LucidMoving

Dance The Day Before New Year's!

2011-12-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

2011. A year of hope, fear, paralysis and activism. Fight? Flight? Freeze? Fly! In the good company of friends old and new, let's celebrate that which holds fast and clear and alive amidst the furious blur of change: the eye of the heart, shared and seen and offered freely, against all odds. We'll dance, supported by music known and new, gentle and grand, in accord with this day, unlike any other day. Gather and warm up, 11-noon; opening circle @ noon, traveling together until 2pm. Western Sky Studio, 2525 8th Street, Berkeley 94710. Come for part or all, but do come! We need us. $10-$15 suggested donation. Cash a problem? Trade arrangements available: lucid.ocean@gmail.com. Love.

Hope and Fear, Pretending

2011-11-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

In these miraculous times, the air (spirit) and the earth (body) are ripe with uncertainty, change, and possibility. The world wobbles: imploding, exploding, barely settling to note its 7 billionth citizen. Hope and fear, like shy and hard-headed partners, dance on opposite sides of the room, each pretending to ignore the other.

Join the impeccable possibility of moving with all there is, inside and out, in an atmosphere of support and inclusion. I humbly aspire to hold Soul Motion space with openness and humanity. You show up with who you are (again, or for the first time), and we see/feel/move with what happens. This is a moment among moments. We can do this!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This and every Thursday in Berkeley, 6-8pm
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion Conscious Dance Practice
Eighth Street Studio
2525 8th Street
bet Dwight and Parker

The Space Between: Soul Motion in the Foothills, 11/5/11

2011-09-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

Held once again in the embrace of Moonbear’s 30' yurt on gorgeous land in the Sierra foothills, this time in the potent time between fall and winter, we'll dance and dream in the subtle spaces between in- and outbreath, sound and silence, impulse and action. Bask in supple guidance, spacious music. All are welcome!
Noon – 6pm
Saturday, November 5
Moonbear Sanctuary
Nevada City, California
$75 (if registered by October 21)
$95 thereafter (space permitting)
Inquiries: 510-847-7736; lucid.ocean@gmail.com
Registration: by PayPal (below), or by sending a check to Michael Zipkin, 447 Beloit Avenue, Kensington, CA 94708.

Refuge: A Soul Motion Worskhop in the Foothills 9/10/11

2011-07-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

Held in the embrace of Moonbear’s 30' yurt on gorgeous land in the Sierra foothills, we’ll inspire and be inspired by each other to move with confidence and courage. Traveling the spiral pathways to our most intimate dance, we’ll expand to include our fellow travelers in dialogue, discourse and divine prayer. We’ll also have the opportunity to walk the labyrinth adjacent to our dance space. Please bring water, lunch and whatever else you need to support you in this day of refuge and rejuvenation. Bask in supple guidance and spacious music. And we will dance. Oh, yes, we will dance.
Noon – 6pm
Saturday, September 10
Moonbear Sanctuary
Nevada City, California
$75 (if registered by August 19)
$95 thereafter (space permitting)
Inquiries: lucid.ocean@gmail.com
Registration: http://tinyurl.com/soulmotion-moonbear

Dance Camp Soul Motion Soundtrack

2011-07-01T13:38:00.000-07:00

with appreciation of your appreciation, and of all of you:

w a r m u p :

1st Movement/Nakai & Khechog/Winds Of Devotion
2nd Movement/Nakai & Khechog/Winds Of Devotion
Devorzhum/Dead Can Dance/Spiritchaser
The Healer/John Lee Hooker w/Santana/The Definitive Collection
Om Kali/Robert Gass & On Wings Of Song/Kirtana (feat. Danya River)

b o d y o f t h e d a n c e :
Abraxas/Clarence Clemons/Peacemaker
The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove (Remastered)/Dead Can Dance/Into The Labyrinth (Remastered)
Hidden Sky/Jami Sieber/Hidden Sky
Go It Alone/Beck/Guero
Brandenburg/Black Violin/Black Violin
Nwahulwana/Wazimbo and Orchestra Marrabenta Star de Mocambique/Nwahulwana
Daphne/1 Giant Leap/One Giant Leap
Rock On Hanuman (Bhakti Brothers Flying Monkey Remix) [feat. Krishna Das]/MC Yogi/Elephant Powered Remixes
Walk Like An Egyptian (Bassnectar's 2003 Remix)/The Bangles/Bass Music
6 POWER OSCI/Shuta Hasunuma/POP OOGA
Groovin' (feat. Stephen Morris)/Pato Banton/Pato Banton and Friends
May This Be Love/Meshell Ndegeocello/Bitter
Rebirth/Midival Punditz/Midival Times
Unspoken/NEeMA/Watching You Think
Moon (Rasalka) (After Dvorak's Mesicku Na Nebi Hlubokem)/Coco De Mer/Coco De Mer
Beautiful Day (Radio Version)/Laidback/Beautiful Day - EP
Bird 1/Underworld/Barking
Losing My Religion (House Remix)/Brooklyn Avenue/Losing My Vinyl
The Way You Dream/1 Giant Leap featuring Michael Stipe & Asha Bhosle/1 Giant Leap
Sweet Old World/Emmylou Harris/Wrecking Ball

The fine, fine wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world

2011-06-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

Not I, not I, but the wind that blows through me!
A fine wind is blowing the new direction of Time. 
If only I let it bear me, carry me, if only it carry me!
If only I am sensitive, subtle, oh, delicate, a winged gift!
If only, most lovely of all, I yield myself and am borrowed
By the fine, fine wind that takes its course through the chaos of the world
Like a fine, an exquisite chisel, a wedge-blade inserted; 
If only I am keen and hard like the sheer tip of a wedge
Driven by invisible blows,
The rock will split, we shall come at the wonder, we shall find the Hesperides.  

Oh, for the wonder that bubbles into my soul, 
I would be a good fountain, a good well-head, 
Would blur no whisper, spoil no expression.  

What is the knocking?
What is the knocking at the door in the night? 
It is somebody wants to do us harm.  
No, no, it is the three strange angels. 
Admit them, admit them.
– DH Lawrence

Rising to the Occasion

2011-05-25T11:50:00.000-07:00

Rooted in the soul's body,

Ready to rise and shine,

No matter what the weather,

Inside and out

Above and below

Around and within.

