Author: connie

The 3rd principle of the Deep Hum Dancers: To understand that life is constant change, both externally and internally, that bits and pieces of the rest of the universe are constantly moving in and out of our “selves” bringing new information and insight and helping us grow into more connected beings.”

In Dancing the Deep Hum, I say:  All the cells in my body have changed several times.  Every time I breathe in, I take in air that has been exhaled from someone else.  When I move, heat energy leaves my body and warms another person.  And that person’s energy is heating me!  My skin is sloughing off.  New skin is growing.  I’m taking in food, water, and eliminating wastes.  The average human body is 70 percent water, but not the same water.  Water is constantly flowing from me, from every person, to every person all over the world…..  In The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene says, “Two electrically charged particles influence each other by exchanging [small bundles] of light.”(p 124)  So this exchange is happening on the smallest of levels with all of us, with everything. (pp 82-84)

Not just my physical self is changing and exchanging.  As I read, listen to the radio, talk to my friends, etc., I am taking in new ideas and dispersing my thoughts to others.  My beliefs, concepts, and ideas change, and so do theirs!

To be open to this kind of exchange of ideas can be quite distressing.  I can easily go into a kind of overload state after a morning of listening to KPFA commentators interviewing experts on health care reform, the war in Afghanistan, water rights being trampled on in India, etc. (KPFA was founded in 1948 as the first listener owned, public radio station in the country.  You can listen to it online at www.kpfa.org)

If we understand that we are part of the whole of the universe, we understand that what hurts someone in India hurts us.  We understand that even though we personally did not do the “bad” things, knowledge of it gives us a responsibility to try and stop the “bad” things.

Whew!  So many “bad” things!  How can I stop them?  No wonder so many people want to be like the three monkeys and see no evil, hear no evil and tell no one else about the evil.  Actually, the rules of etiquette that I grew up with told me to do exactly that.  Close my eyes and my ears, and above all, don’t talk about it.  Doesn’t seem like a good recipe for change!

And maybe that’s the source of the anxiety.  If we allowed the information to move freely through us, like breathing in and breathing out, we might be able to think more clearly about what actions we can take to alleviate the “bad”.  The trick is not to let them get stuck.  We can’t solve all the problems, but we can be aware of them.

So take a deep breath.  Let it out with a sigh! (See InterPlay for more about sighing!)

Next week:  You say “dark matter” is flowing right through me all the time?  Yikes!  What’s that?

My book, Dancing the Deep Hum, goes into this concept of the ever changing self in much more detail.  You can learn more about the book and my other writings at www.deephum.com.  You can purchase Dancing the Deep Hum online at Lulu.com, Amazon, or Powells, or order it from your local bookstore.

I am surrounded by a dome of sound; eleven voices bounce off of each other, some matching, some blending, some wildly dissonant, and yet, breathtakingly awesome.  My voice moves off the basic pitch up a third, still feeling a rumbling attachment to the center, and rests there.  Suddenly it moves upward in melodic minors soaring over the top and then tumbling back down into the center.   Resting, soaring, resting, it hears another voice and follows, moves a third and imitates, moving here and there within that dome of sound.  The world is gone, fears, distresses, plans for the day, are gone.  And yet, the world is imminently there, I am fully connected, I feel the pain, I feel the joy.  I am.

More – we are.

But this soaring voice, is it me?

Yes, but somehow I have released it and it is free to go where it will without conscious thought directing it.  It is more than me.

This is improvisational “toning”.

The same thing happens with improvisational movement.  Thought disappears.  My body flows where it will, stretches, contracts, balances, and whirls and whirls.  Sometimes I find contact with the dancing bodies around me, and together we are one body, or together we are two bodies striving against each other as we pull and push – and yet still one body.

Improvisational dancers and singers are not the only ones seeking this state where we are free of conscious thought.  People doing sitting meditation strive to “empty” their minds.  Religious traditions ask us to clear our minds and “listen”.

Why do we want to achieve this state?

Because into the emptiness, into the silence, come new ideas, new solutions, new ways to approach the world.  It is from silence that we get our “Ah ha!” moments.

