bow to wilderness

One of my favorite eco-activist writers is Terry Tempest Williams. She beautifully fuses the language of longing with nature, and her passion for preserving the wildness of our earth is contagious. On my way to the seashore today to do my dance, I was thinking how anyone following my blogs might be thinking - "Not another dance practice by the ocean!" And then I remembered Terry's story of why she writes, which I have quoted below...

Also, sometimes friends ask me why I blog and dance everyday and question if my time might be spent better doing something else - after-all, my life is very 'stressful' right now and it is just one more thing 'to do' in my already busy life. I have found it difficult to try and put into words why I do this practice, but, I think the bottom line is that it keeps me sane, especially when my life is so busy, stress-full and... full...

This is one of my favorite short stories from Terry Tempest Williams' and is entitled "A Letter to Deb Clow" and it comes from her book "Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert." This is an excerpt... whenever you read "write" please also add "dance," "paint" or whatever your artistic passion in life is...

"You asked me why I write and I said I couldn't talk about it, that it was too close, too visceral. It is just after 4:30 A.M., I can't sleep...I... began reciting in my sleep why I write.

I write to make peace with the things I cannot control. I write to create red in a world that often appears black and white. I write to discover. I write to uncover. I write to meet my ghosts... I write to imagine things differently and in imagining things differently perhaps the world will change. I write to honor beauty... I write as a daily act of improvisation... I write myself out of my nightmares and into my dreams. I write in a solitude born out of community. I write to the questions that shatter my sleep. I write to the answers that keep me complacent. I write to remember. I write to forget... I write because it allows me to confront that which I do not know... I write as an exercise in pure joy. I write out of my anger and into my passion. I write to listen. I write to soothe the voices shouting inside me, outside me, all around... I write because it is a dance with paradox. I write because it belongs to the force of the moon: high tide, low tide... I write as a bow to wilderness. I write because I believe it can create a path in darkness. I write as ritual... I write as witness to what I have seen. I write as a witness to what I imagine. I write by grace and grit... I write to the dead. I write out of the body...

I write because it is dangerous, a bloody risk, like love, to form the words, to say the words, to touch the source, to be touched, to reveal how vulnerable we are, how transient we are...

Back to sleep..."

Gratitude to Terry for her words that express so well what my soul feels... Gratitude for Momo who guides me so eloquently in this most soul-full of practices...

The morning was sunny, but the clouds rolled in, and I could see the rain approaching quickly so I bee-lined it to the beach on my lunch break after teaching my yoga classes. I loved the calm before the storm today and I often gravitate to the ocean as it is where my inner rhythms feel so deeply connected to nature's rhythms, with each wave that rolls in.

Just as I finished my practice and the heavy rain began to fall, a few seagulls began to call loudly, and a flock of cormorants on a nearby buoy flew in unison from their perch. As I looked upwards toward the seagulls, I saw the source of the concern - two young bald headed eagles were soaring overhead and at times were approaching the 'mating dance' of coming together and locking talons... Such an honor to witness.... I was able to capture one of the eagles at the end of the film... well, a peak of it, anyway :~)

Gratitude to Mama Earth...

I would love to hear why you follow your passion in life... Thank you for viewing - it means a lot to me, Lee

There is a film in the black space below:

Music: Jamie Sieber 'The Moon Inside'

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