Burrito West Blog

So I was thinking about dancing the other day.  I do that a lot, since we dance kind of a lot.  (Apparently I also blog about dance a lot.)

I actually started by thinking about yoga, which I only do once a week but love.  We have a great lunch time yoga program at work and the Monday instructor is fabulous.  I struggle in yoga (like most people) to get my brain to shut up.  This is also why I love yoga, because I am able (eventually) to quiet that constantly running inner monologue - the one they say is part and parcel of us being a sentient species but that can get annoying at times.  It occurred to me that dancing is the other time I can quiet the hamster wheel in my brain.  As a follower in dance, especially when dancing something you don't know or with someone way more advanced, to succeed, you must stop thinking about the dance and think about the moment - it's the ultimate way to practice 'being in the moment'. You have to constantly stand at the ready to receive signals on what will happen next.  They are usually subtle signals and if your mind wanders, you may miss them. 

I spend most of my time not in the moment. My job is usually about the exact opposite - planning for the future, spending a LOT of time thinking about the future and the impacts of our present decisions on the future.  So I'm discovering that I really value activities that quiet my mind and let me just enjoy the NOW.  Who knew that such a physical activity like dance could be so much like meditation?  Quiet the mind and work the body, not a bad way to spend an evening.