Photo by welsh boy

Dance is a poem. Each movement is a word - Mata Hari

I love dancing. When I was 3 years old I suddenly appeared in the lounge at 11 o’clock at night - stark naked and completely silent. My parents told me that they watched open-mouthed as I began to dance to a complete Beethoven symphony they were listening to. After 30 minutes of dancing, I went back to bed without speaking a single word - so my mother told me. Some years ago, when my mother was slipping into dementia, I told her that I was going to tango classes and was surprised to feel so at home.

She looked at me and said, “Oh, you silly mutt- how you could forget how much you love dancing?”

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These days, dance has come back into my life. David, my partner, is a tango teacher and I am his assistant and dance partner. Whenever there is music to dance to, David and I get up and dance -whether it’s the samba in steamy Rio de Janeiro, or the tango in Buenos Aires . I know that some people find it strange that a Zen master should also be passionate about dancing. As if Zen should be severe and otherworldly! In the West we imagine that sensuality and spirituality are at opposite ends of a spectrum.

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There is a close link between dancing and spirituality. I think that one dance in particular is closely aligned to Zen. That’s Argentine tango. To dance the tango you have to abide in mindfulness. The moment a tango dancer falls out of mindfulness into thinking, the connection to the dance and to one’s partner is broken. It’s like falling out of heaven with a thud! There is an interesting book by Chan Park, called Tango Zen. In it he traces the connection between tango and Zen. You can find his website and new blog here.

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When we dance we tap into deeper patterns of the universe and link into life’s vital energy. That is why dance is one of the ancient ways of connection with the sacred and dance forms part of ritual for many spiritual traditions.

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Here are seven ways dancing enhances spirit and body:

1. Dancing fosters intimacy with self and other

When we dance with someone, we open to another person. It’s as if this hard shell that we think of as ‘I’ becomes permeable. Not only does dancing help us connect with others, it also helps us re-connect with ourselves.

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Dancing gets us in touch with who we are. We can so easily to lose touch with aspects of ourselves. When you look back, were you maybe more daring, more outrageous, funny, more sensuous, or more playful in the past? You can recover those submerged parts by dancing. I’ve definitely recovered my innate playfulness and sensuality through dancing! Check out a short clip of a tango performance by David and myself on YouTube:

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2. Dancing promotes health

***Dancing encourages and improves the overall health and fitness of the body. Dancing

• Strengthens bones and muscles without hurting your joints;

• Tones your entire body;

• Improves your posture and balance;

• Increases your stamina and flexibility;

• Reduces stress and tension;

• Wards off illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, osteoporosis, and depression. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo: Fernando de Souza
What is the essence of creativity? What makes us feel so fully alive when we are in the presence of creativity?

While watching a DVD of Lianne Carroll, a jazz pianist and singer from the UK, I saw her shambling across the stage, twinset flapping. “Dowdy,” I thought, settling back into the couch. Then she touched the keys of the piano and suddenly all ideas fell out of my mind. I found myself sitting bolt upright. Why? Because the moment she touched the keys, she forgot herself. She poured herself so fully into playing that she became the music. (You can listen to her here).

There is an ancient Zen story that relates to this. Two old masters were sitting side by side when one of them reached for a needle and began to mend some clothes.

 

“What are you doing?” Dongshan asked.
“I’m mending clothes.”
“How do you do that?“
“One stitch is like the next,” said Shenshan.
“What, after twenty years of practice – that’s all you can say?” said Dongshan
Shenshan put down his needle and turned to his companion. “Well then tell me. How do you sew?”
“As though the entire earth were spewing flames,”said Dongshan.

Yes! This is exactly how Lianne Carroll plays the piano and sings: as though the entire earth were spewing flames! All ideas of ‘self’ and ‘other’are burned up in such fire of creation. And something emerges from the flames: a sense of boundless kinship.

How does meditation support creativity?

