Gratitude List #14: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry 2

'Blood Orange Smoothie' (photo by me)

Today's gratitude list is on the theme of the usual: music, free concerts, and summer foods/drinks, in order of the events of this past week, in no particular order of importance:

* The launch of a local Green Party's campaign, Claire Martin, for North Vancouver with appetizers, music, and speeches by her and Elizabeth May, Leader of the Green Party
* Drop-in singing with an impromptu rock choirin West Vancouver
* Singing with a beautiful view of the ocean (inside though) at Silk Purse Gallery
* Listening to a cool band Friday evening (I thought 'Frozen' was playing so came late)
* A fresh fig given to me directly from a tree next door where I live
* Reconnecting with my previous landlady at her garage sale
* Receiving a raindrop umbrella from my previous landlady's daughter
* Being provided with fresh ice and cold water before heading out again
* Attending a block party in my old neighbourhood
* Summer fruit: blueberries (and organic at that!)
* Preparing and creating a green salad with fruit (blueberries, strawberries, and a fig from next door)
* Salmon patties
* Cold drinks on a hot day: iced tea, water, mineral water
* Popsicles and/or ice cream on a hot day
* A great live Latin band, Alma Chevere, to dance to (http://www.almachevere.com/)

Me (being silly) smelling the herbs of one of my favourite teas today, 'Blood Orange Smoothie' though not a smoothie. (It almost looks like I am drinking it; however, we each received a small plastic container to taste various iced teas with.)

* Sampling different teas at an iced tea event (http://www.teasparrow.com/)
* Tea Sparrow: their integrity, generosity, and sense of fun
* Receiving a goodie bag for volunteering

Just curious, what is your favourite type of tea: black, chai, green, herbal, oolong?

And what are you grateful for at this time? Today/yesterday/this past week?

Gratitude List #13: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry! ;)

Today's gratitude list is on the themes of 'Eat, Drink, and Be Merry' as part of my summer fun in terms of music, free concerts, and summer foods/drinks, in order of the events of this past week:

March Hare Band at Shipyards Market, North Vancouver, BC (my photo)

I have to tell you, I had a fabulous week this past week!

* Kirtan in North Van in someone's home in my old neighbourhood
* I knew the woman hosting the kirtan
* Creating a scrapbook page for a colleague leaving work
* A staff BBQ in a Vancouver park, near the water's edge
* A pair of new runners for walking (hope they work out fine!)
* An outdoor movie playing at the main library's plaza area
* A fun movie, "Into the Woods" with Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Woods_%28film%29)
* Winning a popcorn prize for the trivia question what the movie was based on (I knew as I sang part of the song in a previous choir)
* A free slushie at 7/11 as it is 7/11 day
* Salmon burger - yum, yum!
* Summer fruit: cherries and apricots
* March Hare Band (www.marchhareband.com), a great band to dance to!
* Dancing in the rain literally with other folk: fun and cooled me while dancing
* Rain - finally! - for nature including gardens, wildlife, and us humans
* A volunteer meeting where I got to sample different iced teas
* A free concert of a boys chorale in North Vancouver
* The Maryland State Boychoir (http://www.marylandstateboychoir.org/)

Last week I had wondered if I "should" stop repeating that I love to air dry my laundry. Well I did on this list as I did'nt as we got some much-needed rain! (Needless to say, I really missed doing so this weekend.)

What are you grateful for at this time? Today/yesterday/this past week?

#A to Z Challenge: D is for Dancing

Today's 'heart things, heart strings' theme for the letter D in the A to Z challenge is Dancing. Isn't dancing delightful? ;)

I heard of dance/movement therapy (and other such therapies) in my early 20's and was fascinated by it. "Dance therapy or dance movement therapy is a form of expressive therapy, the psychotherapeutic use of movement (and dance) for treating emotional, cognitive, social, behavioural and physical conditions."

A little over a decade later, I participated in an intensive dance therapy program that lasted about a year. Though dance in this regard is utilized as an expressive therapeutic modality,

"many forms of dance may be considered an aerobic exercise, and, as such, these forms of dance can bring well known benefits, such as reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, weight control, stress reduction and bring about other benefits commonly associated with physical fitness. In addition, studies have demonstrated a considerable correlation between dancing and psychological well-being. including "reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, weight control, stress reduction and bring about other benefits commonly associated with physical fitness. In addition, studies have demonstrated a considerable correlation between dancing and psychological well-being."

In fact, a British study demonstrated that Royal Ballet "dancers scored higher than national and international swimmers in seven out of ten areas of fitness." Furthermore, an Italian study "has shown that dance is a very good exercise for heart patients compared to other aerobic exercises like cycling. This may be partly because the patients enjoyed it much more."

One of my preferred forms of exercise is dance; however, I haven't danced lately as much as I used to. When I do though, I dance oftentimes with wild abandon surrendering to the energy and sounds (beat and rhythm) of music. Especially if the music is electronic or has a steady pulsating rhythmic beat, I might even enter into a meditative state.

Yes, you did read that right. There are many ways to meditate and moving meditations such as walking and dancing are two such forms!

Do you enjoy dance as a form of aerobic exercise? If so, what kind(s)?

*Source of information for this post was supplied by wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_and_health). Photo of me dancing by Roberto Kaplan.

Whirling like a Dervish? (like Michael Jackson?!)

