In the end, we`re one

Last segment from my Miyajima Dance Walk.
When making the videos, there was a group of travellers we met who danced with me.
Thank you to you for the fun moments!  I hope you find your way to see the video here!

And thank you readers for joining me this week in the dance walk through Miyajima.

See you soon for Flowers at Corner View!  I am late this week!

As the sun is going down at Miyajima, I invite you take a last stroll before the tide comes back in...

 *Miyajima Dance Walk on You Tube!*

ai♡ kawarazu
jgy

Miyajima Dance Walk, Parts 4 & 5, Behind the Scenes and There is a Door

Segments 4 & 5!
 If you are just tuning in, this is a week of posts from my one day of a Dance Walk in Miyajima, an island in the Inland Sea famous for the Itsukushima Shrine and for its being a sacred site.  It was intriguing to spend time there as the tides went in and out during the course of the day, to be in what is considered a `liminal` space, and to experiment with expression and connect from different angles and at different times of day with the Orange Torii and the shrine and the deer (who as you will see in this video above, had no interest in me!!).



I remember the word `liminal` from when I first learned it in a psychology class in college.  It is rare that a word or concept stays with me for so many years, but I was intrigued by this word from then, and always was attracted to `liminal` states.  A state which is not one thing or another.  For example `dawn` and `dusk` are so magical because of their no being of one (day) or (another).  This space between the torii gate and the shrine is also considered a `liminal` space between the sacred and the profane.  Long ago and today too visitors enter the shrine from the sea, thus this space which fills with sea at high tide would be entered by boat and visitors would be there before actually arriving at the sacred shrine.
I have seen this word recently as well to describe meditative states as well as to describe a dance called butoh, which has meditative qualities.  The `dance` I do is also perhaps `liminal`.  It is not any style, and it has no preconceived form, maybe it isn`t even dance.  So, being in this liminal space, at dawn and at dusk, between high tide and low... was a fantasy!  I think I was in a trance the whole time, I hadn`t realized we filmed so much!!

So, here without further a do, are the next parts for you!　There`s still 2 more parts, just leave a holler if you have had enough, or leave me a word of encouragement if you are still there watching! or, I know you, dear,  there dancing along!!

ai♡ kawarazu
jgy

*Miyajima Dance Walk on You Tube!*

Miyajima Part 3--Rebirth

Thank you if you are following my week long of posts from one day at Miyajima.
If you are just tuning in (!), this segment of the `dance walk` is a meditative segment, taken at sunrise.  The two segments in the posts below are my dance before sunrise.

About editing of this segment--
I kept most of this sequence, un-edited...a sunrise in `real time`...which I think could get long for viewers to watch my meditation!... so my `authors note` is:
 if it seems long during the first part (first song is called `Rebirth`), please skip ahead and see some of  the last few minutes...My friend and video collaborator Shintaro captured beautiful scenes of the sun.  And how it became an intimate meditation of wonder with the sun`s light and energy.

enjoy,  stay tuned...(one or two more parts to follow!) and thank you for your support and making this space feel like a safe and expressive  place where I can share these moments... 

hope you will join me in spirit or in dance 

ai♡ kawarazujgy

playlist on this segment:

Rebirth (featuring Anoushka Shankar) by Midval Punditz
The Beloved (Thievery Corporation Remix) by Anoushka Shankar
De Novo Adagio (Intro)  by Alicia Keys

Miyajima Dance Walk, Part 2

 

`I want to see beyond this illusion
to what is real` 

---lyrics from He Ma Durga, Donna De Lory--The Lover and the Beloved

I learned a few years ago from a workshop with a beautiful couple called Dance Monks about asking a site permission before doing dance in an outside site.  I love that idea which incorporates reverence for nature and respect for entering a place and dancing there.  So, before I danced in the space of the Itsukushima Shrine, I did some meditations connecting with the site and `asked` from afar for its permission to dance there.  When I actually arrived there I at first felt hesitant to enter into the `basin` where the water fills up, it is such a precious and powerful sacred site.

In the first segment of the dance (in the post below) it was like a `greeting` to the Torii gate, and as I approach it here in this part of the video, you can see the first movement I felt was a `backing up`.
As I moved closer to it, I felt energy pulling me back away from it.  The energy was as if the powerful gate saying `hey, wait,  don`t come so close, I don`t know you yet`, and at the same time felt like the energy of the tides, which was beginning to flow into the space, and that too was pulling me back and in the direction away from the gate.

So I backed up, away from the torii, and from afar began what felt like a dance of meeting, of meditation, and of reverence...the song in this segment is He Ma Durga, a chant of mercy and compassion.

As I danced and spun around the whole site spun too and in the spinning I began to feel more in harmony with the place, and knew that for that piece, for that part of the dance, that I kept a respectful distance and at the same time was filled with joy for purely being in the midst of this radiant space...

These yoga dance walks are about exploring a site, feeling the energy and moving within it...
`I want to feel what you feel....` (a line from the song He Ma Durga).  This week I will be posting segments of my recent yoga dance walk in Miyajima.  I hope you will join me in spririt and or in dance...here is part 2.

ai♡ kawarazu
jgy


Miyajima Dance Walk,  on You Tube

Corner View--Miyajima---One Day in my Life

At low tide, the sea recedes and this whole space is a beach,
then again the sea comes in and the famous
torii gate of Miyajima appears to float... 

