Be in Your Body and Gratefulness will Follow

by Jenny Block
Sometimes, I forget to be grateful. It’s not that I’m not grateful. It’s that sometimes I let the world have its way with me. I listen to the wrong voices about what’s important. It can take a jolt of one kind or another to bring me back. Maybe just a sad commercial. Maybe a call from my little sister. Maybe dancing.

 

What I notice in that moment is that often, when gratefulness falls to the wayside, so too does movement. I’m not sure which comes first. The body isn’t moved physically and so it isn’t moved mentally. Or my gratefulness is in the off position and so movement falls from my list of things to focus on too.

 

Either way, I want it to change. I want to remember to be grateful every day. No matter what. Because I really do have so much to be grateful for.

 

It’s a beautiful day. Not too hot yet. The birds are singing. The sounds of kids splashing in neighbors’ pools drifts over the fence. The water in my pool glimmers. Walter, my dog, sleeps at my feet in the sun. My family is happy and healthy. My little sister has an adorable new baby. I have an amazing extended family at Move Studio. So many things to be grateful for.  

 

Why is it then that sometimes when a new book is released and soars to the top of the best seller list, I’m envious? What is it then that when others seem to have more I ask, why not us? Why is it then that I can forget so quickly to be grateful and instead slide into the ugly and dangerous spiral of jealousy?

 

My writer mentor Charlotte Morgan always says, “Be careful who you’re jealous of. You rarely ever know the whole story.”

 

For me, I think it’s about becoming disconnected from my body. When I’m not living in it, I’m not really living in my life either. The trick is snapping myself out of it. And that often can be as simple as going to Move Studio and taking a class, Nia or yoga or pilates or Zumba or barre or whatever turns your body on.

 

It can be easy to lose sight of what’s important when the media is constantly clouding the issue with air brushed bodies and impossible lifestyles. Staying in touch with your body, remaining aware, can help keep you in check. It certainly does for me.

Nothing money can buy is as good, as being in your body feels.

*****************
Jenny Block is a freelance writer and the author of “Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage” (2008 Lambda Literary Award). Among other gigs, she writes a weekly sex column for FoxNews.com.  Jenny holds a BA and MA in English and taught college composition for ten years. For more on Jenny, visit her website at www.jennyonthepage.com.

 

Do you know what clairparlance is? Meet Melanie Murray and find out!

For many years, Melanie Murray has been teaching yoga and chakra classes and workshops at MoveStudio. Tomorrow, she’ll be teaching a Kundalini Yoga Workshop focusing on the fifth chakra and clairparlance. Never heard of clairparlance? Neither had I! So I talked to Melanie to learn more! Allow me to introduce you to Melanie Murry.

- Lisa Carmen Olson

Meet Melanie!

Lisa Carmen Olson: Hi Melanie! Tell us, please, how yoga showed up in your life. How did you discover it as a personal practice?
Melanie Murray: I started when I took a yoga class for ballet dancers at an American College Dance Festival. It was literally like a duck finding water and realizing yoga was in my cells and I was discovering something I knew somehow intrinsically. I felt immediately at home in my body after that first class like I had never experienced, even having danced for 35 years.

LCO: What has yoga done for you?
MM: Yoga has given me a body/spiritual practice and connection. Being a highly emotional person, it grounds me in my physical form and brings equanimity to my emotional body.

It has given me a platform to share my relationship and devotion to Source with others.

LCO: You’ve recently begun teaching your chakra workshops from a Kundalini angle. How did that transition happen for you?
MM: When I moved to Austin and bega taking Kundalini Yoga classes, I noticed how different I was feeling in my power center, the third chakra, after the class. I also began to feel more clarity of mind, ability to focus and an increase in my intuition which I could directly attribute to the meditations and kriyas (yoga exercises) from Kundalini class.

I was having a health issue with my immune and hormonal system and Kundalini yoga was helping me get stronger and clear out the negative energy I had been unable to discharge through Hatha Yoga.

LCO: Can you tell us about Kundalini Yoga and how it applies to the chakra system?
The chakras are part of our spiritual anatomy, they interface with the Nadis or energy pathways of our body.  Kundalini Yoga is a system to balance the prana and apana (positive and negative energies) in the body, thus improving the function and health of the body/mind/soul. So Kundalini Yoga uses the chakra system as a focus for the tools of the kriyas (physical yoga exercises) to move energy through the body and chakras for health and spiritual awakening.