Photo of MJ by Zoran Veselinovic



The above video highlights some of the "King of Pop", Michael Jackson's spins over the years. And following below is an enlightening poem, dancing the dream written by Michael Jackson - yes, he wrote poetry - about his dancing.

http://bluemoon.fem.jp/dancing/main_e/dancing_1e.html

Do you notice how this poem seems to describe Sufi dancing (if you are a bit familiar with the depth of it), not to mention that his style of poetry is very much like that of Rumi? It is perhaps no wonder then that Michael used to read Sufi poetry and performed his own version of twirls and whirls, though he had his own style, his own spin on it! ;) Couldn't resist that pun! (Info from Michael Jackson: Man Behind the Mirror written by Raamayan Ananda, a man I know from Vancouver, British Columbia. Check out his book at (http://manbehindthemirror.com/).

Next we will look at another interesting aspect...to be continued, tomorrow?

What kind of things do you notice in our world that whirl? What does the spinning symbolically represent to you?

Saturday (Summer) Salsa!

Photo courtesy from Ray Van Eng: Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, outdoor plaza with boardwalk, a marine-themed water fountain, and view of Coal Harbor and downtown Vancouver

My body and spirit wanted to dance, salsa that is! I learned that there would be salsa dancing at Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, BC.

When I came upon the outdoor dancing platform near the covered stage, I was surprised to see no one dancing. How could that be? Just because it was a cloudy day with a tad (hardly!) of rain?

I thought it a perfect day to dance, to salsa that is, being a bit cool and lots of space to dance and move around in - a perfect combo - thank goodness for a cloudy and a wee bit of rain yesterday (Saturday).

So I approached the small troupe, three instructors awaiting would-be dancers, by the laptop computer blasting music out the large soundspeakers on stage.

One of the two men present whom I would later come to know as the 'leader' asked me if I would like to learn how to dance salsa. He introduced himself as Roger. I heartily replied in the affirmative, though stating that I had taken dance classes years ago to which he responded if I wished a free dance lesson.

Well, why not?! Of course! How can you NOT love salsa dancing and rhythms? I LOVE salsa!

It is amusing to me that I later find out that my dance instructor and partner, Roger Chen is the Director of Salsa Studio which is based out of HarbourDance (http://www.harbourdance.com/) in downtown Vancouver. Interesting to me as years ago, shortly after I arrived in Vancouver, I had applied to work there as a dance instructor. What can I say: I was desperate for a job and loved to dance.

What kind of dance music do you love to listen to? Dance to? How does it make you feel? Who are you being when you do?

Part 2: Peace in Times of War

Whether you've have had time to reflect upon the two questions I had in my previous blog posting (part 1) or not, I will give you some suggestions or ideas of how that can occur, i.e., peace amidst conflict and tension.

One way as some or most of you may be familiar with is meditation. Now, I will be the first to (openly) admit I am not a great meditator, or is it preferable to say "not great at meditating." It is absolutely not my forte.

To sit in silence as I attempted to quite a number of years ago (yes, even for 15 minutes or less) is futile, at least for me. Not only do I usually itch and alleviate it by scratching which is what you are NOT supposed to do, I also move my body (usually my butt) with the aim of attaining a more comfortable position: lotus asana (or body posture is challenging for me); see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_position.

What I am good at though and that I enjoy is a different kind of meditation. There are other ways to meditate than just sitting still. Isn't that exciting? At least, it is for those of us who have a hard time sitting still. Such restless spirits some of us are! And yes, that includes me.

My favourite form of meditation is a moving meditation. This can be in the form of walking for example - not my favourite as I rarely stroll but walk rather quickly as I do need a bit of a workout - or even dancing. Yes, you heard that right!

Now, this form of dance can be either slow or fast, at least for me. When I spontaneously performed creative dance quite a number of years ago, some of it was somewhat slow. Yet I was so fully present to the process. Isn't that what meditation is about?

However, I have also been in a meditative state through dance when it was a rather upbeat tempo. It was through the rhythmic nature of the music, the steady pulsing of the bass beating in my ears, body, and mind that I entered what seemed like a trance-like state. This usually occurred when I closed my eyes and just felt the music and let it flow through me, kind of like interpreting the music or having Spirit flow through me.

In order for that induced state to occur, I would usually claim a spot on the dance floor (not a night club) and move my body from my ankles up keeping my feet stationary. Sometimes I would move my feet too, though would maintain my space as best I could on the dance floor by occasionally opening my eyes, partially softly gazing on the ground below and around me, not (up) at people around me.

One time when I entered this altered state or dimension, I imagined myself wearing a white flowing dress and twirling as Sufis do. I was spinning somewhat on the dance floor, something I rarely do as I usually get quite dizzy doing this. I'm not sure for how long, but it was a neat experience.

Another way I experience peace and love is when I sing or chant. The latter is a form of singing though I love to do so in Sanskrit which is an ancient East Indian language. While chanting, I enter a state of feeling of oneness: I feel total bliss, love, peace, and devotion. I highly recommend it as a way to open up the heart chakra (or heart centre).

In order for me to keep peace and love in my heart and mind, I live my passions as best I can – in no particular order – singing, creative dance/movement, writing, and walking. If I do this on a regular basis, my mind will tend to be more still, more at peace and I will live in peace within myself.

And if I live in a state of peace this then ripples out to others, those whom I am in contact with, whether in my home, at work, or in the community.

How do you feel peace in your heart and your life? Do you meditate and if so, how? What is your preferred style?