Each day is a blessing from the universe.

That`s how it felt being in the middle of what in a few hours would be the ocean, dancing in front of the orange torri gate an hour before sunrise at Miyajima.

We woke up before sunrise and the deer who roam free on the island were still sleeping.
Watching for the orange rays to appear...at 5 AM, dancing in that huge space seemed so intimate surprisingly when being the only ones there... then climbed to where there is a pagoda to find the closest spot to see the sun rise over the mountains... meditated with movement feeling the energy of the sun...after that  back down to the shrine where the ocean was already filling up and I  danced again this time shin deep in water, splashed the water onto my face... drenched and cold went back to the hotel for a hot bath in the big public bath...had breakfast...took bicycles around the island...used our free-pass to tour the shrine...rode the bikes back to the ferry...said goodbye to this magical island...rode the ferry back to Hiroshima...took the shinkansen (Japan`s bullet train) back to Kokoro and another train to Oita.  My friend fell into a deep sleep and I entered the consciousness (deep meditation!) right there on the Sonic train!

I will post the videos of that one day ---dance walk in Miyajima!---during this whole week, starting with one here!
 I hope you will take a few minutes to watch  one, or the whole series.  See the cycle of the tides in the day on Miyajima, and I  invite you to join me in spirit or in dance...



Miyajima is an island a short ferry ride from Hiroshima, and is famous for the Itsukushima shrine that floats in the Inland sea.  When the tide is low, visitors can walk in the area around where the sea recedes, and then in late morning the whole beach fills up again with sea and the orange torii is magnificent as it appears to be floating until the tide goes down again and again the sea recedes...
 ...the location is one of Japan`s National Heritage sites and the shrine is a National Treasure.  As the day goes on,  ferry loads of people come in with the tide, but the moments before sunrise it was breathtaking to have the whole site to ourselves.  We also met a few travellers later in the day who danced with me---to those fun travellers, if you are reading this, I will post that segment later in the week!

It takes years sometimes to arrive into one day. This week`s Corner View theme is---  One Day in My Life.
jane`s corner view, francesca`s hosting 、this week`s theme thank you Kristen!

photo and video credit:
Thank you Shintaro!

ai ♡kawarazu
jgy

PS Congratulations Teresa on winning the souvenir giveaway!

A little something from Miyajima!!





Miyajima Dance Walk on You Tube

Prelude to a Dance Walk---Listen to your Heart (and Souvenir Giveaway!)

On my way!

To where?

here`s a hint *Orange color in the air.

Join me in the spirit of getting ready to take a short journey.  I will bring back a souvenir and send it to you!*


(*Enjoy the video, leave a comment。。。I will make a random `draw` when I get back ! )

Happy Weekend!

ai ♡kawarazu
jgy

Corner View--Birds

`ten-nen` fresh yellowtail out on the veranda drying in the sun, a delicacy loved by my husband and...read the story to see who else is keeping an eye on it!  

My husband,
who is
a man of few words
has a story to share
this week about
birds.
He puts his fish out in the sun
and often it`s
the crows who won.
They call out to their other friends
to tell of food thats glistening,
then when my husband doesn`t see
they swoop down and share
his delicacy!
This day too, they took
a few!!

I couldn`t however get a picture of the crows,
`cause Off they fly...
And no picture of my husband ...
 for he too
is camera
shy!

More birds (and maybe some fish?) at this week`s Corner View!
jane`s corner view, francesca`s hosting 、this week`s theme thank you :)!

PS to Music--Earth Day, Video Views

Warm up with us to the music of こうべえ Koubee!

Monkey around with us! Next songs below--Monkey and Robot by こうべえ

last chance to dance along for this years Earth Day!! Follow the leader...the leader is .... your heart!!

Earth Day in Beppu Park, 2013
Thank you to all who participated!  Thank you Koubee!
Shake Your Soul/Kripalu Yoga Dance in Oita
Japan

ai♡ kawarazu 

jgy

Corner View--Music

Sunday was Earth Day.  It was a beautiful day at Beppu Park.

The theme was `Tane, Inochi, Tsunagaru` --
たね　　いのち　　つながる　　　Seed　  Life  　Connection    

The `stage` for the music and dance events (including our Shake Your Soul yoga dance!!) was actually a wide expanse of grass marked in a circle by small pots of organic plantlings that everyone could take home and plant after the event.  Music and stage events included Japanese Taiko drumming, Hawaiian hula with ukelele accompaniment, live painting to guitar accompaniment,  and a demonstration of harp-like instruments that harmonize with the users touch and universe`s vibrations.  We did yoga dance to a live accompaniment of guitar and percussion.  You can see the beautiful mountains of Oita as a natural backdrop.

Can you hear the music of organic vegetable sellers booths around the stage saying `irrashaimase` and welcoming visitors to the day!!

Irrashaimase!  Welcome!!

Music around the world at this weeks Corner View!Corner View.  jane`s corner view, francesca`s hosting 、this week`s theme thank you Bev!
ai♡ kawarazu 
jgy

Earth Day

Stopped to watch
the sunset
with a heron
feel the ocean
lapping
in my heart

ai♡kawarazu jgy