What the heck is clairparlance?
Here’s a clue!

The chakras are seven solar systems to our physical body and actually store and distribute prana (life force) for our growth and development as a human and spiritual being. The chakra system is not just about interfacing with our spiritual nature. It provides energy to achieve things in life and assimilate our experience to make meaning that helps to direct our focus and goals in life. For example, my ability to heal my hypo-thyroid condition or disintegrate a breast cyst came as a result of listening to the symptoms my body was giving me physically and tuning into the chakras and working to clear imbalances through Kundalini Yoga practices specific to these chakras and physical areas.

LCO: Tell us about your upcoming fifth chakra workshop at MoveStudio. What does clairparlance mean to you?
MM: Clairparlance is the ability to speak truth in the moment, something like channeling Source. It feels like being a court reporter only for Source. I literally feel the flow of communication through my crown chakra. It involves translating through words, without thinking about what you are going to say. When you study something enough to know it, incorporate it, then let go of managing information, you can open as a channel for the flow of the universe.

In the workshop, we will do a practice to help you clear your throat chakra and develop the capacity for Clairparlance. The gift of Clairparlance comes through practicing speaking the truth and not hiding who you are to please others or remain safe in mediocrity.

LCO: How will students benefit from this workshop?
MM: Through the physical practice of Kundalini yoga, they can heal their bodies and develop or increase their intuitive connection to their higher spiritual nature and Source. The throat chakra practice, in particular, clears the thyroid and parathyroid glands of negative energy that collects through our inability to speak up for ourselves or tell the truth. Part of our growth as a human involves increasing our self-esteem as we take risks to be more authentically who we are, without filtering ourselves due to fear.

LCO: How do you stay moving, even when/if you are not in the mood?
By watching for life balance. Things like my diet, the amount of work vs. play, managing my emotions through self-expression and speaking up when things are not working, and addressing challenges, with an eye for balance. And understanding the relationship between doing yoga and feeling so much better afterward, even when I don’t feel physically well when I wake up. My work as a therapist requires me to be present with others. Yoga helps me to be present with the fullness of my being, all of me.

LCO: Tell us about you- a snapshot of your life, who you are, what you love, and what you are about.
MM: I am on a pathless path of self-discovery which includes all of my being, not just the personality, although that is part and not to be denigrated. In my search, Yoga, and particularly Kundalini Yoga, is an important tool for exploring my spiritual bodies and for facilitating a relationship with Source. I love my life, I help people connect with more than the personality level and I help free them from the burdens that clog up their spiritual and physical bodies my through work with the chakras.

I believe part of my gift is to be a bridge to Source. I have always loved nature, I felt from a very early age that trees were my spiritual friends. I would lie in the woods and merge into their energy fields. I did not know at the time that was what I was doing, it just came naturally, an affinity with the subtle level of creation. I guess God put me here to be a translator for the Subtle levels of Reality!

I have a wonderful partner in life, a beautiful son and a step-daughter soon to make me a grandmother. I have a spiritual community in Austin at the Church of Conscious Harmony and a private practice as a therapist. Life is indeed very good!

Thanks, Melanie!

It’s not too late to grab your spot in Melanie’s Fifth Chakra Kundalini Yoga Workshop: Clairparlance, at MoveStudio tomorrow, Saturday 5/12. Learn more here.

********************************************

June 2 workshop with Melanie…

6th Chakra, Open Your Intuition
Clairvoyance: Learn to See with Your Third Eye

Learn more about Melanie here.

That’s My Girl

by Jenny Block

“It’s like your whole body is awake,” my daughter said to me from the back seat. There was a sense of awe in her voice that I don’t think I had ever heard before. “I feel like crying.” She had just gone to Nia with me for the very first time.

Jule held some classes over the holidays at MoveStudio, renting the space while it was officially closed. Since they were “private” classes, kids could come. Kids who could “handle it,” Jule had specified.

I wasn’t sure whether or not my eleven-year-old could handle it. Would she be too cool for school and simply giggle from the back of the room? Would she find it too daunting to follow? Would it freak her out to see me dance?

I needn’t have worried.

