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Architecture of the Heart

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Architecture of the Heart

Tag Archives: humanity

Small Moments/Small Breaths

12 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by oberonsky in Elemental Body Alignment System (EBAS), Musings, Shaping Space, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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art, changes, Dance, Dance Appreciation, Dance Forms, dance makers, dance making, dancer makers, dancers, dancing, Existence, faith, humanity, learning, lessons learned, me, observations, sharing, space, thoughts, truth

Small Moments/Small Breaths

Strangled by the separation of bodies in motion in shared spaces and the need to push forward in “uncertain” times I have finally come to a point where I no longer feel confident and secure in pushing forward. Sure, I have had to find the strength and courage to be there for the students and to be able to find the ability to keep on keeping on, but honestly, it has been a lot to carry and at times hard to breathe.

Once classes had ended I found myself a drift in these new spaces and new ways of figuring out what to do. Like so many, I struggled with not being able to be in the same space with all of these incredible bodies searching, striving and living the beauty of a body in motion artfully shaping space with incredible precision and grace. The lack of being present in the moment of transformation hurts the kinetic spirits of a community of movement. And no matter how much I am supposed to be brave, confident and courageous, alas I don’t think I am succeeding.

In  many ways this is good to be able to recalibrate and ask so many necessary questions. I believe this as well as believe that in the end this will be a moment of courageous change and a necessary shift for the field and for how dance lives in academia. Truth be told I have never seen myself as a “company” kind of artist nor one that is constantly academically justifying outcomes in an art form that, for me, is all about the process of discovery.

Within the context of this time, how do we reframe the ways in which we see ourselves within the field, within the our process and within our dreams? When being a body in artful motion has been in many ways irreversibly changed, how does one continue to find the surface of the waters of darkness to just catch a little breath to fill the lungs of hope?

Of course I am moving! I still continue to share EBAS classes with folks from all over finding new discoveries and new ways of being in communion. Sure I take long walks with Beathan and find myself in motion on so many levels. Yet, my heart is broken by the inability to be in communities of movement artists to grapple with new concepts and ideas together while watching and encouraging play and exploration.

As many know I am very much an introvert but being in a classroom either leading or collaborating is the way in which I am able to find connection, compassion and a fulfilled heart. I must say being alone isn’t lonely when the work you do on a daily basis is in community and in the love and passion for your work.

One of the things I love most about teaching is the extremely intimate hands on approach that I engage in with my students. I have healing hands and consider myself more a healer than a teacher, choreographer or artist. Certainly more so than an academic. Be that as it may, when the ability to physically connect and create a space of sensorial exploration and transformation is removed from your daily experience, it is crushing and suffocating to say the least.

So now that having to put on my big boy pants and carry on has come to a close, I must admit I am at a loss now that even the smallest amount of connection to movement and students has dried up. Now it is a matter of asking questions and spending a great deal of time accessing new ways of moving and perhaps new ways of making. Yet, I am not interested in the many forms that people are suggesting and pretending that it is just the way we have to carry on. I certainly understand that we need to move forward and figure it out, but still my heart breaks at the love lost in the ways that have meant so much to me.

Truth be told I am not a dance for camera person. It is a great field and there is so much great work happening, but it is simply just not something for me. Many of the directions we are being asked to explore are not for me nor am I particularly interested in being a part of. There are so many wonderful artists already doing this great work and exploring those avenues. I am just not one of them. No, I am one of those artists that lives and breathes the body and craves the discoveries and all the wisdom that a body in motion shares in that process. Is it so wrong to JUST want to be that? Is it a crime to not want to pretend that I am desperately afraid of losing the kind of physical corporeal wisdom that I value above all else?

So then why is it I feel I am not connecting to all of these new ways and that I am just not capable of pretending to be “going with the flow”? While I mourn the loss of contact and the physicality and exuberance of training and performing, do I still have to pretend that all of this doesn’t matter? Is pretending that the heart is broken and still carrying on a healthy thing to do or can we breathe and ask ourselves the kinds of questions we need to ask in a more calm, rational and open space?

