Dancing and Thinking
Apr. 6th, 2010 05:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosI forgot to address one aspect of the trance dancing workshop in yesterday's entry: the mind-body split.
Obviously I like to think. I like to think, to analyze, to use my intellect to be self-aware, to gain understanding. And yes, it's entirely probable that I over-use this aspect of myself to the detriment of other modalities of knowing. But thinking is also one of my gifts and an important part of who I am.
I definitely felt marginalized toward the end of the workshop when the facilitators were praising the experience of "turning off the mind" and processing elsewhere, and not thinking.
In fact, I felt some stabs of hurt and resentment at being told (in so many words) that my way of being was less valuable than other modalities. Intellectually I recognized that getting out of the head is very liberating for many, and yes, that there were things for me to discover by doing so -- but I still wanted them to acknowledge that there could be value in reflecting on the experience with my head also.
As far as I was concerned, in participating in the dancing I had done the no-brain part to the best of my current ability. Now it was time to process the experience and for me that meant thinking, reflecting, grappling with words so I could make sense of it.
That did not stop me from sharing in the circle with words -- and then being told by one of the facilitators how powerful my words were. So that was nice.
I guess I just wished that as I was embracing my own "and" -- mind and body, venturing into the edgy adventure that body movement is for me -- that space had also been given for my area of primary comfort as well.
I don't mean for this to sound like a whine. This was one of several challenging aspects of the evening for me, and it's not a bad thing to have been challenged. If anything it hopefully will make me more open to the way other people need different ways to process than I do.
Obviously I like to think. I like to think, to analyze, to use my intellect to be self-aware, to gain understanding. And yes, it's entirely probable that I over-use this aspect of myself to the detriment of other modalities of knowing. But thinking is also one of my gifts and an important part of who I am.
I definitely felt marginalized toward the end of the workshop when the facilitators were praising the experience of "turning off the mind" and processing elsewhere, and not thinking.
In fact, I felt some stabs of hurt and resentment at being told (in so many words) that my way of being was less valuable than other modalities. Intellectually I recognized that getting out of the head is very liberating for many, and yes, that there were things for me to discover by doing so -- but I still wanted them to acknowledge that there could be value in reflecting on the experience with my head also.
As far as I was concerned, in participating in the dancing I had done the no-brain part to the best of my current ability. Now it was time to process the experience and for me that meant thinking, reflecting, grappling with words so I could make sense of it.
That did not stop me from sharing in the circle with words -- and then being told by one of the facilitators how powerful my words were. So that was nice.
I guess I just wished that as I was embracing my own "and" -- mind and body, venturing into the edgy adventure that body movement is for me -- that space had also been given for my area of primary comfort as well.
I don't mean for this to sound like a whine. This was one of several challenging aspects of the evening for me, and it's not a bad thing to have been challenged. If anything it hopefully will make me more open to the way other people need different ways to process than I do.