She followed Jule intently. Found her way when she got lost and said to me after class, “I’ve never seen you so happy.”

My daughter looks like me. She likes raw cookie dough and sweets like me. She has a bit of a mouth…like me. And she feels everything very deeply. Yes, like me. But I have never felt more like she was my own then when we did Nia together.

She got it.

I don’t know what I would have done if she hadn’t. I would have been disappointed. That’s for sure. But luckily I don’t have to worry about that any longer. I saw a change in her that night. A “click.” It was like she understood.

“I bet the whole world would stop fighting if they all danced together,” she said. I nearly passed out. Those were nearly the same words I had written months before in a blog called “I Weep” about healing ourselves and the world.

All I knew at that moment was that I owe her Nia. She deserves it. She has a right to a practice all her own.

Which was a big realization for me. I mean, Nia has changed my life. So, clearly I should have known it would change hers. And only for the good.

But I am ashamed to admit that at first I didn’t want my girlfriend or my daughter to come to class. I wanted something that was all my own. That they could share or borrow or use up or lose or shrink.  I actually felt a twinge of regret when my little sister became addicted to it after I took her to a class. “But this is my thing…” I wanted to whine.

But it isn’t my thing. It’s our thing. And you can’t use it up or lose it or shrink it. You can only make it stronger.

And that’s exactly the point. We must be generous. With ourselves. With our friends and our families. With the universe. And not just because of the season. But because generosity begets generosity.

You know, Nia may not be woo-woo. But it certainly is magic.

******************
Jenny Block is a freelance writer and the author of “Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage” (2008 Lambda Literary Award). Among other gigs, she writes a weekly sex column for FoxNews.com.  Jenny holds a BA and MA in English and taught college composition for ten years. For more on Jenny, visit her website at www.jennyonthepage.com.

Radical Self-Care Quickie with Monica Blossom

Radical Self-Care in five questions…

1. What is Radical Self-Care to you? It sounds simple, but it’s a cultivated or relearned art:  saying no when my gut tells me no, even if that’s the unpopular or inconvenient answer, or it goes against the grain of what’s ‘expected’ of me by myself or others.  And boldly, confidently saying yes when my gut says yes!  Even if there’s a little voice inside that casts a shadow of doubt.  It’s about making choices that support my health, hope, happiness, humor and harmony above all else; no matter how unconventional or farfetched or outrageous my yes’s may be.

2. What is the last thing you did for yourself that felt like genuine Radical Self-Care? Today I had a 90 minute Ayurvedic massage with that was over-the-top AMAZING. Although, like all of us, I have the perpetually revolving mile-long to-do list, I stepped away from the busyness and accepted this gracious gift from a friend.  Shhhhhhh … don’t tell the folks who are still waiting on stuff from my desk!

3. What advice do you offer for those craving more self-care in their lives?  The operative word here is ‘self’.  And as I say this, I’m speaking directly to MY ‘self’!  So, the idea that some mysterious, illusive someone besides your ‘self’ is going to drop down from some mysterious somewhere and give you ‘permission’ to take good care and live fully, forget that.  It’s a myth.  It’s a lie.  Your ‘self’ knows what it needs (what you need) at a core level, so listen to that.  And when you do, there may be feelings of guilt or thoughts of ‘I don’t deserve this feeling good business; that’s for those other people who, um, feel good.’  Excellent. Just thank those parts for playing and let them know that you’re ‘self’ (um, the radically healthy, happy self) is in charge now. Say yes to THAT part that knows how to follow what feels good and feels right. If something or someone is ‘draining’ you, for example, flirt with disaster and do something else.  You’ll get the hang of it in no time!

4. What act of Radical Self-Care are you secretly longing for, right now? For two years I’ve been longing to go study with a somatic movement, bodywork, and joyful, embodied living visionary named Ellen Watson.  I feel I have important ‘pieces’ to learn from her in my journey toward full feminine empowerment and embodiment.  She offers a 28 day retreat in Bali once per year and the next one happens in March 2011.  I wanna go!

