5Rhythms

Today I skipped and did pirouettes down the street (Venice Blvd to be exact). It was leftover glow from the 5Rhythms class at the Masonic Lodge in Culver City that happens on Sundays. If you don't know what 5Rhythms is, it's dancing in a studio with bare feet, and the idea is that you are letting your body do the dancing without concern for social expectations. Ever since discovering this form of dance I can't go clubbing again.

This was the first time I attended a conscious dance class since coming back to LA. It far exceeded my expectations - almost 3 hours of dancing with 40 or so people to beautiful music, completed by a circle holding hands. And a sweet ritual for a birthday girl where she went into the center of the circle and was lifted up by many hands while everyone was OM-ing at her and sending her loving energy. If this sounds too out there, don't knock it till you try it! I know I'll take loving energy from 39 other people sent my way any time. I cried even before she did.

A temporary dip into loneliness in the evening, but I somehow brought myself out, and that's when I ended up skipping down the street. The skipping didn't come right away. First I had to look at the loneliness and see the falseness of it. The old story. Its' premise is all off - that I need something or someone else to fill up. No, I just need to see that I'm already full, even without 5Rhythms. And whenever I want company, the class is there, a gazillion other groups are there, and my sweet friends are always there.

And that's the end of another Venice weekend!

Venice Beach, CA

The ocean was whispering to me.

It started with a flat bike tire. Surely as a message from the Universe, in my rush to do errands after a day of doing errands, it was a clear sign to slow down.

I wandered to the Mystic Journeys Bookstore. So many amazing books. All proclaiming to have the answer to my true happy life. For a moment I felt inferior, unrealized. Wanted to read all of them. No. Today, the way my life is now, imperfect, this is it. I searched inside myself for the next step. It came. Go walk.

Unsurprisingly my feet led me to the beach like they usually do. It's a drum circle day! And it was close to sunset. I almost ran. This is just what a need, some booty shakin'!

I ran into it full of energy...a moment of shame...but heck with it. I danced up a storm.

Out of breath now I found myself outside of the circle next to a drummer. It was just after a pause and he had the beat. He had it but no one else was caught on yet. Finally, one by one, they joined him (it was inevitable) and there was like a satisfying clicking in moment. Oooo yeaa I was in heaven.

Finally I settled into myself and the group, or maybe we settled into each other. The sun had just set. Then the bells and the voices started coming in. I felt the rightness of it, all of them in perfect harmony, and my body too, moving just slightly now in perfect harmony with the sounds.

The police came quietly to signal the end.

I walked to the ocean to let the experience settle. My senses were heightened. I heard the ocean whispering to me. I let myself feel love. So this is God.