YOUR BLAST OF BLISS FOR AUGUST!!
YOUR BLAST OF BLISS FOR AUGUST!
We are so excited to bring you another month of super fabulous summer classes. Here’s what we’re up to in August, in addition to our already fabulous variety of classes, including bellydance, hip-hop, zumba, hula classes:
o Pay what you can classes – We know…the economy sucks, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun!!! Every Sunday, come Zumba, Kundalini, Hip-Hop (see schedule for details) without breaking the bank. COME MEDITATE IN chakra dance WITH HEATHER THIS SUNDAY (August 10th @ 1:00 pm)
o Chakra Meditation & Full Moon /New Moon Sound Bath – Jaime will be offering a beautiful chakra meditation and moon ritual for setting intentions and clearing your energies. Don’t miss this these powerful events (Friday, August 15 & 29th meditation @ 8 PM, Sound Bath @ 9PM)
o More drumming with Mesmera – For those of you who missed it last month, it was addicting!!!! Come and experience Mesmera’s magical class and find your inner groove. (August 17th 2:30 to 4:00 – pre register on-line for discount)
o More Poi! - We bid aurevoir to Zoe who’s off to France , but welcome Nate, our newest instructor. Nate is an extremely talented dancer who is going to get you spinning that poi ‘til your giddy with joy. STARTING THIS SATURDAY , August 3rd @ 4:30
o Zumba all weekend, every weekend!! Get that booty into shape with Thea on Saturdays @ 2 PM and Alesha on Sundays @ 12 PM.
o Heather’s Tribal Bellydance Boot Camp – Are you ready to show us what you got? This is going to be some serious fun!!!! Labor Day Weekend (Details soon to be posted on calendar)
o Bliss Bazzaar – Got some lovely things to sell or need to find some unusual & lovely things? C’mon down ’cause we have just the space! Labor Day Weekend (Details soon to be posted on calendar - If you are interested, please send us an email ).
Also, we are offering new wellness services, including reiki, hypnosis, and iridiology (details coming soon on our website. And there are our old favorites - massage w/ Heather & sound healing w/ Jaime.
See you in August!!
Lydia & Heather
Bliss Dance & Wellness Center
553 S. Lake Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101
626.644.6113
www.blissdanceandwellnesscenter.com
Spreading the Bliss
When I pray, sometimes I do something that goes a bit like this: I imagine all the times I have felt a particularly unpleasant experience, whether it be loneliness, fear, being cold, tired, etc… Then I think of and try to feel all the people in the world who are currently experiencing that particular state and I ask the deity to whom I pray to give love and support to everyone who is having that particular experience today. My prayer ended there.
Rece
ntly, however I came across a short explanation of Tonglen meditation by Kathy Freston, one of my most favorite authors. Tonglen is teaching me to expand and deepen the prayer I had been doing intuitively. Coming across this teaching so serendipitously, without searching for it on any conscious level, deepens my faith that we are all guided to spread the Bliss. Tonglen in Tibetan means giving and receiving. Basically, in a nutshell, the practice goes like this: (1) The practioner quiets her mind and connects deeply with the source of wisdom in the universe, how ever she may experience or visualize that source; (2) she then visualizes a particular person, who may be herself or anyone else, and allows her heart to take in all the pain, confusion, and troubles of that person as she takes a deep breath in; (3) she then breathes out all of the love, wisdom and joy she felt in the first step, and gives it to the one she is focusing upon, replacing the negativity with joy; (4) lastly, she dedicates this action to all sentient beings. Every step is equally important in this practice. At first, I was a bit afraid that perhaps I wasn’t strong enough to absorb anyone else’s pain because I can barely handle my own sometimes. But I realized this was my ego telling me that I’m too weak and/or I have to be special to do this meditation. In fact, anyone can do this meditation and it is a great teaching about what being special actually means.
As we practice Tonglen, we expand our connection to our own humanity, which is rooted in the fact that we ALL experience pain and we ALL experience pleasure. The “specialness” to which our ego so desperately clings and which is the cause of so much suffering, fades away and in its place, I experience an increasing sense of peace and faith in the goodness of our inter-being. In Tonglen, we must be willing to experience pain, that of our own and others. For this willingness, the practioner will experience a powerful way to transcend and transform pain into joy, which is in some ways a miracle and some ways becomes more and more of a natural capacity the more we practice. The transformation of pain to joy, I believe, is done through the divine energies that live in us. Through Tonglen, we allow these divine energies to work through us, which perhaps, is how the Universe wants us to spread Its Bliss.
If you are interested in doing just a 1-2 minute practice of Tonglen, go to: http://iionline.org/Podcast//KenWilber-Tonglen-Part1.mp3 Spreading the Bliss © Bliss Dance & Wellness Center, Inc.
