I just completed Module 2 of the Open Floor Teacher Training; a place of learning and practice centered around the complex personal and interpersonal realm of feelings. As movers we know there is no separation between body, mind, and emotion. With every step, each loosening muscle, every rhythm followed by response, we are tapping into a myriad of dimensions, including the emotional body.

Many of us come to the dance to reclaim the joy of being present. To come home to our bodies and activate a sense of belonging to our own physicality. Over time and with continued practice, however, we may encounter within this infinite somatic matrix a vast landscape of emotion shaping and informing us. From breathtaking beauty to searing pain, each dance can open a doorway to grief and praise.

Everything is a call for love. Everything longs to be welcomed home…on the dance floor and in our lives.

Can we come to understand that emotions are not a problem?
Can we come to learn that what is here - within our bodies - is good and trustworthy, even if it's uncomfortable?
Can we stay present to what arises, be open to our feelings, and continue moving to expand our capacity to feel and fuel it all?

Our movement practice is not just a practice of becoming aware. It is a practice of becoming more emotionally intelligent. We dance to anchor resources that support us in navigating this realm with skill. We dance to differentiate between our emotions and others - to know what is mine and what is yours, to stay present with another without taking their emotions on. We dance to include the full spectrum of our feelings, moving them with awareness - modulating, pausing and re-patterning our responses with choice. Emotional intelligence gives us the skill to fall apart and put ourselves together again.

One of the founders of the Open Floor, Andrea Juhan, says "We think we are thinking beings who have feelings, but in fact we are sensing, feeling beings who think!" And, because we are open loop systems, we are never alone in this - we are continually influencing and informing one another, shaping and being shaped by physiological resonance with one another. Let me say that again: we are open loop systems, which means we are continually influencing and informing one another, shaping and being shaped by the resonance we FEEL toward one another. This is one reason it's so profound to practice in community - to dance together and know that each and every one of us impacts the whole.

Explore and Play: The next time you enter your dance, notice what emotions are entering the space with you. Notice what you are drawn to…solitude or connection. Track the feeling tones that arise and the emotions that stir when you move. Listen to the soundscape of your feelings without being consumed by them. Allow them to inform and transform your experience!

Want to explore more within a well held container? Check out the community calendar for Open Floor and Dancing Freedom offerings. Join us in the discovery! Trust the dance!

With love, Teresa