Camas Lilies

Consider the lilies of the field,
the blue banks of camas
opening into acres of sky along the road.
Would the longing to lie down
and be washed by that beauty
abate if you knew their usefulness,
how the natives ground their bulbs
for flour, how the settlers’ hogs
uprooted them, grunting in gleeful
oblivion as the flowers fell?

And you — what of your rushed
and useful life? Imagine setting it all down —
papers, plans, appointments, everything —
leaving only a note: "Gone
to the fields to be lovely. Be back
when I’m through with blooming."

Even now, unneeded and uneaten,
the camas lilies gaze out above the grass
from their tender blue eyes.
Even in sleep your life will shine.
Make no mistake. Of course
your work will always matter.

Yet Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.

~ Lynn Ungar ~

(Blessing the Bread)

A friend sent me this to me while I've been recovering and lamenting the fact I haven't gotten any writing done lately (or much of anything else)

Tags: Poem

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I have been away for a while vising family.  I left last Thursday so I have missed most of the commotion here on Jason's Network about nudity.  It sounds as if Jason has a been given a hard time and this makes me sad.  He has given us the vote, this is our network and we're all in it together. 

I am glad we are voting and talking about this.  Discussion is a good and healthy thing.  And well, as I've been telling Seth, my new thing is....I have to be real, and say what I feel.  (It's amazing how absolutely freeing that is.  Everyone should try it.)  I repeat it to myself every day as a reminder.

Well, this is what I feel.  I just came back from spending time with my little nephew, Jeremiah who is two, during this visit.  He is an absolute joy and he knows how to live in joy.  Something I wish we could all hold onto.  He loves to take baths, and run about the house naked after a diaper change.  He loves to count with his fingers....2,3...2,3...he says.  When asked where the gingerbread mans buttons went he opened his mouth wide pointed inside and said "in dere" and when I ask him if his tummy is hungry he pulls up his shirt proudly to show me.   

This little boy is beautiful, his body is beautiful, and I dare anyone to say otherwise.  

When do we stop taking joy in our bodies?  

I teach belly dance and I can't tell you how many women have come through our doors with damaged body image, and low self esteem.  It is one of my greatest joys to be able to give some of that back to them through dance.  Belly dance is a celebration of the belly.  It was never originally danced for men.  In it's truest form it is joy and celebration.

When you hear words such as nudity, naked, bare, etc.  what do you think of next?  What do you associate with those words?  Why?

Does another persons nudity make you uncomfortable?  Why?

Does your own?

What do you feel when you stand in front of the mirror naked?  Or do you?  When was the last time you did that?

So let me tell use another example.  My grandfather who was a double amputee, lived in a nursing home.  I can remember visiting him, how thin his skin was, so thin you could see his veins and arteries, each prominent bone, the scars from his stubs, his balding head, the age spots on his face, his toothy grin.  Each line in his face, his laugh lines, his stubbly chin.  Sometimes we saw more of him then we might have, had he not needed help getting into and out of his clothes.  He too was beautiful.

I remember my grandmother on my mothers side, who died when I was nine.  I remember coming into her room once as she was dressing and she was nearly nude.  She had also had a double mastectomy long before breast reconstructions were done.  I remember how different she looked from any woman I have ever seen since.  She too was beautiful.

Please do not use family as a shield to hide behind with your definitions of what is and isn't okay when it comes to nudity.  Each of these three are my family and I love them dearly.  None of these instances of nudity have a thing to do with sex.  Please stop making nudity a dirty and bad thing.  Bare skin is merely the covering of the temple in which we each reside.

Why can't we see people in their bare skins as the beautiful creatures they/we are?  Why does everything always come back to sex?

And why are we fixated on sex? 

Well, I have voted to allow nudity on this network, because I believe the human body is a beautiful thing to behold and I have no problem looking at it.  Some of the most beautiful statues and paintings I have seen in our art museums and overseas were nude and I have marveled at the beauty in those lines.

I have to ask this as well.  Do you trust your fellow members of this network?  Do you feel the need to police them and if so, why?

If you believe we experience what we expect, if you believe we are creating our environment, if you believe we are expanding our minds and hearts in new ways.......where is your trust.....where is your faith in your fellow travelers?

Well, this is what I feel.

Namaste

Debra

Tags: Nudity

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Who Are You?

Say to someone, "Tell me about yourself," and what you are most likely to get is a description of their body, their job, perhaps their hobbies, likes and dislikes. But is this who we really are? All of these descriptions are about something outside, something other than the true Self. We have become so distracted by the world and its many facets that we forget, or rather choose not to look at who we really are. The best way to begin this is by defining what we are not!! We are not a body. We are not a job. We are not an illness. We are not a socio-economic status. We are not a parent or child. We are not a skin color. We are not an ethnicity. We are not a religion. We are not even our beliefs. All of these things describe something outside the Self. But if none of these things truly describe us...

Tags: Being Real

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When was the last time you sat and watched clouds?

I used to love doing this when I was a little girl.  I would stretch out on the grass and watch them float over and imagine the shapes were various things, or the clouds had faces and could talk to each other.  I haven't done that since I was a child.  

But today I sat and watched clouds for almost an hour.  Just watched them float, felt the peacefulness of it all, listened to the leaves in the trees singing, breathed in the good air. 