It Is a Good Day

2011-04-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Landforms, clouds. Trees in mist, always possible. Choice? Walk. Into, out of, through. And then we die.

the dynamic stillness

2011-02-23T14:34:00.000-08:00

it is here
in the breath
it is here
in the stillness between breaths
     it is here
     in the active mind
     it is here
     in the resting mind
it is here
in the dream's panorama
it is here
in each moment of awakening
     it is here
     when all is well
     it is here
     when fear has nothing left to fear
even then
there is pure noticing
even then
there is no need for doing
     no frantic searching
     can find the obvious
     no seeking needed
     to find that which seeks
it is here
where it can never be lost
or found

from Gifts with No Giver: a love affair with truth

Nirmala

Torn Almost in Two

2011-01-05T15:51:00.000-08:00

It's never too late to burn the fuel of desire.
Stanley Kunitz' "Touch Me"

closing::opening::next year at Eighth Street

2010-12-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

darling duality-defeating dancers,
no doubt, you've heard the oft-quoted paean to possibility, "When one door closes another door opens." Something--a thought, a relationship, a physical or metaphysical space--ends, crashes, shifts. Whether it was as I wished or left much to be desired, I am the line that carries and continues, the bridge over the dark (or light) waters of uncertainty. I want to have compassion for the one who yearns for ease and comfort even as he knows there is no telling what will come next. Can I carry the yearning for a more engaged existence as a flame that illuminates and warms, rather than one with a sharper, more brittle burning? Hell, maybe the whole thing just wants to turn into glorious and fully exhaled ash that scatters in a good breeze and leaves the hearth scrubbed and ready for the next fires.

But I digress, ever-so-melodramatically.

I say adieu and fare thee well to Jeffrey Bihr Studio, site of Thursday night Soul Motion, The Ocean Refuses No River. Thank you for your settled intimacy, your warm maple floor, the kimonos that witness patiently from the north and south walls.
I say bonjour and let's dance! to Eighth Street Studio (aka Soul Motion Central, aka Berkeley Dance Jam's Warm Room). Thank you for your clean bamboo floor, your white muslin curtains and relaxed, open feel. Beginning January 6, Soul Motion classes will be a full two hours, from 6-8pm every Thursday. Class cards will price sessions very close to the current suggested cost of $10; single entries will be $15.

Excited! You?

A Berkeley Soul Motion New Year's Day Dance

2010-12-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

dear depth chargers,
shall we dance together on New Year's Day, bringing our intentions, our openness, our enthusiasm*, our hesitations, our hopes; our feet, bellies, hearts, hands and eyes? and, together, inspire each other to offer these gifts to each newly birthed moment, today of all days?

yes.

Begin Again: A Soul Motion New Year's Day Dance

Saturday, January 1, 2011
11am-2pm (opening circle at noon)
Western Sky Studio, Berkeley
2525 Eighth Street, bet Dwight & Parker
$10-15 entry; no one turned away; all are welcome!

*[ARCHAIC] Religious fervor resulting directly from divine inspiration, typically involving speaking in tongues and wild, uncoordinated movements of the body.

(e)merge (into, from) the darkness: dance!

2010-11-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

how about:
The Ocean Refuses No River
weekly Soul Motion practice
this thursday, 12/2, 6:30-8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

Soul Motion in Nevada City
this Friday, 12/3, 5:15-7:15pm
this Sunday, 12/5, 10-noon
South Yuba Club
555 Searles Avenue
Nevada City 95959

the way out is the way in

2010-11-17T14:41:00.000-08:00

dear teachers,
there is patience, and there is procrastination. {i know both}
there is acceptance, and there is complacency. {i know both}
there is fear, and there is love. {i know both}
there is solitude, and there is isolation. {i know both}

six and a half years of practice {ongoing, not ending}
a year and a half of training modules {ongoing, not ending}
two plus years of local weekly teaching (one to eight students), and covering for my traveling teachers (20-80 students) {ongoing, not ending}
ditto local special events (SM Odysseys, 1/2 day workshops) {ongoing, not ending}
ditto ditto advice and support from my teachers, students, fellows, friends
one daylong workshop

countless hours absorbed in class plans, music choices, marketing, blogging; reaching out, reaching in; shpilkis beyond belief. joy and satisfaction beyond the beyond.

and now i am a certified Soul Motion teacher.

thank you vinn, zuza, you, me, god, sky and earth and water and fire!

perserverance

2010-11-08T18:32:00.000-08:00

inkBoat and AXIS dancers

In Limbo, Odd Nerdrom

Over the weekend, I saw ODD, a bracing collaboration between two dance companies (Shinichi Iova-Koga's inkBoat, and Oakland's physically integrated AXIS Dance Company), and cellist/composer Joan Jeanrenaud, inspired by the mythic, figurative work of Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrom. I was struck by the commitment to move, to express, to interact; how the use of internal and external propulsion looked from the outside, and what it "accomplished"; and by the dynamic, vital springboard of stillness. Sheer will to take space; perhaps not ironically, the "disabled," wheelchair-bound AXIS dancers telegraphed a strength and ferocious vitality that held and propelled them. inkBoat's contorting, convulsing motions carried them to the other shore, as it were, without consideration of elegance or conventional notions of prettiness. The routes were indirect and inefficient in the directional dimension only; the fuel was potent, true, unrelenting; the encounters between "abled" and "disabled" dancers were dynamic, brisk, startlingly crucial. And the stillness between gestures--Iova-Koga refers to them as "suspensions, holding points between actions..."--were "... alive, ripe for change and development." The Pause Presence, in the Soul Motion lexicon.

ODD moves to the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts, 1428 Alice Street, Oakland, CA 94612 for another weekend of performances Friday and Saturday November 12 and 13, with an afternoon show Sunday the 14th at 2:00pm. Tickets here.

Freedom in the Framing

2010-11-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

dear dance delineators,
can following what comes from the inside create freedom on the outside?
can working with a choice of shapes or qualities offered from the outside enlarge and enliven our inner dance?
what's the difference between moving with a goal in mind and moving within a soft and clear frame of possibility? on our own? with one or more or all?
Jeremy W and Vinn M dropped these inquiries into the personal and collective field this past weekend at Esalen, and what emerged danced with startling brilliance and joy. please join me in two rooms this week, and we will see and be with what happens, big or small, in, out or onward. thank you!

The Ocean Refuses No River

Soul Motion-Inspired Dance Practice

Thursdays, 6:30-8pm

Pay what you can ($5-$15 suggested) until 1.1.11

Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

Soul Motion Experience

Saturday, November 6 (and 13)

10am-noon / $10

Movement Oasis
1808-B Empire Industrial Court
Santa Rosa 95403

Reflecting Brilliance, in Motion

2010-10-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

The moon appears in every season, it is true,
But surely it's best in fall.
In autumn, mountains loom and water runs clear.
A brilliant disk floats across the infinite sky,
And there is no sense of light and darkness,
For everything is permeated with its presence.
--Ryokan, 1758-1831

I see the moon,
the moon sees me.
God bless the moon,
and God bless me.
--traditional nursery rhyme
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I open fully, I reflect the brilliance of the oft-hidden sun.
And in shining clear and true, I show myself, too.

