Bodyfulness — Seattle Nia with Dina

This week we celebrate the coming of the light,
and the Celtic Goddess Brigid, pictured here.

This is one of my favorite times of year in Seattle. If you have some time, I highly recommend visiting the winter garden at the Washington Park Arboretum. It smells like Spring!

Imbolc (poem by: Neeltje & Paul Hoftijzer)

“Many gray veils, wrapped up, a old wish woman,
mother earth in winter plumage.
this is the moment…

the sun rises,
a sky in all the colors of cold and silence.
a flame of warmth breaks, cuts through fog and rags.
this is the moment…

unbreakable rare, it pokes upwards,
bud of snow and spring green: the young bride.
as for ever, endlessly nourished by the first ray of the sun.
this is the moment…

I hear in the stable the birth bleating,
weeping the feast song on mother earth…
this is the moment…”

“Concentrate, and listen not with your ears–
But with the heart.

Then, listen not with the heart–
But with the breath.

The ear is limited to ordinary listening;
The mind to the rational.

Listening with the breath, one experiences
All things in purity.”

–Chuang Tzu

Thanks to Lou Ann Street for this wonderful quote!

Today we celebrated our beloved community member and Support-Underground staff, Holly Coombs’ 24th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Holly! We love you!

Every day
I see or hear
something

that more or less
kills me
with delight,

that leaves me
like a needle
in the haystack
of light.

It was what I was born for -
to look, to listen,
to lose myself
inside this soft world -

to instruct myself
over and over
in joy,
and acclamation.

Nor am I talking
about the exceptional,
the fearful, the dreadful,

the very extravagant -
but of the ordinary,
the common, the very drab,
the daily presentations.

Oh, good scholar,
I say to myself,
how can you help

but grow wise
with such teachings
as these -
the untrimmable light

of the world,
the ocean’s shine,
the prayers that are made
out of grass?

~ Mary Oliver ~

“One day the sun admitted,

I am just a shadow.
I wish I could show you
The Infinite Incandescence

That has cast my brilliant image!
I wish I could show you,
When you are lonely or in the darkness,

The Astonishing Light
Of your own Being!”

Happy Monday! Dina

“I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me,

to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart

until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.

I choose to risk my significance;

to live

so that which came to me as seed

goes to the next as blossom

and that which came to me as blossom,

goes on as fruit.”

–Dawna Markova

“Willing to experience aloneness,
I discover connection everywhere;
Turning to face my fear,
I meet the warrior who lives within;
Opening to my loss,
I gain the embrace of the universe;
Surrendering into emptiness,
I find fullness without end.
Each condition I flee from pursues me.
Each condition I welcome transforms me.
And becomes itself transformed
Into its radiant jewel-like essence.
I bow to the one who has made it so,
Who has crafted this Master Game.
To play it is purest delight;
To honor its form–true devotion.”
- Jennifer Welwood

A wonderful quote from the Dalai Lama delivered to me from Joel & Michelle Levey:

A mind committed to compassion is like an overflowing reservoir – a constant source of energy, determination and kindness.

This is like a seed, that when cultivated, gives rise to many other good qualities, such as forgiveness, tolerance, inner strength and the confidence to overcome fear and insecurity.

The compassionate mind is like an elixir; it is capable of transforming bad situations into beneficial ones.

- The Dalai Lama

“In a real sense all life is inter-related. All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the inter-related structure of reality.”

–Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today 38 of us (a Monday morning record!) danced in grace and peace at Nia-Underground to pay respect and honor to Martin Luther King, Jr.

We sent in-absentia healing to Haiti and New Orleans, and to other suffering people and war-torn places throughout the world.

We danced our prayer of peace and freedom for all. Blessed Be!

As a double Gemini, I must confess…two is better than one!

This Friday is a DOUBLE SHOT of D’Nia. Yes, that’s right folks! Class at 9am and then CLASS AGAIN at 6:30 PM.

Nia bookends…double the pleasure!