Here are 3 states of mind that we can cultivate through meditation. Each one fosters creativity:

1. Letting go of the ‘me, mine, myself’ mind-tape

In order to do something ‘as if the whole earth were spewing flames’, we need to dive completely into the action and forget ourselves in the process.

2. Being kind to ourselves

A kindly attitude allows us to experiment with failure without our grumpy inner editor ripping us to shreds.

3. Stilling the mind

A mind cluttered with thoughts lacks the spaciousness needed for creativity. It helps to be still for a few minutes before starting a creative endeavor. The easiest way to still the mind is to pay tender regard to the breath, or to listen to sounds. When we start the creative process from this point of stillness, ideas flow naturally and freely.

PS: Many people imagine Zen to be like Shenshang’s response, ‘One stitch is like the next’: orderly, mindful, organised, and…boring. If that was all there was to Zen, I wouldn’t bother with it. But when I read old Master Dongshan’s anwer, “As though the entire earth were spewing flames,” my hair stands on end.

Photo: diluvi

Are you creative?

More creativity means more fun, more buzz, more laughter in life.

Scientists see creative innovation as the communication between regions of the brain that are not usually connected. A crucial ingredient of creativity is the ability to develop alternative solutions, known as ‘divergent thinking’. (From an interesting article on creativity by a neuropsychiatrist).

How does this work? Let’s look at how the idea of writing a post about creativity occurred to me: I was watching an elegant tango dancer glide across the floor. She is an artist and had just told me that she enjoys reading my blog. Suddenly the idea of writing a post on creativity flashed into my brain. You can see in this example how my brain connected three different dots: ‘artist’, ‘writing a post’, and ‘creativity’.

Creativity is a natural state of mind.

It is not something that some people have and others lack. Children call being creative ‘playing’. It’s hard to find a child that can’t do that! I hang out a lot with two great friends, Anna and Mary, who are 11 and 12 years old. Every walk we do together ends up as a new episode of our ongoing fantasy game in which we are undercover ninjas on a secret mission. (My code name is ‘Sparkle’!)

Creativity then is not something far away and difficult to achieve. It is something natural that we need to re-discover within.

To be creative, judgment needs to be suspended.

Most people stifle their creativity because they don’t know how to shut up their internal editor. You don’t know who that person is? Let me introduce you to him or her: Take a piece of paper and write the first paragraph of what might become a novel, or start sketching out a painting. Now listen to the voice in your head. You’ll hear something like this: “That’s stupid!” or “You really suck!” or “You’re wasting your time!”

That voice is familiar, right?

Creating and editing are processes that happen in different parts of the brain. Creativity springs forth from the right side of the brain, whereas editing or analysing happens in the left side.

Take a look at this list of right- versus left-side brain functions:

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
“big picture” oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can “get it” (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

This list is from an article in the Herald Sun. There is a fascinating test on the site where you can find out whether you are thinking with the left of right side of the brain. Check it out here. Try looking at the image with different kind of thoughts. Can you make it change direction?

Now take another look at the list of right-brain and left-brain functions. Do you spend more time in the left or the right part of your brain?

From all of this you can understand how creating and editing at the same time can’t work. Because the moment you move from the right to the left side of the brain your creativity dries up.

Here are some interesting tips on creativity by cartoonist gapingvoid:

• Ignore everybody. The more original your idea is, the less good advice people will be able to give you.
• Put the hours in. Doing anything worthwhile takes forever.
• You are responsible for your own experience. Nobody can tell if what you’re doing is good, meaningful or worthwhile.
• Everyone is born creative.
• Everyone has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
• Never compare your inside with somebody else’s outside.
• Passion can’t be bought.
• Sing in your own voice.
• The best way to get approval is not to need it.

Relevant link:

‘How to Creativity through Meditation’

Left Brain or Right Brain - I’ll Take Both

The Medici Effect

Please share your experience of creativity.

PS: My son Sebastian gave me a birthday card which had the following quote by Danny Kay:

Life is a great canvas, you need to throw all the paint on it you can.