Dance Into The New Year With TCC & Seijaku

This New Year began on a sad note for me, with three family deaths, one of which was a sibling whose end seems a true tragedy. While the end of a life is a necessary eventuality that must be accepted, our human feelings still come strongly into play and can knock us off center (sometimes more than what might be a “normal” part of grieving).

I’m grateful my classes have resumed. I gratefully continue to share our wonderful and healing TCC practice following a holiday break. I have especially noted how the practice re-awakens the inner life of my soul and helps make the brokenness feel whole again.

While watching a feature about the actor, singer and dancer Gene Kelly, a few phrases caught my attention and reminded me of the importance of the practice and why it is so beneficial.

The commentator of this short “bio-pic” noted that Kelly “was grounded to the earth.” Sound familiar? I began my continuing classes in this new year by focusing on the importance of grounding after every movement, mentally and physically, being sure that students are not just standing there with their palms facing the earth, but that they bend their knees, at least a little, to bring the energy downward and feel the soles of the feet.

Gene Kelly said that he “always danced from the waist down.” Moving from the waist down keeps us out of our heads and negates any effects of over-sentimentality. It allows the upper body to relax and be soft, letting go of held-in emotional pain in the upper body, avoiding the possible ill-effects that holding on or holding in might have on the inner organs. It even frees up our breathing, releasing us from any inner bondage and/or physical tension.

It was also reported that Gene Kelly often advised his audiences, “You have to dance when you can no longer walk.”

TCC and Seijaku invite us into the dance of life, embracing its experiences as neither good nor bad, desirable nor undesirable. Life simply is as it is. I might not understand what has happened, but I don’t need to. What I do need is to surrender fully to the dance, and for us, to allow our practice to bring us closer into accord with Reality.