This Thursday, 10/21 at Jeffrey Bihr in Oakland:
The Ocean Refuses No River, 6:30-8pm

This Saturday, 10/23 at Movement Oasis in Santa Rosa:
Soul Motion-inspired dance practice, 10-noon.
Full Moon Barefoot Boogie, 7-9pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Faith

2010-10-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

The ultimate definition of bravery is not being afraid of who you are.
Chögyam Trungpa

Belief clings, faith lets go.
Alan Watts

The darkness still has work to do
the knotted chord’s untying
Peter Gabriel, The Blood of Eden

Faith is not a commodity we either have or don’t have--
it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience...
It is the willingness to take the next step, to see the unknown as an adventure, to launch a journey.
Sharon Salzberg, Faith

Equinox and Awakening

2010-09-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

dear delicious, delirious, darkening dancers,

The Equinox is here. are you striving for balance, equanimity, acceptance? out my studio window, i see that all the plums have dropped from the neighbor's tree, and are rotting in the dust of my didn't-quite-become-a-vegetable-garden-ok-next-year-for-sure. a squirrel, bug-eyed, the tip of his tail wrapped up to fashion a modified mohawk on his furry head, has found one, though, and seems determined to polish it off. oops! he sees me seeing him, and picks his way through the slender branches to presumed safety, dropping the half-eaten plum back into the dust.

Having trouble letting go of summer dreams, love affairs, fruit fallen or otherwise? startled by the hot/cold, blue/grey shifts in the air and sky? aliveness can be embraced as a gift when we open to surprise, change, disappointment with grounded curiosity and an awakened soul.

Please join me for Awake, My Soul, my first daylong workshop in Berkeley, Saturday, October 16, 11am-5pm at Western Sky, 2525 Eighth St, Berkeley 94710. this extended time together will offer many possibilities to move with presence and awareness, startled or not. Cost: $50 if payment received by 10/4; $65 if received thereafter, or at the door, space willing. Registration: PayPal (don't need an account to use this option).

The Simplicity of Silence, and of One Word Only

2010-09-13T14:37:00.000-07:00

dear disarming dancers,
Soul Motion 101:

Spiraling into silence
listening
offering the gift of gesture.

thank you, David.
when one writes, he writes for many.

Enough
These few words are enough
If not these words, this breath
If not this breath, this sitting here.
This opening to the life we have
refused again and again
Until now.

It is Not Enough
It is not enough to know.
It is not enough to follow
the inward road conversing in secret.

It is not enough to see straight ahead,
to gaze at the unborn
thinking the silence belongs to you.

It is not enough to hear
even the tiniest edge of rain.

You must go to the place
where everything waits,
there, when you finally rest,
even one word will do,
one word or the palm of your hand
turning outward
in the gesture of gift.

And now we are truly afraid
to find the great silence
asking so little.

One word, one word only.

What If This Were Enough? What Remains?

2010-09-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

dear dedicated dance dreamers,
Happy new moon, Eid ul-Fitr (end of the fasting month of Ramadan), Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), and any and all other calls to awakening i may be too asleep to notice. New possibilities abound; an empty slate awaits our particular scrawling dance of chalk-dusted feet or hands or eyes divine, dead or otherwise.
When do these imperatives, however, turn towards the tricky track of "improvement," however well-intentioned? Re: the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur--can i somehow make up for the wasted time/bad behavior/ill-fitted fantasies of the previous 355 days as the drop-dead deadline for the Big Thumb (up or down, squeaking into or slammed out of, finally, the Book of Life for one more year) is a mere ten days away? So much to change! So little time! So much shpilkis!
Howsabout, just this once, we stand where we are, appreciate who we are, feel our roots in the dirt even as the inner and outer winds blast through each moment of this endless journey?
Nothing to do, nowhere to go but down and in, deeper, still.

The Pause::Class Break Until Sept 2

2010-08-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

dear daring dance dippers, darling dreamers,
as this series of summer classes in settings new and known comes to a pause, i am grateful to those that provided opportunities for practice, presence and moving through the unknown: dear traveling teacher Zuza, in whose Tuesday and Sunday classes i stood, spoke, saw; studio owners Jim Beatty (Eighth Street Studio), Jeffrey Bihr (his eponymous studio in Rockridge) and, especially, Michelle and David from Movement Oasis in Santa Rosa, whose welcoming arms have gathered new students and possibilities for their growing community of explorers.
and, mostly, to all the students, new and known, who have shown themselves to themselves and each other, as they were, as they were ready, i trust, with courage, conviction, hesitation, and glorious humanity.
and i Pause, in these last two weeks of August, to take stock, discover what's here as the ripples settle and the space shines.
The Ocean Refuses No River is on Pause until September 2. Move. Pause. Listen. Move. Pause.

Inspiration: A Workshop in Sonoma Co. 9/18

2010-08-09T11:16:00.000-07:00

Is it likely, even possible, that what we have to offer to ourselves and each other is sufficient, complete, worthwhile? And that in discovering and sharing these gifts, we encourage these same "others" to do the same? Here's the invitation: come to Inspiration! a Soul Motion Experience, Sat, Sept 18, from 11am-3pm, at Movement Oasis, 1808-B Empire Industrial Court, Santa Rosa, CA 95403. With supple guidance, simple, spacious structures, and evocative music, we'll move with what is. And, we will dance; oh, yes: we will dance.
Cost: $35 (if payment received by 9/3); $45 (if received thereafter or at the door). Please send a check to Michael Zipkin, 447 Beloit Ave, Kensington, CA 94708. Seeking more inspiration? lucid.ocean@gmail.com 510-847-7736 www.lucidmz.blogspot.com

Give Back Your Heart to Itself

2010-07-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

Love After Love
The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome
and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you have ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.
Derek Walcott, Collected Poems 1948-1984, New York, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1986

Trusting the Practice

2010-07-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

1. Set the space and the score and the intent with as much grace, love, clarity and humility as is available, this morning.

2. Breathe in, breathe out.

3. Be surprised at what happens.

Listening with the Inner Ear

2010-07-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

Gary Snyder says,
As the crickets' soft autumn hum
is to us
so are we to the trees
as are they
to the rocks and the hills
{thanks, Steve}

Soothe and be soothed
See and be seen
Dance and be danced
Move and be moved

Soul Motion practice, this week:
Tuesday in Berkeley, 6-7:30pm
Thursday in Rockridge, 6:30-8pm
Sunday in Sebastopol, 10:15-noon

Isn't That Something?

2010-07-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

Rumi says,
I like it when the music happens like this:
Something in His eye grabs hold of
a tambourine in me,
then I turn and lift a violin in someone else,
and they turn, and this turning continues;
it has reached you now. Isn't that something?

This week, the grand opportunities to experience the web of interdependence continue: Enter The Ocean Refuses No River this Thursday, 6:30-8pm at Jeffrey Bihr Studio. And this Saturday morning, July 10, in the light-washed, bamboo-floored Eighth Street Studio in Berkeley (Friday Dance Jam's Warm Room), 10am-noon, Soul Motion: Spiral Odyssey, a journey through the Soul Motion landscapes. And to round out the weekend in the same room, Sunday I deejay 7:30-11pm at the venerable (and still unpredictable) Barefoot Boogie. Come shine, reflect, radiate!

the cheer-leading universe (god, spirit, earth, ocean, life?)