When I sing and dance I feel like I’m emptying myself of all the distress, the confusion, the hurt and pain, of the world I live in, freeing myself for clarity, for action, for the ability to do what I can to make the world a better place to live in.  (InterPlayers would call this “exformation”.)  I have allowed the joy, strength, and wisdom of the universe to enter me.  I leave empowered.

Wouldn’t it be great if this kind of improvisational singing and dancing could just happen spontaneously wherever and whenever we needed it?  On the street, in the coffee shop, at work, in church, wherever we are, alone or with others, when we need clarity and connection?

Next week, the 3rd principle of the Deep Hum Dancers: To understand that life is constant change, both externally and internally, that bits and pieces of the rest of the universe are constantly moving in and out of our “selves” bringing new information and insight and helping us grow into more connected beings.”

My book, Dancing the Deep Hum, is both the story of how I came to my present understanding of the world and ideas on how to implement this understanding.  You can learn more about the book and my other writings at www.deephum.com.  You can purchase Dancing the Deep Hum online at Lulu.com, Amazon, or Powells, or order it from your local bookstore.

We’re still working on Principle Two, Deep Hum Dancers.

So many people have told me that they “can’t sing” or “can’t dance”!  How do they know this?  Some parent, sibling or third grade teacher told them so.

Not true!  Everyone can sing, and everyone can dance!  If you are alive, your heart is drumming and dancing your blood through your veins.  If you can move your eyes you can dance.  If you can move one finger you can dance.  If you can make a sound you can sing.  Sometimes I even sing inside my head and it still works to give me joy!

You may not be a candidate for the professional opera or ballet company (certainly I’m not!),  but who cares?  The singing and dancing that we need to be doing is for our own well-being, and in turn the well-being of the universe.

If you are one of those people who has been told they can’t dance or can’t sing, how do you go about beginning to dance and sing?  One way is to join a group like InterPlay (www.interplay.org) where it is clear that the dancing and singing is for fun and the environment is non-judgmental.  There are organizations for non-judgmental group dance springing up like mushrooms all over the world.  There probably is one near you.

For me, singing and dancing in a group situation is the most healing, but if you are still uncomfortable about doing this in a group you might start by singing in the shower, dancing alone in the living room or, if that still seems difficult, try having your hands dance with each other.  Try dancing with one finger with a child.  Children love to dance and sing.  They know they can!

Still too hard?  Then do as the late great Doug Adams suggested.  Wiggle your toes in your shoes!

Improvisational dancing and singing? Oh! My!  Read about it in my next blog!

I have more suggestions in my book, Dancing the Deep Hum.  You can learn more about the book and my other writings at www.deephum.com.  You can purchase Dancing the Deep Hum online at Lulu.com, Amazon, or Powells, or order it from your local bookstore.

Principle Two, Deep Hum Dancers

Superstring theory says that everything in the universe is made up of “vibrating strings of particles”.  Today scientists think there might be other shapes, not just strings, but whatever form the smallest particles of the universe take, they vibrate.

Vibration is the basic quality of sound.  Vibration is movement.  Sound and movement, singing and dancing.  Our universe is singing and dancing!

Every Friday morning I go to InterPlayce in Oakland, CA to dance and sing with a lovely diverse group of men and women.  In this very safe place I can allow my body and voice their full expression.  In return I receive many gifts.

On a personal level, singing and dancing are both great therapy for releasing my distresses, expressing my disappointments and joys, and for healing my emotional wounds.

On a spiritual level, singing and dancing in some inexplicable way brings me to connection with each of the other people in the room, the earth, and the rest of the universe.

When I leave I find myself greeting the people I pass on the street and receiving friendly smiles and greetings in return.

I’m ready to face the week, the sometimes distressing world, and all I meet with joy and courage.

Think you can’t dance or you can’t sing?  Find out that, “Yes, you can!” in next week’s blog!

Read more about this in my book, Dancing the Deep Hum.  You can learn more about the book and my other writings at www.deephum.com.  You can purchase Dancing the Deep Hum online at Lulu.com, Amazon, or Powells, or order it from your local bookstore.