5. What’s stopping you? Let’s see, ummm … well, here’s the ‘story’ … it’s too expensive; it’s highly indulgent; it takes me away from my family for a whole month; and, after all, what good will 28 days of being by the ocean in Bali, practicing and receiving bodywork daily, dancing ecstatically, writing, meditating, & eating healthy do for me anyway?  Ok, so I if I follow my own advice I’ll listen to this ‘yes’ in my gut.  I’ll thank the parts of me trying to ‘take good care of me’ by keeping my life recognizable and status quo. I’ll flirt with disaster and ‘do something else’.  And I’ll get the hang of it in no time!

About Monica: Monica Blossom Hochberg is the creator of Flowetry in Motion, a conscious movement practice that she teaches in Dallas and at festivals throughout the year, mostly on the west coast.  She left her corporate job a year ago and now she’s a full time dancing, traveling, writing mamma; a freelance consultant; and a passionate social entrepreneur.

Stop by and say hi to Monica this weekend, Saturday 11/13 at MoveStudio, from 9a-1p. She’ll be our featured Community Showcase partner, demonstrating Flowetry outside and giving away free classes!

I Weep

by Jenny Block

It wasn’t the kind of class I would have expected to bring me to my knees. Literally. It was a Friday morning Nia class with Jule and I was filled with joy from the moment I saw Jule’s reflection in the mirror. It was my kind of set, with music you can sing to and that you’re as likely to find in a club as you are in a dance studio. I like a good mystical soundtrack as much as the next girl. But sometimes you just need a little Usher.

That’s why I was so surprised. So surprised as a new song began to play, one I don’t remember now, surprisingly. The last song of the class. Jule invited us to heal ourselves and move and stretch and dance however our bodies called us to. I found my way to the floor quickly and before long all of the packed class was on there with me.

The beauty of that moment left me awestruck. All of these bodies moving and rocking and changing. All of these shapes and spirits and forces of goodness and joy. It was beautiful. I mean that in a sunset over the sea, first snow on the mountains, colors in the sky after a spring rain sort of way. A beauty that stops the world if only for a moment.

And as I looked around the room, I instantly began to weep. All around me were these amazing, dancing, warrior women so graceful and so strong, healing themselves and healing the universe.

I wept for everyone who wasn’t there, for everyone who couldn’t be there, who can’t be there.

I wept for corporate America and their tiny cubes and their wastefulness of the human mind and the human spirit and the human body. And I wept for myself and the year I wasted in their clutches allowing them to break me, allowing them to take me, allowing them to make me one of their hollow souls.

Only they never could really. They never could stop me from taking off my shoes or sitting on the floor or laughing so loudly it filled the halls. They never could stop my spirit from shining through even the tiniest cracks. And so they fired me and I am ever grateful for that release.  Ever and eternally grateful. Sometimes only someone else can release us from our chains, even our psychic ones.

But I am left to wonder if they would still lie cheat and steal if they had curled and creeped, crawled and walked and danced with us that day. I don’t think they would. I don’t think they could.

And I wondered if a government would declare war on a country full of people that they have danced their joy with. I don’t think they would. I don’t think they could.

And I wonder if man would raise his hand against another, against a child, against an animal, against the earth, if he shared our dance? I don’t think he would. I don’t think he could.

I wondered. Who would we be if everyone in the universe danced? Who would we be if the universe danced?

The creativity and brilliance and humanity and joy that is lost in the world, that is never even given the chance to be at all, leaves me raw and cold and sorrowful. But I refuse to carry that burden of global grief on my back every day. Instead I choose to heal it.

And so until everyone spins and hops and claws and rocks, until everyone sways and stretches and reaches and shines, I will dance for them. And some days, I will weep.

******************
Jenny Block is a freelance writer and the author of “Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage” (2008 Lambda Literary Award). Among other gigs, she writes a weekly sex column for FoxNews.com.  Jenny holds a BA and MA in English and taught college composition for ten years. For more on Jenny, visit her website at www.jennyonthepage.com.

Pink Gratitude from Jenny Block

by Jenny Block

 

Today, I wanted to use this space to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who danced in our Pink! fundraiser last Friday night at MoveStudio and everyone who participated in the Pole for Pink on Saturday and everyone else who was somehow involved in last week’s amazing events. Thank you.

I was able to complete my fundraising for 2010 after Firday night’s class and, instead of going over my goal, I decided to go ahead and commit to next year using the funds from Saturday’s class! So, thank you for helping me to both meet my goal this year and set off in the right direction for next year.