2010-06-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

dear toe-dipping dreamers,
this morning, a warning arrived: "What you don't know can hurt you!" the email went on to warn of "internet intrusions" and "hidden surveillance programs" that seemed to be lurking in some shadowy cyberzone, dangerously just outside my sphere of awareness. wow. talk about restimulating childhood fears of an unsafe world, waiting patiently, unstoppably, for me to drop my guard, anticipating the opportunity to nail my sorry, sweet, naive ass.
this is one way to consider, take in (or repel) the universe and how i am in it.
this week, as i continue to teach Tuesday in my dear teacher Zuza's absence, i am reminded of a deliriously different possibility she suggested some time ago: that the universe (god, spirit, earth, ocean, our life) is actually rooting for us, wishing the best for us, and always offering (however tragically veiled they may be) opportunities for us to express, exalt, shine and shimmer. and that our entering this field of work and play benefits not just our own souls, but is actually what serves all beings in this fractured world.
the chance to be and move and risk together is some of what i am so humbled to offer, this Tuesday in Berkeley, this Thursday in Oakland, this Saturday in Santa Rosa (see Events and Classes, top right of this page). come.

Desire and the End of Desire

2010-06-23T09:13:00.000-07:00

dance dears,
i'm back from NCDC Dance Camp, having spent a long, luscious weekend teaching, eating marvelous food, engaging in worded and wordless conversations, gazing amazed at the Milky Way and the waxing moon, and dancing dancing dancing. in classes and, especially, in the nighttime boogies, i fell in love, in lust, aloud and in screaming silence. i felt myself melting, merging; exalting, expanding, extending. and comparing, vigilant and doubting. leaning into my desire, joyfully, mercifully. leaning out, over, down and crashing, sometimes, into that which i imagined would tell me, "i am enough. i am necessary. i am seen, felt, loved."
desire is the fuel to feeling, to creativity, to possibility; the leaning inward, the swirling of the nectar--my nectar-- in the mouth of the belly of my beast. in screaming silence and in "speaking out loud in the clear air." opening to desire, feeling, creation, possibility: first leaning in, then offering out. and being surprised.

Inside/Out: Travel the Soul Motion Landscapes This Saturday Morning in Berkeley

2010-06-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

dear dance-casters of light and shadow,
do you give yourself away, when you step into the light?
do you stand in the shadows, because it's where you always stand?
do you find yourself inside the brilliant, shadowy, blinding calm of the solo dance, or do you hear your soul's sweet song most clearly when it's echoed back across the human canyons of one, two, twenty others?
let's explore all (or none) of these questions this Saturday morning, August 14, in the light-washed, bamboo-floored, open/protected Eighth Street Studio in Berkeley (Friday Dance Jam's Warm Room), 10am-noon, during Soul Motion: Spiral Odyssey.
after a luxuriously to-the-point warmup, we'll gather our attention together, and, supported by light, clear words and spacious music, travel through the Soul Motion landscapes of Dance Intimate (solo), Dance Communion (with one other), Dance Community (with more than one other) and Dance Infinite (with the One). spiral in; spiral out. bask in the fields of discovery, dialogue, discourse and devotion! all are welcome!

Dance in the Soft Light of Morning

2010-05-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

dear friends known and soon-to-be known,
what if we were to consider each moment lush with the possibility of . . . we-don't-know-what?
what if we could return, again and again, to what's true for us, even as the exterior world spins off-kilter and there seems no ground on which to step that can hold us?
what if we could begin again, each morning, with curiosity and courage, supported by others, known and soon-to-be-known? and all that was asked of us was to be open, pay attention to what has meaning and heart, and to move with that?
come join me on the first Saturdays of June, July and August at the lovingly tended Movement Oasis in Santa Rosa from 10am-noon (see the sidebar, "Classes and Workshops," top right of this page), for Soul Motion™ Experience, a class inspired by the work of mentors Vinn Marti and Zuza Engler. and by you. and by me. and by all that moves through and around us.

Thursday 4/29: F R E E Soul Motion™ Experience 6:30pm, Rockridge

2010-04-27T10:44:00.000-07:00

dear brave and curious travelers,
trees shake and bend, unbroken, as a spiraling late-season storm serves up an abundance of wind and rain from the south. asteroids approach and recede; planets rotate backwards on their axes. Arbor Day, Beltane, May Day beckon in riotous conspiracy, roses bloom, and Mother Earth--somehow, against all odds--holds it all, following Father Sun's slipstream at 9000 miles a minute. please join me this and every Thursday to celebrate gravity, momentum, stillness, together.

did i say this week's class is free, in observance of National Dance Week? oh, yes, i guess i did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement practice
Thursdays 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are, in this moment.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host, Michael Z

Earth Day :: Dancing on Shared Skin

2010-04-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

dear movers, shakers, rotating revolution-makers,
please join me this Thursday, from 6:30-8:00pm, in a special Earth Day exploration of our nature *as* nature, through the landscapes and points of view of Soul Motion. Surrender to gravity, even as we awaken and rise and dance on the earth's skin, alone/together, in consort with the Mother of us all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement practice
Thursdays 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are, in this moment.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host, Michael Z

Soul Motion : : Momentum

2010-04-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

dear spiral movers,
spring makes visible that which has been within ground and trunk and branch all winter: an undramatic but nevertheless potent deepening and extending of the roots of our matter.

how can we use our Soul Motion practice to encourage our above-ground growth -- the unfolding and flowering that is always available to us? if energy follows attention, can we enliven and extend our dance with soft, clear momentum, and cultivate the courage to share it with the world?

please join me this and every** Thursday as we listen, follow and flow.
**no class Thurs, 15 April.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement
Thursdays 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are, in this moment.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host, Michael Z

Soul Motion March Smorgasbord

2010-03-09T10:53:00.000-08:00

dear feast of friends,
as the blooming of spring offers undeniable evidence that love is a renewal resource, please note the bountiful buffet appearing on the Soul Motion horizon:
Fri, March 12-Sun, March 14:
Soul Motion: Community
a weekend with Zuza and Scott Engler
Western Sky Studio, Berkeley
Avail yourself of this rare opportunity to dissolve into the Great Dance alone, together, with the divine Zuza and Scott in their only local non-residential workshop this year.
Fri, March 19, 8:15-11pm:
Santa Cruz Soul Sanctuary
i'm honored to return to Luminous Laura's conscious freestyle jam, inducting a warm-up 8:15-9:00, that just might open into an inside-out dj set until 11pm.
Sun, March 21, 7:30-11pm:
Barefoot Boogie, Berkeley
i'll be offering music and other spring-boards to presence the entire evening.

and, continuing every Thursday evening in Rockridge in the intimate Jeffrey Bihr Studio:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement practice
Thursdays 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host, Michael Z

come out: the sea and sky are waiting

2010-03-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

dear excited, exalted, hesitant, dark and light and dreaming dancers,
here's an opportunity for expression.
to leave an impression of the
softest, deepest, clumsiest, truest sort.
will yours be a line in the sand,
or a line of light stretched like a silver
bow across the strings of this moment?

