I got pushed to the edge. I got angry. I stepped fully into Free Motion Principle #4. Let Go of the Crap.

One of the incarnations of this principle is “Don’t Take on Any New Crap”. One of the incarnations of that is “Don’t Take Any Crap From Anybody”.

The open, embracing part of this is – deflect, defer, ignore.

The charging, sword-bearing part of this is – brush the crap-disher aside, and focus with clarity on what’s really important, because there is no time in life for what is not important.

I came so fully into my sweating, panting, furious, “I will not take this” attitude in my interactions with the legal system and my ex-husband, that it became easy to “not take this” in the rest of my life, including my business.

No time for self-doubt. No time to wonder if what I’m doing is the right thing. No time to question what someone might think of what I’m doing.

Write the email. Make the call. Make the connection. Reach out. Find those people who need what I have. No tolerance for playing small.

We all have something to offer – a combination that no one else has. There is no room, no time, no call for holding back. There is too much crap already. Leave behind what is not needed. Dance around what might hold you back.

Step forward. Breathe and dance your way into being.

At Kripalu yoga retreat center in the Berkshires for my birthday, I wandered outside onto the lawn at dusk. A deep desire to move was called forth in me by the wooden flute music coming from a seated figure across the way. So I danced on the lawn to the call of the flute.

Later I danced to:

Along the River by Keith Bear, from the album Tribal Winds: Native American Flute Music

and finished off with a song that’s becoming a regular for me for shaking off the emotional junk:

Amajiro, Master Drummers of the Dagbon, Volume 1

Music calls to our soul – flute especially. What’s being called from your soul to be expressed in this lifetime? What will it take for you to answer that call? Comment below.

On Friday night at 7pm, reluctant to tear myself away from the flow of the week with my children and my household/business, I headed out to see a dance performance for which I had bought tickets many months before.  Had I not had the tickets, I certainly would have stayed in my own world for the evening.

When we step out of routine to engage in the wider world, we get all kinds of input that we integrate and bring back into our daily lives. This time, I had the happy surprise of running in to some people I hadn’t seen in 7 years, being in an audience of fellow dance-lovers, and feeling rooted in community because there were many folks from my own town at the show. That’s on top of being blown away by the athleticism, power and grace of the dancers of Pilobolus Dance Theatre.

The program included this sentence about Eriko Jimbo:

a ‘househead,’ she performs often and engages in events of the underground house and hip hop culture, representing two NYC based crews: MAWU and FMinit”

which I didn’t even understand!  Still, midnight found this small-town mom in her living room undulating and slithering around as she envisioned herself all sinewy and cutting-edge artistic.  My devoted boyfriend took the DJ spot and gave me these:

• Pocketbook, Meshell Ndegeocello
• Glory Box, Portishead
• #1 Crush, Garbage (Beautifully desperate vocals take me to another place entirely – an alternate reality where I am drug-addicted and driven by my cravings.)

What I’m bringing back from my evening away to incorporate into my own life/routine/goals, as I get ready to go out and see my son’s baseball scrimmage:

1. I must do Pilates.
2. It’s good to pay money to see performances that keep creative, artistic people who live in a different universe from mine supplied with the resources to keep it going.
3. I must learn to do a headstand.

What’s important about exploring other worlds while maintaining our own flow and routine that works for us and keeps us sane?  Comment below.

Women business owners have an abundance of male energy – out in the world, making things happen, in charge, outward, manifesting. That’s part of why we have businesses. Of course at the same time we are women and we naturally have access to a powerful, flowing, directionless, encompassing energy.

I used to oscillate between the two. Either math/science jock or hippie girl running around in the woods. As I’ve grown older, I’ve found that integrating the two gives me a powerful surge of energy as if life is a giant wave on the ocean and I’m riding it all the way into shore, with all of my individual powers and the powers of the universe working in harmony.

This integration is a constant balancing act, which on a good day sustains my energy level so that I can produce more in less time while feeling that my whole life is a party whether I’m on personal time or in my work production mode. Surfing on the ocean for real with a surfboard is one of the activities that gives me this feeling right away without having to do the balancing act. Dancing is another.

To spread this powerful, joyful feeling that comes from being connected at your core while engaging in your busy life, I offer programs that combine 11 minutes of dancing with visualization and commitments to small actions that make a big difference. Sometimes we can go to the beach for the morning, ride a bike for three hours, take a 90 minute yoga class…sometimes we can’t. We can almost always stop what we’re doing for 11 minutes and move around to our natural rhythms as we think about our goals. Then we return rejuvenated and ready to ride the wave straight in to shore – high production the fun way!

