Marya Mann : Blog : Dancing Sun, Raising Haiti

Dancing Sun, Raising Haiti

KONA, HAWAII ~ The rising sun over Kalani glistened on the waves, sending sparkles dancing like diamonds on the Pacific. Sitting on a patch of grass with a wide-angle view of paradise, I still felt sadness at the news from Haiti, but happy we had been able to do something both tangible and titillating about it.

Part of me said, “How dare I feel this good?” And a deeper voice came: “Feel everything. Feel it all.” Looking at the water dance in front of me – hydrogen bonded with oxygen — reminded me that we are all bonded too, at the level of water, in the spaces where our movement merges with the movements in the atmosphere. Breathing in the moist salty air, I felt my energy body become congruent with earth, the sea, the sky, the surrounding field of energy, which moves in waves like water too.

Light moves in waves. Sound moves in waves. Energy moves in waves. We move in waves too, and in the fluid movement state, all kinds of existential feelings, sensations of serenity, flash floods of rage, rivulets, stagnant pools, and gushing rivers, all are welcomed to move through, so vital energy is free to move toward what you choose.

Our fluid dance performance on the night before, with Koakane Green, Alice Thigpen, and I sharing Yoga Dance I and II with the amazing group gathered at Kalani, the soulful refuge on Hawaii’s stunning east coast. As Yoga Partners, Alice with her ankle bracelet jingling and Koakane with his shock of silver hair, were precise, zealous, clear, bright, balanced, and divine, all at the same time. But we still felt heavy with the huge toll of thousands of our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean Sea, dying or dead and in sudden crisis on another island so like our own.

I had been asked to speak about the Quantum Art Journey, the map of movement around a spiral that leads us through the domains of creativity I have discovered. After the talk and performance, as a group we entered the Form-No-Form states of Wave Motion and Prana Mudra, then, then, like a bolt out of the blue, the memory of a Haitian dance for Oshun flew into my head. Oshun, the African goddess of love, art, and dance, mothered the eternal and infernal trickster, Elegba, the great conduit of ache in the Universe.

Colorful, flirtatious, and rhythmic, the dance entered me when veteran dancer and educator Blanche Brown came to the Colorado Dance Festival. She called it the “Trickster Dance.” In it, we evoked Oshun and her son Elegba, inviting them to play with a lighter touch.

Everyone easily picked up the energy of it, and we went through the choreography slowly, with intention, stepping to the beat of the drum. Oshun, our hands said, serving as finger words and sentient sentences, may we ask you to kindly to bestow your gifts of healing and balance. Opening our arms in rainbow arcs overhead, swirling our hips to churn the sea of feeling, we stepped toe to heel, toe to heel, in steady heartbeats, stroking gently our own tectonic plate here in the middle of the ocean, 2500 miles from any major land mass.

With the tremendous movement of our whole being, we calmed the waters and aligned with lucky stars, invoking the pleasure of bringing health, wealth, and the renewal of delight to all Haitians, all humans, all beings. The dance complete, we slept the deep lucid dreaming sleep of people who have drawn forth all their wits and powers to selflessly help others.

The skeptic has to wonder if our small but heartfelt steps really had a positive effect in Haiti. There’s no proof, no way to define it, but the research says our intentions carry powerful manifesting energies, and sacred dance has a history for blessing weddings, healings, and funerals that goes back as far as humans can remember.

Why? “There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them,” says Vicki Baum, Austrian writer and musician. Unquestionably. This is so, but what of the notion that we can expand the happiness of others with our dance? Like prayer and meditation, conscious dance stirs the quantum soup and redirects the electron spin of atoms.

The next day after my rising sun reverie on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific, we danced the Dance for the Worlds, sending healing vibrations across the planet. It gave us a way to connect to and soothe our sister dancers, our brothers, the children, the elders in Haiti. Yes, we need to help with money, yes with nourishing prayers, and yes now – but also with our feet, our hands, our imagination, our understanding.

In Yoruban mythology, Oshun lives for love, but her son the trickster causes strife or commotion, seeming to live for chaos. But mythology is tricky too, and the trickster often accompanies an experience of inner travel, sudden change, and making choices based on what best serves a selfless design of a wider scope. The trickster, for all his faults, can turn death into life.

In the total scheme of things, no one but Pat Robertson with his tele-terrible unconscious remarks, or Tiger Woods, who is just another awakening soul like me or you, no one could have been even remotely gleeful at the events in Haiti. But they too are just other awakening souls like me or you looking to discover life’s lessons. The life lesson from the earthquake may be that suffering, if we learn its lessons authentically, can lead to new and vigorous levels of personal responsibility and compassion. Why else would a grand and generally gentle universe create it?

Independent Haiti was born out of a slave struggle beginning in 1791 which lasted far beyond their 1804 official declaration of independence. The fight was never an easy one, and even after independence, being the only Black republic among white-ruled nations was a major challenge.

In the 20th century Haiti was ruled by a series of dictatorships, including the repressive regimes of François Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude, who was ousted in 1986.

Now, with 150,000 out of a population of 8,710,000 dead, with the capital and largest city Port-au-Prince in ruins, the world has risen to a higher level of personal responsibility and compassion. Helping to raise Haiti back up again, each of us can do some of the heavy lifting, as well as the subtle gliding.

Roll up your sleeves; get out your dancing shoes. Let’s have a Haiti-raising.

Warm Blessings,
Dr. Marya

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3). DANCE 4 THE WORLDS ~ Mondays, 9 – 10 am Oceanside at Pahoehoe Beach Park, Kailua Kona

Move with ease. Feel feet on the earth with roots of living plants underneath, the fresh ocean air on your skin, and the breath in tune with the ascending sun. Sense the goodness of being alive and circulate that goodness into every joint, organ and cell of the body while smiling toward the whales, dolphins, the coral reef, all the blessings of life.

Move with ease. Relax all the tight spots in your body. With feeling and intention in the flow, we dance the ancient Tsalagi Four Directions Dance, the sacred geometrical pathways, and New Yoga Dance to Awaken & Invigorate Your Natural Energy.

Every Monday 9 – 10 am. Make it a habit! Start your week by slipping out of painful, conditioned habits, learn the Wave Motion, Form-No-Form, Dancing Warrior, and stable, flexible movement. Move with ease.

Please click here to learn more: Dance 4 the Worlds

Call 808-345-0050 for more detail.

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