Updated: Body Gratitude

Hi everybody! I'm back from my weekend of dance extravaganzas and getting into the swing of a new teaching schedule -- whew! Blogging time was in short supply this weekend (and in Monday's aftermath), but never fear -- I'm still here! (I know you were worried.)

Last week I wrote a verging-on-pissy post about body image and linked to Amy Poehler's video about learning to show gratitude to your body, but this weekend, as I was dancing my little heart out, I had a moment of real gratitude for what my body can do.

Way back in early August I taught a workshop for a bunch of really wonderful ladies, and that was pretty much the last time I really danced. Our troupe took a vacation from rehearsals, and I kept putting off my own practice in favor of getting ready for the start of a new school year, and any other excuse I could find. So Saturday morning, as I prepared for six hours of dance class, I was a little worried. But my body hung in there and took everything I threw at it, even when I did some things that I know I shouldn't do (like slide my hips horizontally over a weighted leg while my rib cage is sliding the opposite direction over the unweighted leg, which will put my back out faster than ... I don't know, something that's really fast -- so sue me, my brain checked out sometime Sunday afternoon and it hasn't come back yet).

In fact, speaking of brain check-out, Sunday morning I trotted back for another six hours of dancing, and at about hour 2, my brain-body connection broke. It wasn't that my body stopped working -- it's that my brain shorted out and refused to recall any of the combinations we had been working on. I couldn't remember what was coming next anymore, and when I get behind on weight changes and turns, that's when I get hurt. I had to stop, as much as I didn't want to, because my brain quit on me -- but my body never quit.

Credit: Lawrence Yang

I've been in a bit of a brain fog since then, but my body is still hanging in there. I've taught two classes since then, and it's still going strong. I'm not injured and I'm not even that sore. Actually, it feels like my body is thanking me for moving again. I want to remember this feeling, because I always think that my body is thanking me for sitting on the couch and not bothering it. Turns out, I really do want to move (or at least my body does. I think it's Carolena Nericcio who talks about how our brains really don't want to move, because, evolutionarily speaking, it's safer, from the brain's perspective, to stay still).

So thanks, body, for hanging in there, for supporting me as I move, for keeping me balanced, for engaging the right muscles at the right time, for releasing what needs to be released and for finding a way to keep going even when I'm tired. You're awesome!

Progress report:

There is no progress to report, but that's ok.

UPDATE: Apparently my brain did not like me talking smack about it, and so it smote me with a migraine. Watch out, brain -- you used to be my favorite, but I'm starting to think maybe body has more going for it...