My deepest gratitude is also due to MoveStudio for donating class passes and Lisa C. for donating those gorgeous earrings and Just in Case for donating prizes and my corporate sponsor Natural Contours for donating prizes and funds for my walk this year. I could not have done this without all of your support.

Someone else asked me to share her thanks as well. My mom. She can’t walk in the 3-Day herself because along with being a breast cancer survivor, she also battles Muscular Dystrophy every day.

I walk, because she can’t.

I dance, because I can.

I hope you always will too.

Being able to move is such a gift. I am challenging myself every day to remember and honor that.

Thank you. The fight isn’t over. But we are moving towards a cure faster and faster and every day because of your help.

******************
Jenny Block is a freelance writer and the author of “Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage” (2008 Lambda Literary Award). Among other gigs, she writes a weekly sex column for FoxNews.com.  Jenny holds a BA and MA in English and taught college composition for ten years. For more on Jenny, visit her website at www.jennyonthepage.com.

It’s Back! The Quickie: This Week… Renee Snider

Radical Self-Care in five questions!

Meet Renee Snider, Wellness Within Coach, Life Enhancement Strategist and MoveStudio affiliate (Her Friday night “Loving High Vibe Meditation Groups” are not to be missed!) Her new campaign “Less Stress, More Joy” kicks off soon- stay tuned!

1. What is Radical Self-Care to you? Allowing myself pleasures and comforts with no guilt!  It is about treating myself with unconditional love and honor. It is about being my own best self and friend. Radical self care is putting myself first, no matter what!  When I treat myself coming from this place of love, support and care, it is easy to share with others. I believe that you must first love yourself totally before you can do so for another or the world.

2. What is the last thing you did for yourself that felt like genuine Radical Self-Care? Sunday 10-10-10!  Created and experienced a Spiritual event that spoke to the deepest part of my Soul and was shared with old and new friends.  When I do these things for me, I am uplifted and elevated to higher ground.

3. What advice do you offer for those craving more self-care in their lives? Know that you deserve it!  Don’t let anything get in the way of honoring yourself first.  Schedule time for yourself in your planner.  Do those things you love!  In doing so, we create more love, more joy for ourselves and all those whom we touch!

4. What act of Radical Self-Care are you secretly longing for, right now? A trip to the ocean!  I long for the beach and water as it connects with my heart, soul and spirit!  I am a water sign and water lover.  I feel instantly elevated when I can hear, see, smell and feel the water and its rhythms.

5. What’s stopping you? Nothing!  In fact, creating the time and place now for next year, which is approaching rapidly!  Wanna join me?

About me in 25 words or less:
I am a lover of life! I am a sharer of divine love, energy and wisdom for healing, transformation and soul elevation!

You can find Renee on Facebook here or at her site at www.reneesnider.com.  Visit her Meetup here.

Would you like to be a featured blogger and share your Radical Self-Care secrets? Email lisa@movestudio.com.

Blogging Contest – Entry #1 – “Move!”

MOVE!

By Ann Move Studio in Dallas Texas is full of energy, joy and lots of movement. It is located at 17062 Preston Rd. Suite, 108, and last week celebrated its 10 year anniversary which is quite an accomplishment for an exercise/dance studio. Lisa Carmen (pictured with me) has been the marketing and communications manager for 5 of those years. Jackie Smith is the manager.

Their celebration was full of people, dance, live music and most of all movement!

All kinds of movement! The Nia class looks like a fun-filled riot of energetic movement that not only works out the body, but also, the mind and spirit! A mind, body. spirit celebration!

How about working out on a pole? Stephanie, how do you do that? I know! You can teach us!

Move Studio offers a wide variety of classes, – Pilates – Nia – Belly Dancing- Salsa Dancing – Yoga – Chakra Connection – ‘Mommy and Me’ – among others, offered in a spacious studio encompassing several individual workout rooms.

Let’s all get physical and MOVE!

Moving remaps the mind, shapes the body and heals the soul!