This is the thing about calamity, we turn into very reactive individuals trying to solve problems that we have no answers for but feel we need to do it in the first place simply because we are falling prey to the corporatization of academia, the field and the prioritization of outcome or product driven models of success. Wouldn’t it be the time to breathe and ask ourselves some deep seated questions about how to move forward while truly addressing issues in the field that have continued to be overlooked? Would it be nice to stop the train and have conversations that are necessary in having to actually work in community rather than work as individuals in a community cloaked in the very models of suppression that exist?

I would most certainly welcome the space and time to share and grapple with how we are all feeling and move from a place of empathetic understanding as the beginnings of discovering the kind of field that is necessary at this time and the kind of field dance has the potential to be. If we find ourselves coupling together in the energy of survival, how are we asking ourselves clear questions through the lens of creative change instead?

In my meditations I keep on hearing the body whisper “small movements. small breaths”. It is a recurring phrase that I hear but am not quite sure how to translate. The one thing I do know is it is suggesting small and conscious steps through conscious movement with conscious breath. I also think it is a response to the broken heart missing movement, connection and the joy of that collaboration. Perhaps slowing down into the present moment of every action with the awareness of that moment is the best way for me at this time to find the courage and confidence to breathe deeply in movement again.

Perhaps this is all I have to hold on at this moment as I figure out where I wish to go next. Perhaps this is the way of asking myself the questions of my intentions within the field and the kind of artist I wish to be moving forward. Perhaps this is the moment to question whether the kind of artist I am is viable at this moment or will the way I have loved working ever have value in the same way. Perhaps small movement and small breaths will be the way in which I am able to answer these questions finding a path the brings peace back to my heart.

Back to Body

14 Wednesday Nov 2018

Posted by oberonsky in Elemental Body Alignment System (EBAS), Shaping Space, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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artful body, beauty of the body, body, body knowledge, changes, conscious body, health, health and well being, Home, humanity, listening to the body, open body, speaking body., well being, wellness

When I return to my body

I return home

When I sit quietly with this beautiful body

I sit in immense gratitude

When I remember my body speaks

I remember to listen in love

When I am lost and the noise of the world immense

I look within to find the grounding of spirit

When I return to spirit

I return to body

 

Love Will Prevail

26 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by oberonsky in Lifting Lines/Morphing Visions, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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faith, humanity, inspiration, life, love, Love Between Men, love for all, love is love, Moment, truth, well being, wellness

Beautiful blood

Beautiful mind

Love will prevail

Love everyone

Devote yourself to patience

Re-examine your soul

Re-examine your flesh

Re-examine your body

Look to the light in the eyes of the boy who sings your heart

Face him in love and you will see eternity

Beautiful heart

Beautiful lips

Love will prevail

 

 

 

 

In My Mind/In My Heart

25 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by oberonsky in Lifting Lines/Morphing Visions, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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faith, humanity, life, love, Love Between Men, love for all, love is love, male love, truth, Unconditional Love

In my minds eye

You see you have to be careful

Bearing with him

He really thinks of you as sympathetic

Putting ideas in your mind

Putting ideas in your heart

Anything you wish

In Spirit we are stronger than blood

Long walks to wander for hours

They take care of things

Awake

Awake

Awake

Nothing will change us

Revealing the Light

23 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by oberonsky in Musings, Shaping Space, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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changes, courageous heart, Courageous Vulnerability, development, Existence, fear, friends, humanity, inspiration, learning, lessons learned, life, light, love, sharing, society, thoughts, truth, Vulnerable, vulnerablitiy, Writing

There is light within us all. Regardless of where we come from, what we believe, who we are or what we have done; light resides in each and every one of us and animates our souls. Sometimes this is hard to feel and to know as so many are struggling with so much and simply moving through the day is often a huge weight to bear. And yet, I assure you there is light within. After all you are the light of the universe and that light is in the very essence of your DNA.

