Still Moving
‘Life is like a dance, in stillness we can witness the movement’ – Roxzaan Botha
I am of firm belief that the Holy Spirit (Ruach -Breath of life) should guide our everyday movement.
A meaningful way in which I connect to the Creator of my understanding is to crank up some (spiritual) music and let it guide my movement. Music from my own background, or any music of faith that resonates within my heart. Although I have plenty of music in my collection, sometimes my most profound spiritual connections to music occur when I connect with or experience a song in the spirit – received like a message of faith in my present circumstances. Sometimes I even wake up in the morning with one of these songs resonating in my soul.
To me, movement is a powerful form of worship. Simply defined:
Prayer is a channel of communication from our side with God.
Stilltation is the space we create in order to hear and receive insight from God.
And in
Still-moving we can express ourselves by means of prophetic action for words or thoughts sometimes simply cannot.
Practises and teachings from the world’s great faith traditions further our insight into the role of dance as a vehicle for connecting with our Spirit. When I consider some of these associations between dance/movement and spirit/breath, I am filled with gratitude that my personal mindful movement practice gives me a chance to experience them for myself. Rabbi Miriam Maron, a dancer, and psychotherapist describes dance and movement as healing arts in Judaism. She writes:
The word for dance and the word for illness, taught Rebbe Nachaman of Breslov, are related: ma’cho’l for dance, machah’lah for illness or affliction. Not by accident do they both share the same root. After all, dancing brings one to a state of joy, and when the body is in a state of joy, the negative energies contributing to illness begin to dissipate.
For this reason, I believe by allowing the Breath of Life to guide our movement we can truly learn how to express our personal experience of life through dance. Sometimes we feel trapped and caged and only through movement, we can make a shift in order to free ourselves from the boundaries and limitations our illnesses or fears caused.
Perhaps nothing helps us make the movement from our flesh selves to a larger awareness where we can remember our Creator and His Spirit in gratitude. Such a new perspective puts His Spirit in view in all life, not just in the moments we set aside for worship or spiritual disciplines. Not just in the moments when it seems easy – but by learning to dance and move with the melody of His heart we can be tuned into the frequencies of love and harmony in every moment (Mindful dancing).
As long as we are alive we are still moving,
Moving forward
Roxzaan
