I have been reflecting on the loss of Ty (And many more wonderful human beings) to Covid19. I dug out a music video we danced for Ty many years back here. I think Ty was in many ways ahead of his time, and my heart goes out to his friends and family at this difficult time.
This week’s theme is balance. I shared a talk with my Embodied Alchemy coaching clients about Ida and Pingala; the left and right hemispheres of the brain (often called masculine and feminine energies within us). We explored the idea of polarities and duality: how (and if) we have experienced internal fight or self judgement of what we perceive as good or bad, right or wrong and any shadow sides of our selves we have met more strongly during this time of lockdown. I set a task: inspired by Ru Paul’s Drag race series 10, episode 11 (Evil Twins), to get in touch with how we self judge, how we push away sides of ourselves, what voices of authority do we internalise and how we can further release our masks, our ‘should’s and shouldnt’s’ and the pressure we put on ourselves… I am still working on my ‘Evil Twin’ poem but maybe I will share it next week!
One of my yoga teachers (Angad Singh) said to me this week (which I think relates to this), “The universe is perfect… we are perfect in our imperfection, and bringing our awareness to that is enough: our patterns exist, our resistance to life exists and when we meet that, we meet what is keeping us separate: and if we can let go of the judgement on ourselves then on an energetic level we can find the connection to spirit and to our truth”.
Here are some other things I have been inspired by this week: which I would love to invite you to join!
Showstoppers: Element Arts are an Urban Latin dance collective now directed and choreographed by Hannah Bertram, and this weekend they have a plethora of beautiful live events for the public supported by Wandsworth Arts Fringe through Wandsworth Grant Fund https://www.wandsworthfringe.
Hammers: I have been talking with the amazing Yussef of Consciencia Negra in Lisbon and Melanie Abrahams of Slate World ready for our online discussion on Wednesday about arts activism Yussef shared the words of Vladimir Mayakovsky “Art is not a mirror to hold up to society, but a hammer with which to shape it” and Melanie Abrahams, the Brazilian poet Adelaide Ivánova who has been shortlisted for the the Derek Walcott prize for her poem ‘The hammer’, which explores the hammer as a weapon, and also a tool.https://www.poetrytranslation
Holistic Pelvic care: I first discovered Tami Kent, and her wonderful book Wild Feminine, (which is on my reading list for our retreat to Thailand which happens every December for female creatives) about three years ago… During lockdown, I have had the absolute honour to train in HPC with the incredible Tami online and have been struck by how this connects back to everything above. If you would like to enquire about a treatment then please get in touch (womxn only for now)!
Dance Your Roots: What a beautiful experience! We raised and are still accepting donations here… and we will be back next month. Read my reflections here.
Wellbeing: In this difficult time, I have had so many confirmations that my art from the heart (with a hammer), my classes, my offerings of service are about teaching wellbeing and connecting to wellbeing: using that hammer to gently reshape and create art from the heart. Someone this week on Linked in said ‘Let’s not pretend life before lockdown with lack of sleep, commutes to work, so much choice, work and life overwhelm was any better than what we are experiencing now’ An interesting thought to close with! Let me know what you think?
Big loves everyone: you are super(s)heros!
Stay strong, find the silver linings, and when life gives you lemons: add them to your tea!
I love you,
Ella xxx