Come out; the earth and sea and sky
are waiting for you.
Come out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement
Thursdays 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host, Michael Z

god is having déjà vu

2010-02-10T12:41:00.000-08:00

drew dellinger says:
let’s meet
at the confluence
where you flow into me
and one breath
swirls between our lungs

10 million people are dreaming
that they’re flying
junipers and violets are blossoming
stars exploding and being born
god
is having
déjà vu
I am one
elaborate
crush
we cry petals
as the void
is singing

The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement
Thursdays 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host, Michael Z

The Holotropic Soul in Motion

2010-01-20T15:08:00.001-08:00

dear dance adventurers,
What if we lived as if this movement,
this dance partner, this day, this night,
this life, this universe were all on our side:
rooting for us, drawing us unknowingly on
the rocky path towards clarity, aliveness, wholeness?
And that what is called for is to simply
cooperate with this healing intelligence
by moving, on purpose?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement practice
Thursdays 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host, Michael Z
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Early Session 1.10.10 Nevada City

2010-01-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

music that moved us, 8:15-10am (thanks for asking, Katherine):

Deep Self/Mystic Pete/Deep Self
Presence/Adam Hurst/Illusions
Limmat/Balmorhea/Rivers Arms
Variations on 'Carmen'/George Blondheim/DaVinci's Inquest: The Sessions
Primavera/Ludovico Einaudi/Divenire
Fratres for Violin and Piano (Arvo Part Remix)/Beats Antique)/The Trunk Archives
Karuna/Stellamara/Star Of The Sea
Baraka/Stellamara/The Seven Valleys
Marooned/Pink Floyd/The Division Bell
Mahadev/Ranga/Radiant Awakening
Jesus says 'Tada!'/Four Stones/La Vie Chill
Adir Adrimi (Featuring Victoria Hanna)/Balkan Beat Box/Balkan Beat Box
A lo Cubano/Orishas/A Lo Cubano
African/Slagerij vanKampen/
Berim Dance - Urban Trad/Urban Trad/Ethnomixicology
Passion/One Giant Leap Feat. Michael Franti/1 Giant Leap
Hymn To Her/The Pretenders/Greatest Hits
Keep Breathing/Ingrid Michaelson/Be OK
Song To The Siren/This Mortal Coil/Lilliput
Approaching Silence/Bob Holroyd/Hollow Man

The Great Stillness

2010-01-10T18:10:00.000-08:00

so full of possibility, if we have the patience to listen.
thank you for this morning in Nevada City.
here's the exterior soundtrack:

Empty Landscape/Brian Eno/Eno Box I - Instrumentals
Lost In The Humming Air/Brian Eno & Harold Budd/The Pearl
Foreshadowed/Brian Eno & Harold Budd/The Pearl
Fireflies/Robin Guthrie/Songs To Help My Children Sleep
Bringing Down The Light/David Sylvian & Robert Fripp/The First Day
Beata Viscera/Jan Garbarek w/Hilliard Ensemble/Officium
Sacred Stones/Sheila Chandra/Weaving My Ancestors' Voices
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed/Herbie Mann/The Evolution of Mann
Breathing Space/Jairamji/Kindred Spirits
Rakandao/Shaman's Dream/Africa Dream
Spiritwvs8/Skeltonmix
Maharaji.Now.Here.This 04/Prem Rawat
Represent/Orishas/A Lo Cubano
Tengo Sed (The Batidos Song)/Batidos/Six Degrees 100
Dorset Perception (Total Eclipse Remix)/Shpongle/Shpongle Remixed
Bigmouth/Underworld/Underworld 1992-2002
Man With The Red Face/Funkagenda, Mark Knight/Ultra Hot Dance Hits
I Like The Way You Move/Body Rockers/todos los nº1 del dance
Once In A Lifetime (white label remix)/Talking Heads/Remade
Chambermaid Swing/Parov Stelar/Charleston Butterfly
Lovers In A Dangerous Time/Bruce Cockburn/Waiting For A Miracle
Temptation/Moby/Hotel
Love Me Like A River Does/Melody Gardot /Worrisome Heart

Thursday Class Resumes: Join Us!

2010-01-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

When a great moment knocks on the door to your life,
its sound is often no louder than the beating of your heart
BORIS PASTERNAK

dear dance devotees,
please enter, as we begin again, in the intimate embrace of stillness,
with the ongoing opportunity to trust that which arises in each of us,
and share it with our fellow dancers, and the world.

we need us. heed the call. open the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement practice
Thursdays, 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More movement opportunities this week:
i return, by the grace of what some call god,
to teach in Nevada City, this Friday the 8th, 5:15-7:15pm
and to hold space with music this Sunday the 10th,
(two sessions: 8:30-10, and 10:30-noon).
South Yuba Club
555 Searls Avenue
Nevada City, CA

i remain your host: michael z.

Last Night's Soundtrack: Rumi's Wedding Night

2009-12-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

Glasspieces (Choreographed by Jerome Robbins): Glasspieces/Philip Glass Ensemble, Michael Riesman/Glass: Dancepieces
Fireflies/Robin Guthrie/Songs To Help My Children Sleep
The Ghost Has No Home/Harold Budd, Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser/The Moon and the Melodies
Mystic/Shahram Nazeri & Hafez Nazeri/The Passion of Rumi
Santoor Taksim/Sufi Music Ensemble/Himma
The Garden of Mirrors/Stephen Micus
Bahadur Shah's Last Poem/Al Gromer Khan & Kai Taschner/Black Marble & Sweet Fire
Prayer To Shakyamuni Buddha/Jai Uttal & Ben Leinbach/Loveland: Music For Dreaming And Awakening
Chant/Chant
Med sud í eyrum/Sigur Ros/Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust
One Step Too Far/Faithless featuring Dido/Forever Faithless - The Greatest Hits
Shackles (Praise You) (Maurice's Radio Mix)/Mary Mary/Everybody Dance Now! (Disc 3)
guide me god/Sinead OConnor, Natacha Atlas
The Dreamtime Returns/Shaman's Dream/Dance : Dream : Dance
Electric Sufi/Dhafer Youssef/Electric Sufi
Guide Me God [Afterlife Mix]/Sinead OConnor/Rasa Mello 2
The Prayer Cycle - 1.Mercy-A Choral Symphony in 9 Movements/Movement/Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan;Alanis Morissette/The Prayer Cycle
Fljótavík/Sigur Rós/Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust
O Mary Don't You Weep/Bruce Springsteen With The Sessions Band/Live In Dublin [Disc 1]
In The Sun 6:33/Donna De Lory/Heart Of Innocence
Across the Universe/Rufus Wainwright/I Am Sam (Music from and inspired by the Motion Picture)

Rumi's Wedding Night, Thursday in Rockridge

2009-12-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

Rumi says,
I belong to the beloved, have seen the two
worlds as one and that one call to and know,
first, last, outer, inner, only that
breath breathing human being.

What a relief to be empty!

