What did you learn? Let me know!