The sky was so blue and the clouds fluffy white and suddenly I got the urge to grab my camera and take a few pictures to share.  I uploaded them here.  Of course floating clouds keep moving so the photos are only a fraction of what I saw.  But if you visit my page you'll get a glimpse or two.

I've been hard at work on approving my line edits so I can meet my deadline.  So taking this break was refreshing and much needed.  

Have you ever been hard at work and something inside pulled you toward someone or something?  Did you listen?  Today I was pulled outside to watch clouds.  And it was the best part of the whole day.  

Tags: Clouds

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Tonight I'd like to talk about gratitude. Sometimes it's hard to be grateful, especially when bad things happen or life seems to hit you with one thing after another. But it's very important and perhaps especially so when those harsh winds blow.

Lately I've been starting my day with thoughts of the things I am grateful for. One of the first things I do after I wake and before I even get out of bed is to wiggle my toes. Okay, this is a little quirky, but it reminds me I still have all my toes, I can move them and the corrective shoes of my youth are gone. Today my feet can dance. Have you ever watched a baby curl their toes and kick their feet in joy? Have you ever wanted to do that too? Do any of you wiggle your toes before you get up?

Then I start mentally listing things I am grateful for. There are several friends who top the list, because of their love and kindness. Sometimes it is those basic things such as having enough food to eat and a roof over my head.

Here's one thing I have discovered. By starting my day this way, I become more aware of things to be grateful for as the day progresses. And on those days when it feels like hurricane winds are blowing, sometimes it is only one small thing that I cling to which helps me through. Sometimes it is the thought of one or two dear friends.

The thing about gratitude is, it needs to do more than just hover in your body and mind and heart, it needs to be shared. It's important to say to a friend, hey thank you for .....

Thank you is more than just being polite, though that is nice too. Have you ever noticed how bland the Hallmark cards are in the thank you section? I think maybe people have lost the art of the thank you note. I think maybe it's because somehow our culture has forgotten how to be grateful.

This thought struck me and I had to write it down -

When we lose gratitude we are left with expectation.

This is the thing that permeates our culture. We are spoiled with expectation and this leads to unhappiness when our needs aren't met or when we don't get what we want.

I suspect this happens because we lose our sense of gratitude. The thing is, nobody has to do anything for anyone. Each person on this planet has the same limited amount of time in their day and each person chooses how they will use it. They do not have to give you a smile, or return your phone call or answer your email. They do not have to give you the time of day. When they do, it is a gift. Each minute of the day is a gift.

So, take a minute today and make a list of grateful things. Think about all those people who fill your grateful list. Take the time to give them the gift of your gratitude and your time in return.
(And maybe try wiggling your toes once or twice.) ;-)

Thank you my friends, for the gift of your time.

Love,
Debra

Tags: Gratitude Expectation

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I never quite know what kind of reaction I'll receive when I tell people I belly dance.  Usually they are quite surprised.  Yes, I am quiet and in the past others have called me shy, so I can see where they might be surprised.

Unfortunately when most people think of belly dancers they think of those glittery bras and belts and that sort of Vegas showgirl costume.  Some even think belly dancers are strippers.   

Belly dancers do not strip.  Now I have nothing against strippers, in fact I know one and she is very nice.  So this is not meant to knock strippers.  

But most people simply don't understand the history and the culture of the dance.  Belly dance was originally danced by women for women.  Men never saw it.  The folkoric style dances differ from region to region, but in most cases the woman is covered from neck to wrist to feet in some sort of dress.  It wasn't until the 1950's when Hollywood discovered this "dance of the belly" and modern belly dance was born that the sequined costumes designed to show as much skin as possible were created.

If you look in my photos section, you'll see a Saudi Arabian dress which is authentic.  The dance we perfrorm wearing this dress is called Khaleegi and it is very beautiful and graceful.  In their culture the men and women celebrated separately and unless you were the woman's father, brother or husband you would never have seen her. This is just one example of what I'm taling about.

Today there is a whole range of costuming and styles of dance. 

I've trained in several styles.  Folkloric, Cabaret/classical Egyptian, Gypsy, American Tribal Style, Global Fusion Tribal Style, and Hula.  Last year I was dancing with three different groups in Memphis.  

Now I am a professional troupe member of Shakti Global Fusion in Memphis, TN.  Once you reach the level of doing paid gigs it's not ethical to dance for more than one company.  

This week I was teaching two beginner classes, which is something new for me, and I started thinking about how far I've come in the last four years and what belly dance has done for me.

Four years ago, when I walked into that first class, I was terribly shy, overweight and did not have a good body image.  I was a 16 and I'm down to a 12 now.  Over time as I shed the weight and learned to appreciate the beauty in women of all shapes and sizes, I gained a confidence that lodged deep inside.  

Belly dancing is empowering for a woman.  It's more than just choreography, or specific movements, thought that's a part of it.  If you dance from a point deep within, with breath and pulling energy up through your bare feet or down through your hands into your body, it can be a very spiritual dance.

For me, dance is freedom and expression and blessing and joy. 

It is a great joy to be passing this on to the new dancers, watching as they discover something deep within themselves that they didn't know they had.

Tags: Belly Dance

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