THE DANCER An Excerpt From The Wanderer by Khalil Gibran,
Once there came to the court of the Prince of Birkasha a dancer and her musicians. And she was admitted to the court. And she danced to the music of the flute, the lute, and the zither. She danced the dance of flames and fire, and the dance of swords and spears; she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space, and then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind.
When she had finished, she approached the prince and bowed her body before him. The price bade her to come nearer, and said unto her, “Beautiful woman, daughter of grace and delight, whence comes your art? And how is it that you command all the elements in your rhythms and your rhymes?”
And the dancer came near and bowed her body again and said, “Gracious majesty, I know not the answer to your questionings. Only this I know: The philosopher soul dwells within his head, the poets soul dwells within his heart, the singers soul dwells about his throat, but the soul of the dancer abides in all her body.
PTSD: Conquering The Invisible: – A Holistic Approach to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder –
Exactly six years ago, I was approached by my friend now, Maria Teresa to write a chapter and contribute to her book from the perspective of healing through the art of movements.
Privileged to have contributed my bit to this book on PTSD and how Dance can play a vital role in reducing the symptoms of the same . Available on Amazon now at http://tinyurl.com/qbcvqjs
True learning happens when we realize we are the teacher and we are the student. And life teaches the greatest lessons without anyone uttering a word or at times in just the sheer presence of a good soul .
Likewise as we dance from our heart without a spoken word and open ourselves to realization and acceptance of new possibilities… true dancing happens!
‘My first intentional practice of Tai Chi began years ago on a rainy day in the month of June. The sweet cadence of the rain in all it’s rhythmic glory, the cleansing nature of the rain was just as wonderfully comforting as much as the experience of Tai Chi, with its movement in stillness and the stillness of its movements.
As I tried to move in unison with breath and learned to direct the momentum for the movements from the central core of the body to the outward, I could draw the parallels of the simple yet profound principles of Tai chi giving a lifetime’s guidance.
A life lived in the middle path gives one equanimity to see beyond the obvious. To envision the duality of existence enough to understand joy and sorrow, are not something eternal. Life becomes simple and just as easy to live as we make it , letting go of excesses of any kind, which ultimately works towards healing oneself from within.
It only adds to the fact that this moderation makes you want to work at building progressively, instead of pushing the boundaries and stretching beyond your abilities to the point of probably injuring yourself and giving up altogether.
The rain’s rhythmic tapping on my open window sill, the occasional bursts of cool breeze surrounding me now and then was in tune with my learning to release and melt away the accumulated stresses through conscious gentle outward movements . I felt a few varied sensations coming to me vying for attention, but as soon as my focus returned to simply witness the flow of breath in the movements the very same sensations completely vanished.
It was so peaceful to end the practice with breath awareness and mindful movements that I must add that like everything else in life, Tai Chi must be ideally learned under the guidance of a good teacher to experience the gamut of life enriching experiences it surely has to offer.
As I completed my practice for the moment , suddenly there was thunder and lightning signifying the release of feel good endorphins and hopefully parting with some of the tensions within me. This is after all the essence of Tai chi , to be one with Nature and learn to nurture it .
A humble dedication to Tai Chi form and the powers of the supreme in and around us.
Savvy Raj 
You must be logged in to post a comment.