At sunset on December 17, 1273, mystic poet Jelaluddin Rumi left the body. This day remains a celebration of his union with the Divine (his urs, or wedding night). Please join me this Thursday (2009's final gathering) as we aspire to enter the circle of the sacred, and, against all odds, dissolve the barriers to love.

The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement practice
(nearly every) Thursday, 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance that you are.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host: michael z.

Year's End Teaching Sked

2009-11-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

dear dance dreamers,
here is my teaching schedule for the rest of 2009.
thank you for the opportunities for presence you continue to offer and accept; i look forward to being with you.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thursday 26 November and 3 December: No class.

Sunday 29 November: Two opportunities to Move with Gratitude!
SEBASTOPOL, 10:15-noon: Body Prayer, Wischemann Hall, 460 Morris Street (next to the Community Center). I sub, humbly, for Zuza Engler.
BERKELEY, 7:30-11pm: Barefoot Boogie. I'll be holding space with music and intention on the theme of gratitude. Open floor, freestyle jam. 2525 8th St @ Dwight.

Thursday 10 and 17 December:
The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement practice
Thursdays, 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

Thursday 24 and 31 December: no class. Happy everything!

Tuesday 29 December, BERKELEY, 6-7:30pm: Soul Motion: The Practice. Again, i'm honored to sub for Zuza in this rich soup of dedicated movers. Studio 12, 2525 8th Street between Parker & Dwight.

Thursday>Friday, 31 Dec>1 Jan, GRASS VALLEY: New Year's Eve Dance Celebration. I'll be deejaying for this vibrant and joyous community in the Sierra foothills. Stay tuned for details.

i remain your host, michael z.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Ocean Refuses No River: Again, For the First Time

2009-11-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

"I am he/As you are she/As you are me/And we are all together" -- John Lennon.

"We're in the transportation business." -- Mickey Hart

This week, sing the body eclectic in intimate, orchestral transport of the soul. And dance.
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland, CA 95618
most excellent Rockridge District

Current Lucid Design Work

2009-11-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

dear friends and colleagues,
i've been continuing my relationship with IONS (Institute of Noetic Sciences), producing work that, I trust, serves the Institute's mission to explore, through the lens of the scientific method, the edges (and center) of what we call consciousness. enjoy!

the C E N T E R is E V E R Y W H E R E

2009-11-04T11:13:00.000-08:00

dear wind warriors,
this thursday, we continue our exploration, in conscious movement,
of our place in space: the center of our worlds, seen and unseen,
ancestral and astral, in body and spirit and soul.
you and i: utterly unique, just like everyone else.
do drop in.

The Ocean Refuses No River
Soul Motion™-inspired movement practice
(nearly every) Thursday, 6:30 - 8:00pm
Jeffrey Bihr Studio
5390 Miles Avenue
Oakland 94618

dance the dance you are.
move with music, move in silence. alone, together.
listen, inside and out. exalt. dance.

i remain your host: michael z.

Thursdays in Rockridge: The Ocean Refuses No RIver

2009-09-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

I'd like you all to know that weekly Soul Motion™-inspired classes have begun again, now at the intimate Jeffrey Bihr Studio in Oakland's groovy Rockridge district. We aspire to step afresh into each new day/dance/dream as it appears through and to us; recent weeks' inaugural sessions at JB have been a delight. Perhaps because I've been teaching a lot over the past while (subbing for Zuza on Tuesdays in Berkeley and ministering to Michael Stone's 5R community in Nevada City), or because the new space is smaller than the Temple in Pt. Richmond, I feel more grounded, open and spacious than I sometimes have in the past. Please join me and you and her and us and them and Just This each Thursday from 6:30-8:00 pm.

No Class This Week; See You September 3!

2009-08-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

The Ocean Refuses No River, the Thursday night class I offer in Soul Motion-inspired movement practice, pauses this week. I'll be in the second module of Libido with Andrea Juhan later this week, is why (see link in this post's title). We return, renewed, on the first Thursday in September and beyond. Please join us.

I just returned from a rich weekend, teaching and holding space for Michael Stone's Nevada City 5R tribe. Life, death, love, sex, angel wash; cheeseburger salad!

Guess which happened on the dance floor, which off, which a fantasy; which?
love, michael z.

The Ocean Refuses No River: A Soul Motion™ Experience

2009-08-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

I'd like you all to know that weekly Soul Motion™-inspired classes begin again, again this Thursday, August 13, 2009, at the intimate Jeffrey Bihr Studio in Oakland's groovy Rockridge district. We aspire to step afresh into each new day/dance/dream as it appears through and to us; last week's truly inaugural session at JB was a delight. Perhaps because I've been teaching a lot over the past few weeks (subbing for Zuza on Tuesdays in Berkeley and for Michael Stone's 5R community in Nevada City), or because the new space is smaller than the Temple in Pt. Richmond, I felt more grounded, open and spacious than I sometimes have in the past. Please join me and you and her and us and them and Just This each Thursday from 6:30-8:00 pm, for The Ocean Refuses No River.

The Ocean Refuses No River: A Soul Motion™ Experience, Thursdays in Pt. Richmond

2009-04-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

dear footpath walkers,

expanding.
contracting.
opening.
closing.

what if we danced with it all,
on purpose, in community,
and gave ourselves to all that arose?
forgave ourselves when we faltered,
supported each other in our foibles,
took the risk that love demands?
come again, for the first time, to:
The Ocean Refuses No River
a Soul Motion™ Experience exploring our capacity for presence and passion through gentle, precise attention (and surrender) to all that moves us
this, and most every, Thursday 6 - 7:30 pm at
the divine Dakini Temple
235 Washington Ave, Point Richmond 94801
$10

dance the dance you were born to do
trust and share your gifts with like-minded souls
inspire and be inspired by everything around you
move with music, move in silence. listen inside and out. exalt. dance.
excellent access from the East Bay and Marin:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=235+Washington+Avenue,+94801

could a voice entice? call 510-847-7736

i remain your host: Michael Zipkin

The Ocean Refuses No River: A Soul Motion™ Experience, Thursdays in Pt. Richmond

2009-03-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

It's been several months since I returned, humbled and cracked wide open, from our last formal (this time residential) module in the Soul Motion teacher training. Without trying to sound melodramatic, that nine-day time in Port Townsend, WA, truly shattered the mirror of self I thought I'd so clearly softened in my personal investigations sustained over the years. God, am I still comparing myself unfavorably to everyone and everything I encounter? Do I continue to seek the approval of my peers/teachers/lovers/waitresses and dry cleaning attendants, holding my breath in certain anticipation of my greatest defeat?

I am all of this, and more. I continue weekly classes, Thursdays from 6 - 7:30pm, at the glorious Dakini Temple in Point Richmond, CA, and invite all to join me in this great exploration of what it means to be human. Cost is $10. Contact me for more arrows pointing towards the moon: lucid_mz@hotmail.com. 510-847-7736.

