Milan to La Spezia

We enjoyed the majestic city of Milan for 2 days.A city of contrasts.grafitti. Older than imagined concrete and marble churches and monuments surrounding acres of piazzas. cutting edge design shops intertwined by a winding maze of cobblestoned streets traveled by fast-paced high heeled supermodels.five star ristorantes next to
simple mamma and poppa cafes all with equally fine quality fare.open,vivacious,expressive,beautiful, helpful and friendly people.more grafitti.

Now we sit and sweat in barely air conditioned humid first class car on our way to la spezzia where we'll head to Portevenere in cinque terre.
Paula went to get us water and almost didn't get back in!

A three hour trip lies ahead as we head southwest on an IC (inner city) train towards the italian riviera.

Now.AC is working as we are well R0 minites outside of milan.Ahhh... we are in the italian countryside for the first time.Grassy fields of yellow green to emerald broken up red tiled roofed monastic estates.

We stop in a town.Graffitti on the wall. Is this where gaffitti was invented? After all, it is an italian word.

Beachglass

My dogs and I went on our search for beachglass again - something I do every time I walk the low tide out here at Magnolia Beach, Vashon Island.

Consciously lifting my feet higher than normal as we hike over barnacles, worn stones and abandoned crab shells. My search for the human made clear and colored jewels is a thought provoking pasttime.

Catching the sunlight a tiny shard of glistening calls out. I stop, reach down and pick it up inspecting it's age by running my fingers over its edges. Smooth and worn. Once a part of something larger - a thick, roundly jagged clear piece, perhaps the bottom of an old milk bottle? My childhood memory is stirred. The running engine of the milk truck as I lay in bed. The sound of glass chiming against metal as our milkman removed the empty bottles and placed fresh full cold milk bottles in the rack on our porch before dawn.

Lots of green in all shades. Dark green, maybe from a wine bottle? Light green, an old coke bottle? Thin clear, maybe a shard from a window pane? Or a boat's windshield? Brown. A medicine bottle or new beer bottle? And as us beach glass connoisseurs know, the rarest of all, the coveted blue glass not much used any longer and something I am lucky to find maybe once a year.

Worn cloudy in spots from tides in and out, in and out, being rolled across beach stones, thrown against the sea bottom, filed down, by razor sharp barnacles in winter's storm surf and then, sanded smooth and safe by it's original family, sand. Bit by bit, tiny particles breaking off becoming sand once again.

As I wander I ponder this simple yet complex cycle. Glass is hot molten sand cleaned and purified then blown or molded into shapes. Beach glass, tossed off a boat or abandoned by a careless consumer is returning home, slowly, over time, becoming sand, once again.

So here I have it. A perfect metaphor of the cycle of life in the enjoyable search for beach glass with my dogs.

Dancing with a master and finding my universal language

Following the theme of the week for my Nia classes...dancing with our desires, I woke up yesterday morning missing African dance. My body longed for it. So after some research and some emailing I found a lovely African dance teacher, Etienne Capko, who is a professional dancer and choreographer from Benin. I grabbed a friend who grabbed another friend and the three of us showed up to join Etienne's class at 7:00 PM in the University district.

Open Flight Studio is an urban dancer's dream. A big winding spiral staircase with neon blue light led us on our path up to the NY style dance studio with a sturdy and well-seasoned dance floor and huge double hung windows letting in light, looking out onto University Avenue. I could feel through the skin of my feet on the smooth soft worn wood of the perfect floor the singing of sprung steps, leaps and twirls of dancers past. It made my feet smile.

I surrendered into the warm fluid of Etienne's mastery and found myself pushed and pulled like a big rubber band in strange and beautiful shapes. This showed me my strengths and weaknesses as a moving artist, where I am locked up and where I am fluid. After an hour and a half of pure creative joy we walked away dripping and bathed in our own sweet sweat.

I felt the change in the night when I woke up from interesting and surreal dreams. As I lied in my bed, my body still humming the song of Etienne's class, I reflected on the masterful way Etienne communicated the moves with clarity through his body. I made note of this message and took it to heart. It's time to teach a silent class using only my body as the tool. Someday soon.