Congratulations MOVE STUDIO! www.movestudio.com

By Ann Dillard

http://blog.womenexplode.com/2010/10/03/move.aspx

Blogging Contest – Entry #2 – “Entry to My New Life”

I moved to Dallas on November 8,2008. My move was a result of a divorce after being married 42 years. I moved here to Addison specifically, to be near family; my daughter,son-in-law and two grandchildren. I had done Nia in the past at Lake Austin Spa. I fell in love, but there were no classes where I lived so I only did it with tapes on an irregular basis. I hate to exercise, but have to.
Before I moved here while I was working on my condo, my daughter took me for a ride past the studio. She said” I found you a place to do Nia” . The moving truck arrived on the Monday after I got here, and a week later I drove to the Studio and took my first class with Jule. And I have been taking classes at least 3 days a week ever since. Nia has been my path to my new life. It lifted my spirit and soothed my soul as needed.

I doubt that I would be where I am today without Nia. I am an attorney, I left my business and my professional life for the most part behind when I came here. Through Nia, I gained a community of very good friends who gave me the support to enter this new chapter of my life. When I am not dancing I miss it. When I am dancing, I am free to be anything I want to be . I dance for for the mind , the body , the spirit, and the soul. Nia has turned a very type “A” person into someone who is free to move and feel her body’s way.

My health has improved. I have lost weight and inches and have gained mobility. I was a dancer as a child. I love dance and music. To be able to dance to beautiful music every day If I want to is the best. I am Jewish and go to services some Saturdays. The Saturdays I do not go to services I try to go to Nia. Both are equally important to my spiritual well being.

Some one asked me what is Nia. My answer ” it is how you feel when you are dancing in your underwear in your bedroom to your favorite music just for you. ” Nia is the best and most important thing I do for my self. With out it I would be just another person in the gym, not smiling, waiting for the 50 minutes of cardio to be over.

I thank Jule and the Studio for being my guide to my new life.

- Elaine Bernstein

Blogging Contest – Entry #3 – “A Special Place”

Well what I thought were just allergies turned into a body aching, itchy eyes, sneezing fits kind of cold and to say that I’m over it is an understatement! The unfortunate thing is that I missed the Movestudio Anniversary event last night…

I decided to talk a little bit about how Movestudio helped me to change my life.
For years I drove by this dance studio close to my moms house…every once in a while I looked up the schedule and talked myself out of actually showing up to a class with excuses like; I don’t have the right clothes, I’ll never be able to keep up, I’ll be too embarrassed. But a year ago that all changed… I decided to face my weight problems head on through this blog and without thinking twice I joined my mom for a chair yoga class. From the moment I walked in I felt extremely comfortable. That first class was really geared more towards my mom’s age group, but not only did I feel great for actually getting through the hour class but I ended up with a funny tale to tell from the experience. When I left that day I decided to just dive right in and try more classes.

The next day I showed up for Jule’s Nia class… I stood in the back row on the right side and had no idea what I was doing but I fell in love with being there. As the weeks went on I came back more and more and finally found my spot in the back row but on the other side of the room. The most amazing thing happened… I built relationships with the other dancers. They eventually became followers of my blog and more importantly became advocates in my life. They have made it possible for me to be strong in moments of weakness and to be present in the class when it felt like I was failing in the outside world. Being in Nia class gave me the strength to to try other classes like Zumba and eventually the Zensual classes which in the darkest moments of infertility helped me to feel like a woman even when it felt impossible. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t feel like Movestudio has changed my life. It has not been all perfect, there are times when I dance in the wrong direction and even a moment when I fell to the floor in 7 inch platforms. But it made me realize that I would rather try something and have an embarrassing funny story to tell then to not have tried it at all…

In the last year I have lost 60 pounds, I have been through a grueling round of infertility, I have become a dancer, I have gained unmeasurable amounts of self esteem, and I am now 6 1/2 months pregnant with a baby boy! Although this pregnancy has been a tad bit difficult and I have missed more classes than I have wanted to. I know that my place remains. Knowing that my Nia girls and boys are waiting patiently for my return makes each pound I gain a little less painful. And knowing that I will be bringing my son up around such amazing and supportive friends makes Movestudio hold a very special place in my heart. I hope that those of you reading this blog are lucky enough to find a place like Movestudio, a place that helps you to change your life from the inside out.

To another 10 years…

xoxo chef a

(Amanda Miller Marrone)

http://confessionsovereatingpc.blogspot.com/2010/10/special-place.html

http://confessionsovereatingpc.blogspot.com/2010/10/special-place.html