laughing gulls

"Under all that we think, lives all we believe, like the ultimate veil of our spirits." Antonio Machado

I was looking so forward to walking to the beach today because the weather was predicted to be somewhat calm after many days of being exposed to a winter storm - in April? Yup... fresh snow dumping in the mountains, hail, rain, high winds...

My inner feeling tone has felt frazzled lately and the strong winds have felt as though they have contributed to that inner feeling of unsettled-ness. I was longing for grounding and stillness and dropping into that which is stable and solid and NOT moving.

As I began my practice I loved imagining my legs were filled with heavy sand, like there was no separation between myself and the earth sand beneath me. It wasn't long into my dance of grounded-ness, before the wind began to pick up and once again the buffeting began. At that same time, two seagulls drifting by at the water's edge began, what sounded like to me, laughing...

I couldn't help laugh at myself and my circumstance and remember to not take life too seriously. As much as I was desiring calm and still, life has a way of not always turning out the way we plan or hope for... I was reminded to drop into the earth and my experience even more deeply and began playing with the texture of the sand, which became a dance meditation for me... regardless of the wind, dropping into the texture of the earth beneath me, into presence and grounding, grounding, grounding...

Lying on my belly, breathing the salty, briny sand was an elixir and I felt grateful for this deep connection / interconnection with Mama Earth...

"Your footprints are the road, and nothing else;

there is no road, traveller, you make the road by walking...

and when you look backward, you see the path that you will never see again.

There is no road, only wind-trails on the sea."

-Antonio Machado

I wonder if you have been connecting to the Earth lately and in what way? If not, I hope you too will have an opportunity to do so in the near future...

Thank you for viewing,

Lee

There is a film in the black space below:

Music: waves and the laughing gulls

Filmed by Brooke

Visit my butoh mentor's inspiring blog here: Maureen 'Momo' freehill