A love letter to the 5Rhythms practice
"Dear 5Rhythms
This is my love letter to you.
It was love at first sight. Do you remember how I giggled in that first Body Parts meditation, and I felt that I was disrespecting you, but you just encouraged me to let it out! I was delighted! I’d
be seeking somewhere to belong, but often felt too much, sometimes not enough. And you just kept saying ‘yes’. Except sometimes in Stillness, when my longing to be alone with you, inside myself and
yet still in the company of others sometimes felt denied. I guess we’ve both changed over the years?
I learnt that you were a promiscuous lover, and sometimes it hurt me to see you loving people that I just couldn’t love. More recently I see that you really do love all of us, in our light, dark and shadow (and sometimes I hear your wry chuckle at my belief that I’m your only love). And through you I’m learning how to love all of me, all of us. How your love is unconditional. You might hold a mirror up so I can see how I separate myself from others, and from other parts of myself, but even then you still love me, even when I can’t love myself!
In the early days I loved how you encouraged me to let it all out, let myself go. And somehow you kept saying yes to all the dark, sticky, smelly, toxic, frightening stuff that just poured out of me. Generations of pain, anger and sorrow, finally finding a place to be expressed, released, healed. And you kept saying yes. Sometimes I do wonder how you managed to do that. Thank you for not letting go of me. Thank you for holding me in the most horrible places and still loving me, loving me back to life.
Sometimes, more recently, I feel you moving in me, in the spaces left open and clear, and I feel you dancing me. And I love you even more. I see how we are allies, friends, companions, lovers, mothers, fathers, teenagers, wise elders, healers, and innocent babies. And when the next wound opens, there you are, ready to catch me, reminding me that you’ve seen it all before, and that you trust me to hold on to you and ride the Wave, over and over again.
You gave me back to myself, mine, me unique and special, just like everyone else. And I love that you are everywhere: in the supermarket queue, in the post office, on the streets, in the cancer ward and hospice, at work, and I try to see you in Job Centre+, in the 21st Century workhouses: the call centres, the food processing factories, chemical factories. I trust Gabrielle’s vision that one day we will transform those dark places too."
With love, Rose x
These words came to me after the Chaos weekend of Alex Mackay's on-going group 'Ghost Dancing'; Alex invited us to write a love letter to a Rhythm, the Wave or the practice (mine is a letter to the practice). A lovely invitation
For more inspiration, tale a look at these books by Gabrielle Roth:
Sweat Your Prayers: Movement as spiritual practice (1999)
Mapt to Ecstasy: The healing power of movement (1990/2003)
Connections: The five threads of intuitive wisdom (2004)
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