Bodypsalm for artists, performers, dancers, poets, arts-based researchers & creative ones…

Posted in BODYPSALMS on June 18th, 2011 by Celeste


You are living an accelerated pace
where there are as many arts-based ways
of expression and research as there are art forms
and emphasis is increasingly on survival
in this strange, complex, wondrous and complicated
organism called higher institutions
budget cuts are happening at every turn of life
and competition is brimming at the helm of this journey
marked by a plan to dance through one hoop or another

It is time to return to your first loves –
where curiosity and wonder
color, texture, sound, movement and voice
nurture your very essence
and it is your deep beautiful life
which is your re/search
life and art, art and life
are a glorious partnership
and let paradox and mystery find their way to your inquiry
trusting the place of surprise in this path of bridging worlds.

Take other ingredients on
this road of bringing your
artist, performer, poet, researcher, educator
ones which don’t have
the weight of fundable options
but will give you gravity and levity.

Take the sweet silence of solitude
the ability to taste beauty
in the winds and hues of the natural world
allow for the ecology of your own soul
and befriend your own body
trust the inward place
which fuels you in
artmaking  & scholarship

Live your own precious life
as no one else can.

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Bodypsalm for Living into Paradox

Posted in BODYPSALMS on August 12th, 2010 by Celeste

Welcome back to the familiar
the land of the perplexed
where paradox reigns
and heart, mind, and body
are not in sync with
harmony, congruence or flow
and no matter how diligent
you are to reflect,
problem solve, brainstorm or bodystorm
it sits as a big mountain
in front of you
and cannot be climbed with bare feet

you are in the terrain of paradox
the geography of the unknown
where the brittleness of bone
lives amongst the stars
your task is to breathe deep
into the place you are perplexed

Take shoes for the journey
these aren’t any shoes
but these are your dancing shoes
the ones that look like sneakers
but have a support for your arch

Life holds continual
places of dissonance
it doesn’t matter the source:
disappointment or sorrows
with relationships, health or finances
Know this:  P A R A D O X
will always be there
singing at the door
waiting for you to

Put your dancing shoes on
give yourself the support you need
a bigger arch for life
and treat paradox as your partner
hold it tenderly
romance her and put your
arms around the dilemmas
soften your relationship
towards not knowing.

Breathe into uncertainty
knowing this is the
essence of life
and when it comes
know you are invited
once again into
the spirituality of practice:
loving-kindness towards
all that is not resolved
in your heart.

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