2008-09-22T07:18:00.001-07:00

working with obstacles: the inner enemies

2008-07-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday I taught a 90-minute Soul Motion™ class in Berkeley. I'm one of three local Soul Motion teachers-in-training Zuza asked to hold space during her time away from her weekly class, and the level of anticipation I brought was matched only by the temperature in the dance room--but more about that later.

I invited the group of 20 to join me in the center, introduced myself to the 2 new-to-me practitioners, and spoke briefly about generosity, and how we might use the practice to be open to more possibilities by being generous with our attention. I introduced the soft gaze and the echo as ways to take in and respond to more than just one close-by dancer: I invited dancers to walk evenly and with ease through the room, cultivating a wide and broad view as they passed other dancers. When called, they could walk with another, side by side, next to, around, in many directions and ways of relating physically. "Drop this partner, for now, and walk on your own. And where's your next partner? Can you be with them without looking for them, without looking directly at them, and still be aware of the entire room?"
Reflections: My voice felt strong and clear in this segment. As the group wove through the room, I struggled a little in balancing my suggestions with my attention to what was really happening in the room. I wondered (and still do) if we would have benefited by spending a little time grounding and aligning into the back body in the circle before going into group movement.

As the group weave wound down, I noticed two dancers moving together at one edge of the room, and pointed to the possibilities that the echo might provide. I spoke/named what I saw with as much SM languaging as I could: How the dancers were picking up gestures from one another, using different levels, body parts, etc, offering and responding to one another with the generosity of their attention. "You'll never be bored on the dance floor again!" I quoted Zuza. I asked another dancer to join the two already moving, then brought the music up as I introduced the passage of open movement that followed.
Reflections: I wonder, in this echo demo/instruction, how much I was speaking words I had, in advance, thought might be appropriate, rather than really being with what was. I wondered if I went on too long with the exercise/demo, how my pacing was, etc. I was really wanting the echoing to go a certain way, and my desire to have a clear expression of this point of view dominated how I spoke of the practice. My agenda! Did dancers really get what echoing was, and were they willing to try it on for size? Was I patient enough in the uncertainty to see the answer?

I did my best to allow the passage to unfold, with the intense temperatures inside the room seeming to sometimes dull, sometimes enliven the movement. I saw dancers engaging with one another in duets, mostly close physically to each other, eyes meeting eyes or eyes to the floor: where was the soft gaze, rshti, full room presence I spoke of? As time passed and the music picked up, exhaustion seemed to set in; simultaneously, it seems, and directly proportional to the heaviness I imagined filled the room, I felt anxious, a bit trapped, powerless. Did I think I was supposed to feel powerful? In control? Hah! How generous was I able to be with my own attention?

Dancers engaged with each other, sometimes forming small circles; others sat on the floor or leaned against a wall. (Witnessing, I hoped to myself; anything but dropping out!) The room asked for structure, and I saw openings/opportunities to risk: split the group to opposite walls, and direct each to move towards the center? Fade the music down to silence, then notice and name and suggest from there? I wish I had had the courage to take these risks and try these structures; I am disappointed in these unclaimed opportunities. At one point towards the end, I did notice a ring of students forming, seated (witnessing, not dropping out!) at the room's periphery, and suggested the option of witnessing in the seated or standing place at the edge, or moving into the center as impulse called. The room seemed to shift just a bit into focus.

It was also impossible not to notice one practitioner chasing another very young one giggling through the room, out the door into the hall, then back into the dance room. Was this the practice? I wasn't really sure how to respond to this distraction; the most I could do was, towards the end, move slowly around the gigglers, lightly touching the air around them, containing, commenting. What else to do with my anger? Yes, I guess I took this behavior personally: If I'd been holding space with a clearer, more open and loving presence, everyone would have been doing the practice. Yes, yes; I know...
Reflections: Acting upon opportunities to enliven the room proved extremely challenging. I learned, yet again, how risky it feels -- how much I feel out on a limb, on my own to fail or succeed, be effective or humiliated -- to interject. Old inner enemies dusted off their lances, and smiled as they drew blood with a casual, knowing air. I aspire to let go of my expectations, return to viewing all in a field of love and interest, forgive myself for being human, and begin again.

Applause came as the music ended and we gathered together in a closing circle. Interestingly, I again felt strong and clear in seeing all dancers together in the circle, as I had in the beginning. Hmm, I know it's not about how comfortable I feel at any point. And I felt a calmness and a clarity in that closing circle.

Lucid. Recent.

2008-07-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello, friends,

The images above represent design work I've completed over the last bit of time. The top and lower left pieces continue my relationship with IONS (Institute of Noetic Sciences), who support research that explores the potential and practical application of the human experience of consciousness.
Amahoro, which means "peace" in Rwandan, is one of the many small businesses in Afghanistan and Rwanda supported by bpeace.org.
I donated my efforts in service to the idea that when women (the entrepreneurs bPeace encourages) are stronger economically, they have a stronger voice for peace in their local communities and societies. Good work in war-ravaged countries!
The last postcard you see announces the amazing 5Rhythms Cycles work that Kathy Altman is offering next year, this time in Seattle. Brilliant, fierce, loving attention is given, through the body, to those places of rigidity (and reward) formed in the course of our magnificently, perfectly human lives. I cannot speak of this work too highly.

holding space, Jan 22

2008-01-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

i am facilitating a Soul Motion-inspired class next Tuesday evening, January 22 in a small, sweet studio space in Oakland's Rockridge neighborhood, and i would love to see your most excellent selves there to support me in this practice of presence. most of you know that i am in the Soul Motion teacher training program, an awareness-based movement ministry that offers grand opportunities for self-expression in the golden bowl of community. and for those less comfortable with such lofty context: come, dance, discover.

here come the details:

$5-$10 sliding scale. 6:00-7:30pm

NOTE: Different space than our usual Berkeley class with Zuza:

A beautiful space just a few blocks west of the Rockridge BART station, with plenty of street parking. Pristine sprung wood floors touched only by socks and bare feet.

NOTE: It's NOT "Danspace" which is right next door.

5390 Miles Avenue, Oakland, 94618

Photos: http://www.jeffreybihr.com/studio.html

Directions: http://www.jeffreybihr.com/directions.html

NOTE: Hudson Street is just across the street from the 24 freeway entrance off of Claremont - but it's not marked.

hope to be with you next Tuesday!

first class :: where do i stand?

