This is my 50th blog post since January 1st, 2019! In so many ways it is a milestone for me. And what better way to transition to a new phase of my journey than by starting a whole new category of posts based on my personal life as a single mother, as a dancer/performer, as a women confronting aging and as a member of a family with 4 developmentally disabled siblings. Kind of a daunting task, but I'm game if you are.
If you've read my blog, I'm obviously passionate about the connection between the body and the mind, the bodymind. And believe it or not, I didn't coin the term bodymind. If you look it up, it's a real school of thought based on a belief that they are not two things as the history of the Mind Body Problem (Cartesian Dualism) has led us to believe. In reality they are one interconnected thing-one cannot exist or function in any way without the other. And it's not a problem at all that a little awareness won't fix.
For me, the bodymind is not an intellectual construct, though I can get a little heady about my belief in and passion for bringing my discoveries about this to other people. I guess it's because I've taught and coached for 25 years. I always feel like my opinion doesn't carry weight without presenting evidence that other credible sources feel the same way I do. Plus, I admit to being a science nerd and research geek. But I also realize that a big factor in my passion for writing and coaching about this has been a lifetime of feeling these concepts in my body.
I grew up in Wisconsin in the 50's and 60's in a family of 6 children, 4 of whom were born developmentally disabled. My sister and I were on the normal spectrum so they pretty much left us alone. But I remember it being very confusing and discovered at an early age that connecting with my body was a tangible truth I could understand. And this saved me. First in the neighborhood-- normal, suburban, middle class-- I perfected the role of tomboy riding my bike, roller skating, climbing trees and finding a home in moving my body in whatever way I could.
As you would expect, I became an over-achiever and a perfectionist. I left no evidence that I could be seen as abnormal (they called it retarded in those days). No reason to send me away from my home and family. No siree, not me. But when push came to shove after I graduated college, I threw all of my achievements and expectations for a life of security and success, right up in the air and chose the life of a creative artist. It felt like more of a calling than a choice.
Along the way, I took some big risks-- an open audition for the film Hair that ultimately landed me a job in a pretty important dance company in NYC, an unexpected pregnancy at 27 that shaped my life in so many wonderful/difficult ways. After a long stint as a single mother and making my living dancing and doing television commercials, I finally married and had another son nearly 10 years later. These boys of mine are now men, 39 and 30, and wonderful human beings I am grateful to have in my life.
After my years of performing I became a dance teacher, at first with pre-k through high school kids at an arts-oriented independent school and finally on the college level in a dance major program. Along the way, I started doing exectutive coaching in the communication field. All of it gave me the chance to really understand movement, health and performance; it's where I really got my education in the bodymind. Not only could I feel the connections, but I could observe them and experiment with all manner of expression and see over time the profound impact being embodied had on a wide range of ages, abilities, demographics and in performance of all kinds. Bingo, it's primal!
Whereas I'm a pretty private person, I feel the need to tell my story, to share the truth of an examined life of celebrating, challenging and delving deeply into understanding my own bodymind and how it has shaped the woman I have become and in turn how I can be of service to others on the path towards health and wellness, physical and mental. I hope you won't be discouraged by my age and think there isn't a common ground here for those under 50. I mean think about it, what we lose in beauty and physical prowess we make up for in wisdom and mastery in our field and at living. There's a lot to harvest from that garden!
By way of explanation, I will still be writing the Bodymind Blog and will often be publishing a Quick Read sequel on Sundays with some nuts and bolts tips related to the blog. But now I will also be posting in the category of Inside Out with more personal reflections on the checkered past of my crazy but interesting life. In the meantime, I would love it if you would subscribe to my email list at www.seasonedbodymind.com and also please follow me on Instagram and Facebook @seasonedbodymind.
Thank you for reading and bearing witness to this process of mine-- a kind of coming out. Reflecting on all I've learned and sharing it with the hope that some of it relates to your truth. Please connect either through my website or SM with your feedback or share some unique experiences of your own. We have a lot to learn from each other. Oh and, don't forget to Mind Your Body.
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