Stress Less:  
1. Dance it out
2. Go for a walk
3. Talk about it
4. Take a deep breath
5. Go to bed earlier
6. Focus on what you can control
7. Reminisce about good times
8. Ask for a hug
9. Look for opportunities in life's challenges
10. Smile

~anonymous 

Bee-Boy dance crew.  Video here.  

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

~Antonio Machado
(Thank you for sharing this poem Emily Kniffin.)

This video is a little racy and completely beautiful.  

This video is part dance and part acrobatics, completely beautiful as well. 

By my friend Daniel Mollner:  

This video is about bringing dance into schools.    

This video is Daniel sharing why he dances.  

This video by Daniel is about communication in relationships.  

This is one of my favorite contact improv videos.  One day... perhaps I can be this cool.
Video here. 

And this is Steve Paxton, the originator of contact improv, helping to unpack why many choose contact improv to help us in our movement evolution.   

Another contact improv video here. 

A TED talk by Sheila Kelley.  Video here.  
This is worth watching all the way through.  I loved the ending statements the most. 

Valentine's Day is now one of my favoriate holidays, because it now represents rising up for women's rights, and because I can show up with thousands across the world to dance our protests to end violence.  Did you know that one in three women will be raped or beaten in their lives?  Check out onebillionrising.org for more info.  

A dance was coreagraphed.  Eek.  I didn't think I could learn it.  But I showed up and did my best, and loved every minute of it.  We started on the Statehouse lawn in Montpelier.  And then took over the main intersection.  Video here.  I then traveled to Burlington to partake in a parade and more festivities.  

I am so grateful.  

I was most inspired by my friend who works with youth, who taught her students the dance.  Their presence and buy-in was so inspiring.  It was also inspiring that a group of people in Montpelier meet many times before the protest to learn the dance.  Wow.  Just wow.  Thank you!  What a great community to be a part of.  

When we lose the ability to squat, our quality of life changes drastically. If we squat more to begin with, we will have a longer time of mobility. Here is a song about it... =)

If you have not seen this viral video yet, of a disabled vet who changed his life through movement, now is the time.  

One of my movement teachers, Aaron Cantor, is in this video by Ido Portal.  

Ido Portal on Gymnastics, Motivation, Movement & More: 

"I don't wait for inspiration to come...I inspire myself."

"Move it or lose it..and its gonna be a bad day when you lose it..."

I especially like what he says near the end about how to meet people on the streets...to play...with movement.

~~~One approach:  Find out what the body does; not what you can make it do.  From there, with ease, find the end of your range of motion, breathe there, push gently, discover even more possibility.

Cute video.  Let's dance honeypie.  

My first dharma door was backpacking.  My second dharma door was yoga.  Since then, other dharma doors have opened for me, but I will always recognize the foundation that backpacking and yoga have given my life. 

Dharma and yoga can be defined many ways.  I often look for the most simple definition.  Take a deep breath, be present to the sensations in your body, you are doing yoga.  Feel the ground under your feet, notice your relationship to nature and those around you, pay attention, now we are on the field of dharma. 

The poem below found me many years ago and it was then that I created the little art piece pictured. If you have been to Dharma Door, you may have seen this poem and perhaps read it.  I do not know who wrote the poem.  I have added a line at the end. Knowing that we are made of star dust, and seeing another artist's work, inspired my drawing.  I like that the poem is written in an egg. Yoga is not limited to the ideas in the poem.  As I continually seek more freedom from the fluctuations of my mind and the outdated habits of my body, I revisit this poem, I return to my movement and begin again. 


Yoga and You

Yoga begins
with a promise,
and as a promise, yoga holds a vision of the future,
where by skillful practice you can fully realize your gifts and talents.
Yoga promises a future
in which you actively engage in an ongoing process of growth and definition.
This promise is only as good as your commitment.
The secret to yoga
is to honor the promises you make to yourself.
By honoring yourself, you learn to count on yourself.
In this counting, you being to make an account of your life.
We are defined by the choices we make. 
Choice is infinite.
Learn to choose to keep your promises to yourself.
Not out of necessity, but because greatness is in you.
Be accountable for your life.
Seek what yoga offers;
the fulfillment of a promise kept,
a perpetual eternal promise,
that continually affirms life.
Yoga beings...with one breath.