2008-01-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

one of the inspirations for these posts is my work with Vinn Marti, Zuza Engler and a brigade of dancer-student-teachers of Soul Motion™, a conscious movement practice i'm training in. there are many layers and points of view to this work; in this particular context, what i'll say is that the practice has helped me to see, and reveal myself, to others, in a clearer, more courageous way. and to be available to see the nature of my fellow dance-travellers as a reflection-echo of who "i" am. i am learning, in achingly small and magnificent increments, to utter -- in movement and stillness -- words like god and love. my intention in engaging in the first formal Soul Motion teacher training is to encourage in myself and in all those, seen and unseen, clarity of experience.

i taught my first Soul Motion class on New Year's morning in a wood-heated yurt at Salamander Camp in the Santa Cruz mountains, inviting the theme of Ground with a group of seven. we'd spent the previous few days cooking, cleaning, hiking and making art together, with plenty of time spent apart, too. often i feel challenged (plagued by comparing mind, where everyone loses, by the way!) interacting with "strangers," and, truth be told, nearly retreated from the role of space-holder in a movement meditation session i'd planned. when i reminded the group the evening before, one man's stark questioning -- "no, i still don't understand; just what will we be doing, exactly?" -- provoked hesitation, fear and self-doubt in me. i even the next morning announced that i'd just play the music -- with no real container, intention, commitment, i imagined with relief -- in the kitchen as we ate and cleaned for our departure later that day. somehow, though, we gathered the next morning to begin together, including those who had questioned the night before.

we warmed up with spare, vocal, tribal, prayerful music (it was so thrilling to put the playlists together); paused with an inquiry into what ground meant to each of us -- what we stood for, where we aspire to move from as the new year lay before us, with David Whyte's "Opening of Eyes" leading into my comments-- and continued for 45 more minutes.

i was nervous to speak to this group of newer and not-so-new dancers, and stated that right out; that helped *me* ground, allowing a trust of the awkward (a flightless bird?), the defeat of expectation. as the music rose and fell, i spoke words of encouragement (sometimes tagging onto a lyric or a rhythm in the music); named what i saw as i moved through the room, listening, engaging, letting be (that last one was the most challenging!). when i noticed people sitting, not really "dancing," my mind presented its usual lecture about my pointless, ineffectual existence. from somewhere else, a soft and clear sense suggested nothing mattered and everything was important.

i often lost conscious track of the theme during the session; or, rather, that theme expanded without external suggestion, to include generosity, support, and companionship with self and everything else. duets and small ensembles formed; at one point we wrapped one dear mover with the spiral of art paper we'd created the night before, as she raised her arm, triumphant: Lady Liberty welcoming a thousand pilgrims to solid ground. we ended sitting in a clump by the stove, and each, without prompting, spoke with heart about the year just passed and that just beginning. i saw eyes bright and eyes turning downward and upward; felt joy and communion and gratefulness; and imagined a soft and clear field we built together.

here's the playlist:
warmup

Beata Viscera Jan Garbarek Officium
Utferd Jan Garbarek/Agnes Buen Garnås Rosensfole
Prayer 1 Jami Sieber Hidden Sky
Looking Back Bob Holroyd Without Within
Song for the unborn (Reagákeahtes) Mari Boine Gávcci jahkejuogu (Eight Seasons)
Orange Sky Alexi Murdoch Time Without Consequence
Opening of Eyes David Whyte Close to Home

Spiritual High Moodswings Mood Food
Bittersweet Symphony The Verve Urban Hymns
Stay Human (Stereo Steambath Remix) Michael Franti & Spearhead Six Degrees 100
Jibaro Elkin & Nelson St. Moritz Vibes, Vol. II: Suite Royale
Cowboy Rumba Ned Sublette Cowboy Rumba
Tengo Sed (The Batidos Song) Batidos Six Degrees 100
Civilians Joe Henry Civilians
Will The Circle Be Unbroken The Staple Singers The Oxford American - Southern Sampler 1998
Down In The River To Pray One Accord alive one

dying before we die: risk and the Hero's Journey

2007-12-15T19:20:00.000-08:00

i just returned from an inspirational day with psychiatrist / anthropologist / transformational synthesist Stan Grof at Spirit Rock. well, it wasn't exactly me and Stan alone, trashing theoretical, mainstream psychology over single malt Scotch before a roaring fire, our suede-patched blazers tossed into a pile his Russian wolfhound Vladimir used for a bed. 200 other seekers of insight joined us in a lecture entitled "The Ultimate Journey: Consciousness and the Mystery of Death." Grof's clinical research on the nature of the human psyche has spanned nearly 50 years: from his beginnings as a Freud-o-philian psychiatrist in Prague; through his own gateway experiences with LSD in the late-1950s and its application to psychotherapy; his development (at Esalen) of a non-substance-based technology for inducing the healing power of non-ordinary states (Holotropic Breathwork), and setting up a training for breathwork facilitators.

What rang the bell of truth in me was something about how cautious i've been in most of my life, and how that stay-with-the-known strategy has largely kept me from taking the risks, and walking through the unknown's fire, that can forge and temper the Hero on his journey to full adult power and resiliency. Moving through the darkest part of the forest (see Joseph Campbell, who hung out with Grof at Esalen, not surprisingly), with vulnerability and even curiosity, dying to the old dynamics of parental protection and predictability: this is formalized, as Grof described yesterday, in rites of passage from world cultures in pre-industrialized times. What do we have here in the West? i learned to chant my haftorah in Hebrew at age 13 at Congregation Beth El in suburban Maryland; big fucking whoop!

How can i learn to go towards those experiences which seem dangerous, impossible, deadly: and tune my instrument in the process, as i learn to embody the imperatives of personal responsibility? most crucial experiences where we actually learn something bring on a whole load of pain; have you noticed?: the tragedies of romance, the loss of loved ones, the scaling of heights where the air -- and the veil between the worlds -- is as sheer as the eyelids that try to protect our vision from unwanted intrusions. and yet it is in these landscapes that we develop our heart and spirit muscles of flexibility and focus.

without prescribed ceremony to guide, i began to find my own, turning the eye inward towards places of somatic and psychic activation, movement, agitation. circles of like-minded souls, breathing, singing, moving together. ceremony where prayer for wisdom invokes teachers from all kingdoms, not just human. is it immortality i seek, or the experience of a more crucial and engaged life in this mortal form? supernatural mindscapes, or the unfiltered, everything goes (and comes, and goes) nakedness of presence?

My Graphic Design Work, announcing an event worth considering

2007-12-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

in some of my entries, i'll display a piece or two of my recent graphic design work, like this card i designed for a New Year's event at Spirit Rock out in San Geronimo Valley. i've been working this year with Spirit Rock's Karen Gutowski on a variety of projects, and this one announces a gathering with performance (hilarious and deep Wes -- aka "Scoop" Nisker; amazing improvisor Nina Wise), ritual, dancing (led by 5Rhythms teacher Davida Taurek) and meditation. do take a look at their website http://spiritrock.org/. and, hey!, as long as you're at it, roll on over to my site, http://luciddesign.net/
there's a bunch of my occasionally brilliant print design displayed there. thanks!
btw, the dancing skeletons on the card are Tibetan Buddhist citipati, wrathful protector deities in an eternal dance of glorious, inevitable, clarifying death. Happy New Year (Moment, Miracle, Magnificence)!

first off: absolutely no idea

2007-12-06T22:08:00.000-08:00

there are those who would
applaud the leap with no line
in mind to cross, no shape nor shadow to fill.
somehow preferable, this splatter in the
night or morning, no matter?

the way to begin is to start.