Deanna Pellecchia        Photo by Jeffrey Anderson

Body dharma is about bringing our practice into physical form.  It is rooting all of our experiences in the body and seeking a fully embodied creativity.

What it means to me is continually engaging the body in a spontaneous, authentic and improvisational way.  Practicing body dharma means that we are listening to and feeling the body all the time, and weaving that awareness into our moment-by-moment experience.  It is about listening at the cellular level.  It also means that we allow the body to be a teacher, a guide, and understand that it is a reflection of the presence or absence of harmony and balance in our lives.

I will be exploring this theme more this week.  In the meantime, I have just finished my new eBook, Breaking into Blossom.  It contains ten chapters on bringing more vitality and improvisation into your life.  You can order it here.

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I have been shadow dancing this morning.  It is a strategy that I suggested to some of my students:   to overcome creative inertia, try dancing around it.  Or diving into it.  Or changing the station.

Dancing around it means that I am doing the opposite of honing in.  I am shifting focus, paying attention to whatever is flickering at the edge of consciousness and being lighter, more fluid and delicate in my physical self.

There is a tendency when writing or working here – in this digital place where we meet – to get stolid, turgic, thick-feeling in the body.  So finding ways to bring in lightness and less density is a good way to shadow dance.

How do you engage your playful body as you are working?

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I think that one of the things about becoming older is that the shadows get smaller.  More of me is revealed to myself and others, rust and all.

Riding, yoga and writing practice all help me to bring things forward into the light, illuminating what is hidden in the shadows.  Each time I ride I am seeking more and more sensitivity and refinement in what I feel from the horse and in my own body.  It is the same with my movement practices and with writing.

Taking photographs is teaching me that sometimes practicing is just about waiting for the light.  Or making peace with the shadows.

This week in The Journal I am writing about what happened when I went to have new headshots taken.

Where are you feeling the light today?

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