So how does one journey to reveal the light within? How is it that we can find a way to peel away the institution of crippling fear? There is no simple answer nor direct path, but there is a place to start. That starting point is learning to claim your light by recognizing that vulnerability is your greatest asset as well as the seed of what makes you uniquely you and gives authenticity to your voice as a beautiful light filled human being with something to offer this world.

Yes, vulnerability is the place where you must live to stand in the face of your fear. Standing on the legs of a courageous heart takes work and it takes pride. Be proud of what you are even if it is not the same as the people around you or like any other person you know. Be proud to state your name, your love, your vision and your truth. Be mindful not to hide away what you deem to be unworthy or not good enough. Doing so will hold you back from what your soulful desires actually are.

As a child I lived in a place of vulnerability and truth but allowed the world around me swallow that innocence and love. Scolded and shamed into no longer trusting the instincts and visions, a young boy became a young man who hid away what others did not understand or even know possible. Hiding the abilities that have been so graciously given strangles the very nature of our true being. And if we are not living in our most honest and vulnerable selves, we are no longer living because we no longer live in the presence of unconditional love. We no longer reside in the place of self love that is necessary for every single relationship we encounter be it romantic and otherwise.

So now I stand in courageous vulnerability to face the fears that have overcome the child within and the wisdom of the heart. Fear is no longer welcome when light shines on its darkness. When light shines it creates shadow. On the other side of shadow is a place for fear for we need to know it is there at all times but our awareness of it is partly what powers and empowers us to stand and face it. Peeling back the layers of a closed heart will release the light that lives in the spirit of the heart. We can stand firmly in the face of fear when we realize there is no greater place to live our lives than to be standing in the face of courageous vulnerability.

And as I challenge you, I challenge myself. As I turn to face my own fears I encourage you to do the same. Yet, do it in the ways that make sense to you and in the ways that feel right for you. We all own our own fears and therefor need to face and embrace them in the ways that work for us. Welcome tiny steps to build the kind of momentum that will transform your being. After all, momentum favors the willing. Be willing and therefor you will be. Be and you shall become.

Reveal the light that you are.

The entire light.

Learning to Recognize the Moment of Transformation

22 Tuesday May 2018

Posted by oberonsky in Elemental Body Alignment System (EBAS), Lifting Lines/Morphing Visions, Shaping Space, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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art, changes, faith, humanity, inspiration, learning, lessons learned, observations, sharing, space, thoughts, truth

There comes a time when we recognize the moment in which our life turns a corner. That realization to face the change with courage, dignity and humility is a quintessential pivot in our consciousness as well as in our well-being. This is a defining moment and one that will transform us and our lives completely.

Often times we are unable to recognize these miraculous moments due to the cacophony of noise that surrounds our everyday existence not to mention the noise residing in our own mind. When we are immersed in such noise we know we have succumbed to the betrayal of our authentic selves and have fallen into the falsehood of intellect rather than the intelligence of the heart.

One way to unravel this strangle hold is to immerse oneself into the reorganization of the physical body through conscious training by cultivating an intimate relationship in which the body is the tool to reestablish our relationship to ourselves. This is crucial to being able to create both the physical and emotional space for realigning the vibrations of a healthy being.

There are so many ways to go about this awakening. So many movement modalities and practices that one can connect with to foster a healthy relationship with mind/body. Whatever the practice you choose, give it time. Patience is a required element in the equation for peace and physical and spiritual well-being. Allowing yourself to explore time in an unconventional way so as to suspend habitual or conditional thinking will nurture a new physical paradigm.

Just as it takes time to train the ears to hear, the eyes to see and the heart to speak; so too is it necessary to give space to time to press open a moment allowing the body to unravel itself through its own weight and its own wisdom. Give yourself to the magnitude of your being so as to recognize the moment when the universe opens the door to the greatest road map for success, prosperity and spiritual bliss.

