Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.

Photo by Johannah Reimer

“If you can't fly then run, 
if you can't run then walk, 
if you can't walk then crawl,
but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” 
Martin Luther King Jr.

How are you? Are you breathing-feeling-being-dancing?
It feels like every day the news about our incoming government becomes more and more unbelievable. Shocking. And yet- we are still alive, we still have families and jobs and people we care about and enjoy and my loves, we still have bodies. I know it's hard to remember in times of chaos, but we do!

When we discovered the mold in our apartment, the news got worse and worse and more terrifying each day. I watched myself disassociate and leave my poor toxic body. I witnessed myself unable to eat, care or tend to myself. I knew it was shock and fear and that I would eventually land back home in myself. I used my tricks and tools and they helped a lot, but nonetheless, it was a struggle. Still is. And I acknowledge how fortunate we are to have friends to stay with and people to borrow money from! I know this is happening in the most cushioned way possible and I'm grateful. I can't begin to understand how people without community deal with this shit.

I imagine the disembodied shock is what many of us in this country, and even the world are going through as we figure out how to make sense of the madness in D.C.  I invite us all, to follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr. I won't even try to talk about his work, accomplishments and impacts because I will never do his lifetime justice. I will just say, that man lived from the inside out. That man spoke his truth from his belly brain, radiated love from his heart, and emanated power from his whole body-being. And he changed the world forever. 

I've been pretty depressed on and off for the last few weeks, it's hard to be joyful given the unreasonable direction our country is headed in, in combination with the loss of our home and everything in it. The times I have connected with my joyful loving body-being is when I've danced in community. Danced with you lovely bodies that attend Awaken The Dance or the workshops I've been teaching. That's when I remember who I am, and how I can help. That's when I feel all the great teachers who have come before, like Dr. King, and remember that they lived to help, and so can I.

So as we approach this dreaded inauguration, I invite us all to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., with our whole body-beings. I invite us to speak our truths, sing our love and dance our hope, that we may make an impact on the world that benefits all beings. So we may contribute to making this world a better place. Let's be inspired, we don't have to do this alone! We have the lives of those that have come before to guide us, and we have each other along the way.

Dance Invitation: When shit gets you down, remember the lives of those that have come before. Dance for them, because of them, dance because we can celebrate their lives and our own!