An Experiment in Blissful Slumber
I’ve suffered from chronic insomnia for almost the past twenty years. Recently though, I’m trying something new, which to my surprise, has not just worked amazingly — it’s given me some help in my waking life to boost!
I have been reading some stuff about “souls” lately. Souls to me, are the better parts of ourselves, the wise part of ourselves that guide us gently through lives travails. During those times when you feel that life is like navigating a fierce Class 5 river, your soul is the raft that carries you through safely down the river, without too much effort on your part. Your soul is your guide and if you trust it, it will take you where you need to go.
So, I’ve been doing something lately…talking to my soul. I’ve been having this conversation with my soul in a different way - basically a way where my rational mind can’t attempt shout over my soul. I talk to my soul when I’m asleep. There is no particular technique to learn. This is what I do…you might want to try it and see what happens. Before I fall asleep at night, I ask my soul for something — usually some guidance on a particular issue, or I ask it to be clear for me where I cannot consciously be for myself at the moment, while I am asleep. I figure that while I’m sleeping, my conscious, controlling, ego mind can’t do too much controlling, over-thinking or worrying.
The first night I tried this, I was having a little freak attack about some issues going on. I could toss and turn for hours about things I could do nothing about at that moment (the normal routine for me) — or I could try something else. I decided to ask my soul just to be pure, which to me means to be without fear, without projecting this or that on another person. I asked it to be what it needed to be to be happy while I slept. I let myself relax and fall asleep.
The most amazing thing happened. I dreamt a dear old friend came to a party I was having and we were both thrilled to see each other! I had really been thinking of this person and really been missing her in my waking life. Then my friend offered to help me get more food for the party so that more of our friends could come. It was really fabulous party - so many great people and in a really beautiful home.
And then something else unbelievable happened…I woke up and the room was shaking for a minute. I thought it was the flapping of angel wings causing the room to shake. Then I realized it may have been my neighbors creaky screen door — I’m still not really sure which one caused the shaking, but never mind what it really was. The more important thing is that in my mind, for an instant, it was something Divine and every moment you can connect with what is Divine, well, it is a very blissful feeling. I’ve tried this every night since that original experiment. Sometimes the dreams are weird and sometimes even unpleasant. However, each time, they given me insight and information that I’ve found truly applicable to current circumstances - one night I was told just to be honest about something, another night I was told not to make such a big drama over another thing. Always, I find my soul guiding me and informing me.
So far, this experiment has been a success. Our souls want to speak to us and to guide us in our lives. All we need to do is ask and then get out of the way. In this case, getting out of the way is easy…all you need to do is get in bed and turn out the lights. Could anything be easier and gentler?
Bliss is what happens when you let go.
We’ve just celebrated a blissful grand opening party! Several people approached me asking me how this studio happened for me, being that I am a lawyer by training and make my way to dance class on an extremely inconsistent and sporadic basis. The answer is that it happened quite naturally, actually.
I started dabbling in bellydance about eight years ago on a whim, and I fell in love, but, as I so often complained about my past relationships, my love for dance was an uncommitted sort of situation. However, unlike my love life, I just let this love flow, went with it as it came and went, and just let it be. I let this love happen naturally.
About one year ago, I joined a professional women’s non-profit group that provided different programs for underprivileged girls. I wanted to share the liberating experience we feel when we listen to our bodies, tune into our natural rhythms, and learn to move without judging ourselves. I sent out an email to dance teachers I didn’t know so well and asked if anyone was interested. Heather responded right away, a woman with big talent and an even bigger heart. She wanted to help.
Unfortunately, we hit some snags with the non-profit, which was limited by the constraints of corporate sponsorship. We looked at each other — “do we need them?” The question was answered as soon as it was asked. In the meantime, I had gotten to know Naadar, whose mellow wisdom permeated the neighborhood yoga studio just around the corner from my house. Yoga, also another uncommitted love relationship for me, but one that I honored for the path it opens to inner treasures, if taken. In my case, I took it without pushing or pressuring myself…it was just something I let myself enjoy when I could.
One day, out of curiosity, I asked Naader what he thought about sharing the space. He said “great!” And voila! Bliss was born! It was a relatively painless childbirth, and happened without too much effort on my part. This baby has just come into the world, but I’m already quite amazed at how naturally it all has come together and with the wonderful group of people have come into my life. Of course, Bliss is a new baby, and being a first time mom, I’m not quite sure how I’m supposed to handle everything, but I have some clues – relax, have faith, appreciate, smile and breathe.
I suppose what is more amazing to me is that for the past ten years, I have been involved in some, let’s just say, less then pleasant, personal relationships. I made a decision last year to let go of what doesn’t work, in part because I tried to cling, grasp and control. Now I see what happens when one follows that desire to share what we love, goes with that and then lets go and allows the universe to take care of us. Magic can happen. Surprise can happen. Bliss can happen.