When I arrived into the studio this morning and prepared for my class. I put on my music, special lights, dusted the floor I went to get my microphone ready. No headset. It was gone...missing. I looked everywhere. 9:30 was quickly approaching and the studio was filling up. I laughed to myself at the joke. I guess now is the time to teach that silent class!

I continued the week's class theme with students setting their own focus through "Dancing your desires". What do you want to bring into your body today in class? And had them write down their desires on small pieces of paper, fold up and put their initials on the outside. This time I taught silent. The only time I talked was a few times to remind them to ignite their desires...the ones they wrote at the beginning of class - what they wanted to bring into their bodies today.

My body had undergone a shift from Etienne's class. I was able to go deeper, bigger, faster and the 'worry' that I sometimes carry in my body had been flushed away. Something profound had shifted for my body. And because I was silent I was able to keep the resonance I felt from Etienne's class.

All week my personal desire had been to have more confidence, strength, agility and peace in my body while teaching. I was able to go only so far on my own. The deeper and faster moves, especically the spinal undulations, from Etienne's class as well as his subtle expressions, helped me reach this goal as did his silence and physical communication. What a gift it is to be tuned into our desires.

Thank you Etienne! I will be back to study with you!

You can read more about Etienne here: http://www.gansango.com/
NOTE: His Friday night class at 7:00-8:30 PM is not on his website. He also teaches on Wednesdays from 10-11:30 AM. Go to the Open Flight Studio website to see his classes there: http://openflightstudio.org/

Dancing with my desires

Today in Nia I had students set their own focus, "Dancing with your desires".

Before class I placed a basket with small pieces of paper and pencils in the middle of the floor. After the focus, "Dancing your desires", I asked the students to write what they'd like to bring into their body today - what do you desire? I gave them some examples...could be anything - whatever you desire in this very moment. Could be more than one thing too. Whatever comes to mind. No wrong answers. They took a moment to write then I had them fold up their paper and put their initials on the outside. I did too. My desire was for my body to be filled with confidence and peace.

Then we danced. I used the routine, "Passion". My personal focus for teaching was "WB Principle 13, Teaching What you Sense" to keep them sensing various body parts staying present through sensation. A few times during the hour I reminded them to dance with their desire, dance inside their desire, immersing themselves in it, holding it, twirling with it or wearing it, using whatever they wrote on their paper. What I observed was deeper dancing, more 'in their own energy' and much more emotion, expression, creativity and independence today. It was very rich! And a fun way to encourage self-empowerment.

At the end each student revisited what they wrote - me too. I didn't go further with that...let it be completely private. Then we tossed all of the folded pieces of paper in a metal bowl and burned them, with some incense, sealing the experience.

Later I took this lesson to the horse barn. I have been working with my ten year old horse, Kachina. She's one of our best lesson masters. However being a lesson master can quickly 'untrain' a horse as they are constantly dealing with very green riders and many mixed messages as the riders learn how to communicate and use their bodies. It takes a special and very patient horse to endure the untrained riders. Because of that it's important for the lesson master to have a rider they can depend on for consistent training. So I set out to do just that with Kachina. My desire was to have a solid and consistent ride. For my body, I wanted to feel confident and yet peaceful. Same as with teaching Nia.

During our ride I think I became all eight of our riding students because Kachina tested me, trying to wiggle out of whatever I asked her to do. Peace and confidence, lots of breathing and staying consistent. After about 45 minutes she finally realized it was me on her back blew out a big sigh of relief and gave me a sweet ride.

I learned today that stating a desire then setting the intention to fulfill that desire, and dancing with it (whether on the ground or upon a horse) is one great way to turn that intention into reality! Desires fulfilled.

Lessons from a young horse

My filly Soleil is six weeks old this Sunday. She was born on April 5th. From the moment of her birth I have handled her, starting with imprinting at moments old. It's amazing to shape a young horse. I have learned to slow myself down. Once she learns to accept anything new, even if it's just one step forward or allowing me to pick up a foot, that day's lesson is complete. Seems that the down time after accepting is when the learning happens. And not overdoing leaves her interested in her lessons, ready for the next day's adventure.