Harmony is a magical teacher. She teaches without words. But her language is more powerful and more effective than words.
Here is an example one of many, many, many lessons that she taught me through embodied movement.
One day I was telling her about feeling a bit vulnerable about entering new groups and being sensitive to the dynamics and how I would show up; what will happen, should I ever?.. some hesitation.
Harmony simply invited me to stand up. She said, "stand up please and hold my hand and close your eyes."
So I did. I held her hand. I closed my eyes. I became aware of soft music playing in the background. She said, "just follow me." She started walking backwards forwards, to the side; changing the direction very gently, sometimes swaying. She invited me to follow her lead.
In the beginning it was difficult for me. I was not even aware of the difficulties, but she was, and she would facilitate, by asking me to relax my shoulders, my arms, my grip, my step, the way I touch the surface of the floor, the way I move and react to her cues.
I was becoming more and more relaxed and it took just few few moments before I felt a wonderful feeling that was new to me. I realized that I was entering the zone where I completely trusted her. I was in tune with her. And I could follow her lead without thinking, without judging. And it felt wonderful. I'd never felt this before. This was the first time. It felt like a revelation in my body. There was joy emanating and permeating my body and coming from the center of me. It felt like a warm, gentle sun inside my stomach, and resulted in a giggly kind of sensation. I felt like a child.
And then I realized, at the level of my body, that trusting this way, is so giving and nourishing. This embodied experience changed my relationship to the world.
That lesson was a catalyst for a shift in me on a huge level. It allowed me to see how to relate to the world with less control, or how to give up control when it's needed. It showed me this balance of when I should give and when I should receive; and when I can trust, and how to trust, and how to recognize when to trust. It's very complex and profound. And yet, the lesson itself seemed so simple and brief. In my interaction with Harmony, it took only a few minutes to land this.
That experience happened a few years ago. And since then, I can say the the lesson is still very vivid in my memory and so profound that it continues to guide me.
-Elena Gold- artist and founder of Recline Village, a growing intentional community for creative people in the pristine setting by the pond in the Catskill Mountains, NY instagram.com/reclinevillage read more