Dear Friends and Colleagues, human beings in bodies, learners and seekers, alchemists and fools, today, we celebrate the 16th Birthday of our School. And in so doing, we honour those whose shoulders we stand on. We thank our teachers, our friends and strangers alike (most of them taxi drivers) who have shared those hidden keys to liberation over the decades. Movement Medicine was born in the space between a man and a woman. In the furnace of our marriage (37 years together and counting), movement has been the constant medicine that has kept us sane (it's all relative!) and there is nothing like long term relationship for keeping feet on the ground and hearts humbled by the distance between who we dream ourselves to be and who we are.
Human growth is slow. Rather like trees. We grow with the seasons. And that we have. And today is a day for reflection, celebration, remembering and dreaming. It is a fact that if you have a phoenix as your central symbol, you can expect your fair share of change. That cycle of life, death (in terms of our sense of self and identity) and rebirth have always been part of our picture. Gabrielle Roth taught us to follow energy and continue to seek out the empty space. And so we have. And so we will continue to do.
Whoever you are and whatever you dream, in Movement Medicine, whether with us or any of the 5 generations of Professionals we have so far trained, you will find a warm welcome for who you are. A distinct lack of bullshit. A sense of unity and freedom. And the kind of simple honesty that is the harvest of 37 years of working things out. Yes, it's shamanic. But if you think shamanism means a race for exotic locations and far out experience, you won't find too much of that here. Rather you'll find us with our roots in the day to day practice of deepening our relationships, with who we are, with what matters, with discovering and making our contribution, with caring for life and dignity and the kind of dynamic balance that makes nature the force that it is.
We are unashamedly proud of our work, the people we have trained (www.movementmediceassociation.org) and the lives we have touched. If you're only into personal ecstasy and high after high, you're probably better off looking for an easier way. For us, life is an ongoing education. Full of blind domains we humans are. Full of opinions that will embarass us in years to come. Full of stories that painful as they are when they arise, will probably make us laugh with wry smiles in a decade or so. We're not running away from life. We're moving towards it, eyes open, hearts stretched with the courage it takes to love and to dream. So, if you're looking to engage your body, wake up your life energy and learn some useful tools to be a modern day alchemist with the ingredients you've got (the deck you've been dealt), yep, you might just find some dam good tunes and a healthy blend of serious humour, effort and relaxation, laughter and tears, ecstasy and sorrow, fury and peace, wildness and calm, and a little phoenix medicine for every dancer who dares to give it a go.
So writes the papa of a 16 year old body of work, the husband of a wild, beautiful and wise Rose, a fool who cannot believe how magnificent this life is, and an alchemist who loves the mystery. Happy days. Sad days. Such is life. YDKx
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