“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for few minutes, including you.” Anne Lamott
For me August and January are THE months when I can switch off the biggest number of days in a row. Sometimes it is only this longer break, longer state of stillness and being that has an effect on the hardwired stress and being tired from myself, from automatic actions and words as well as the daily addictions that successfully manage to separate me from myself, from others and from nature. In those days of “rest” I am visited by a whole host of emotions, thoughts, and ideas, physical sensations. From boredom to noticing beauty in details; from guilt to pleasure; from staring at the TV screen like a zombie to deep regenerating sleep; from planning what to do next to living as if I had only this moment; from worrying to carelessness; from wasting time to finding myself; from the feeling that nothing makes sense to the dedicated focus on my own breath; from the fear that I will lose my groove to the relief when I realise that the groove always goes around; from continuously trying to escape the black hole within to floating on my back on its calm surface.
This summer I gave myself my favourite workshop “Naked Soul” with Jonathan as a present. It was in Denmark this time and it brought me back to the dance floor, my sacred space. It was challenging, enlightening, and deeply touching to meet the dancers who I usually teach. One person did not even recognize me because they had not expected me there. I also decided to spend more time at home, in Zagreb, this summer, to stop travelling because I have learnt that it is right here that I can get most rest, as I have the strongest support circle here (my child in the kindergarten). However, my fins are already itching and we are getting ready to go to the seaside; my favourite sea, the sea that always recognizes and receives me. This summer the place where we usually spend our vacation – Sutivan at the island of Brač – has become the location of our summer workshop for the first time. The workshop is taking place at the end of the month and will be an opportunity to explore the connection between moving and stillness and that eternal quest for balance between the two. I am very happy that we have managed to turn this workshop into a special experience for the both of us even beyond the workshop itself because we shall be sharing a house with our colleagues teachers who will be assisting us at the workshop and our children will be playing together again.
Easy and light summer greetings, Silvija