Moving Through What We Cannot Say

On dance, meditation, and why I'm bringing both to Big Sur

(Image of Steve McQueen and Neile Adams at Esalen, 1963)

Hey friends, very happy to announce and present the link to my first retreat this year at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. The link at the bottom of this newsletter is a pre-release for friends, family and paid subscribers as a thank you for supporting my work. The retreat will combine meditation and dance, two loves of mine that I’ve found immensely beneficial in my spiritual and wellbeing journey. After close to twenty years in this game, I’m slowly starting to understand just how tightly our bodies have been wound up through our experiences, stories and judgements.

Meditation can open us up. But integrating a movement language supercharges our progress. It can open us up to a much more intimate relationship with our bodies and in turn our consciousness. There’s a moment in every dance practice when the body stops translating and starts speaking its own language. Not the choreographed kind but the messy, necessary kind. The kind where your hip suddenly remembers something your therapist bill can’t touch.

Most of them are very good at it. They can notice thoughts arising, let them pass, return to the present moment. But ask them where they feel anger in their body and they’ll point vaguely at their chest like they’re describing someone else’s apartment.

This is where practices like Gaga and 5Rhythms become more than exercise. They’re archaeology.