Let Me Be

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by oberonsky in Musings, Shaping Space, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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art, Existence, faith, humanity, inspiration, life, love, Love Between Men, love for all, loving, me, observations, sand, sharing, Sky, thoughts, travel, truth, water

Let me be Sand

Let me be Water

Let me be Sky

Let me be that which is below, beside and above

Let me surround you with all I am so you never question my love

Let me sustain you with all I am so you know I am always there for you

Let me satisfy you with all I am so you trust your heart, your beauty and your grace

Let me be Sand

Let me be Water

Let me be Sky

Lifting Lines Morphing Vision- 1:5:18

05 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by oberonsky in Lifting Lines/Morphing Visions, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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humanity, life, love, Love Between Men, love for all, observations, poetry, truth

Recognizing Kinsman

I looked at his half smile. Fake to me. His eyes had a watery unfocused look. His words an unmistakeable lisp.

My kinsman.

He looked out. A transformed face. Our story. The pain.

Looking up at the sky, I was staring at him. Quietly staring at him.

I held his gaze.

So beautiful.

Holding hands.

It was then I realized the time of the stars.

My Beautiful Friend/A Majestic Light

16 Saturday Dec 2017

Posted by oberonsky in Musings, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

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best friends, faith, forever friends, friends, friendship, humanity, life, light, listening to the heart, love, loving, truth

My heart is with you as you move through this day to reach outside of yourself in order to follow your heart. You have journeyed deeply into places not of your choosing but simply out of necessity and out of the desire to love and to heal so many. You are in a space of transformation and because of that evolution, a place of great deepening and healing.

You are about to move beyond the person you have known yourself to be and to blossom into yet another bright element of yourself. I have been honored to witness you and your continued magic as you tirelessly give, love and breathe your majestic light. Although I may not have been by your side physically, I have been in your heart with my heart loving you quietly and unconditionally by simply wishing your success with whispers of the heart.

I am with you today as I am with you always; watching you succeed for yourself and for your well being. I am proud to be and have been your friend. I am honored to have been on this journey of ebb and flow. You are my beautiful friend and a majestic light for me. In the dark I can see you and I know all will be right. And for that, I am most humbly grateful.

You have changed the world because I have witnessed how you have changed me. You have changed those who have witnessed your light. Go and shine your light. You will always succeed. Always. No fear when you are the light.

No Longer to Speak/Rather to Live

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

Posted by oberonsky in Musings, Soul to Soul, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

changes, faith, humanity, inspiration, learning, lessons learned, life, observations, sharing

I feel compelled to no longer speak the truth but rather to live the truth. There is so much noise and so much rhetoric that one can no longer hear oneself think or even feel. Much less to engage in a dialogue in which one grapples with the challenges we face at all levels and on all fronts. Things have changed, and  we need a new way of engaging in the world and supporting that change while simultaneously caring for the self and for the best interest of the heart. It is time to live in radical justice and in fact justice for all.

It is important to give voice to issues that face us and crush so many. It is even more important to live in the light of support for all of those that need it. Even more so. Just repeating the lip service is not enough. We all know the catch phrases and the buzz words can certainly mask so many a things, specifically the ego and the narcissism behind the facade of love and support. Be mindful that love sometimes is shared in the act of love and not behind the veneer of words.

We are conditioned to perceive love and support in ways that are not necessarily honest or real. So many times we have been expressly told whom we can and can’t love. And this more out of fear rooted in hate and ignorance. And remember, people of all walks love in very different ways. Let them, as opposed to forcing your view on the way in which you think love should be shared. When I realized the depth of my fathers love, I finally realized I had to see him and his love for the only way he knew how to show his love for me. Then, and only then, was I able to release the need that he love me the way I wanted but that he could not.

The same is true in all of our lives. The loudest person in the room yelling at you and expressing that they love you and would do anything for you, might just be the facade they need to help them feel that they in fact are loved and so desperately need your acknowledgment simply because they are blinded by the strangling of themselves. Might love be expressed in all kinds of ways? Might love even be expressed more through the quietude of the moment that two people share a space? Might we experience this love and this truth by simply being and sharing?

I feel compelled to no longer speak the language of love but rather to live love in the quietest ways that work in the ways in which my heart speaks. The truth of the radical heart might not be the loudest, but perhaps the one that surrounds you in a blanket of belief.

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