Motion is the new stationary! On Saturday in the middle of my run in the woods, I had a half hour conversation on my iPhone with a web designer about changes to make to my website. It felt as if running were my normal state of being from which all else flowed.

Dancing today – same way. Dancing is not a break from sitting at the computer. Sitting at the computer is a break from the normal state of dancing.

Today I let iTunes genius give me tunes in the category “Singer/Songwriter Mix”:

Joy, Lucinda Williams Great song to wail at life for taking your joy, and to dance your joy back!

Dead Flowers, The Rolling Stones

Go and Say Goodbye, Buffalo Springfield This song is upbeat, even though it has a plaintive refrain. I like it – complex, like life is.

What is your normal state of being, from which all else is a break?  What would you like it to be instead?  Comment below.

Dancing 11 minutes can cause an amazing transformation in your mood. I was in a BAD mood on Monday, so I went straight for something upbeat:

Mardi Gras Mambo, The Hawketts

followed by drumming to shake out the negativity:
Amajiro, Master Drummers of Dagbon

then something mellow with a touching human story to come back into emotional flow:
And It Stoned Me, Van Morrison

Try dancing to these tunes (it only takes 11 minutes!) and comment below on how it changes your mood.

We are born into this world a soul in a body. We experience our environment and interact with the people around us. We tell ourselves stories to explain what’s going on. We tell these stories to the world. We become attached to them.

Through movement and dance we can reconnect to that core self that isn’t changed by the stories we tell. I led a movement/dance class with the theme “Tell a New Story” at The Farm Yoga and Wellness Center.

I invited everyone to look at themselves from a new perspective, move to a different spot in the room, dance and move in a new, unfamiliar way. Expand their core selves out from their hearts and bellies into the world. Begin to answer questions in a new way. Shake off and burn away the old story.

Step into a new story, and take it with them through the week. Believe that the universe supports them in living a new story. Set their sights on their dreams and goals and move confidently toward them, honoring where they’ve been and embracing where they’re going.

My June webcast class will begin with an invitation to step into telling a different story about yourself.

What’s the old story that you choose to shake off and burn away? What’s your new story? Comment below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wow, talk about taking my own advice.  My teenage boys were ballistic Wednesday night and I was literally in tears.  I could hardly bear the thought of dancing 11 minutes before bed and I almost wanted to break my streak, even though on Tuesday May 11th it will be 6 months of dancing 11 minutes every day.  (Hop on the 11 minute movement bandwagon and join me in dancing 11 minutes a day until 11/11/11!)

But I didn’t.  I pictured myself on my free video (sign up for my mailing list to the right to get access to this 11 minute video for high-intensity women to reconnect and flow joy into heightened productivity at the end of a long day) saying “even though it’s the LAST thing you want to do..”  and I put on the music:

Me Love, Sean Kingston

Sugar Magnolia, The Grateful Dead

That’s the Way Life Goes – Desmond Dekker – twice!  This tune is fantastic for lifting the spirits after disappointment – “That’s the way life goes, tomorrow never knows – that’s the way life goes, today”

Israelites, Desmond Dekker

Five minutes later I was feeling like a different person.  Wow.  My own advice works on me!  I was feeling so good I pulled out the flipcam and took some footage to share.  At the end of this clip I’m answering my 13-year-old son who came down the stairs and asked me what I was doing.  I said “trying to shake off conflict”, and a good thing I did so I was ready when he came down to help him recover from the conflict too.

How does maintaining your balance help your family members maintain their balance? Comment below.

Silence.  Absolute silence.  I only slept 4 hours the night before (oops! maybe a little TOO high-intensity on biz production that day) and I went running for 80 minutes after dinner.  So I retreated to my room too tired to interact with young teenage boys, which I would have been in danger of doing if I left my room to get my iPhone or computer for music.  So I danced in silence.  By myself.  Freedom and independence – delicious!  What do you do when your high energy sends you over the deep end and you need to recover?  Comment below.

I decided to stay up late and finish the preview of my 11 minute video that you are seeing to the right and I thought of Concrete Schoolyard as a tune to get my energy up.  It’s one of my favorites from the days when my ex-husband and I had dancing and hot tub parties at our place after the kids went to bed.  I let Apple Genius make a playlist for me off that tune – some of it I liked and some I didn’t.  Public Enemy is good for feel-good anti-establishment lyrics.

Concrete Schoolyard, Jurassic 5

Don’t Believe the Hype, Public Enemy

When you’re forty-something and you’ve got your career and your kids and your house and everything else, sometimes you forget that you used to go to parties and feel good about anti-establishment lyrics.  What’s the benefit of remembering?  Comment below.