December, 2023 ~
Recently I was in New York City, close to where I spent my childhood, to teach my course Trauma and the Moving Body. Being back on familiar ground, I began to reflect on 2023, a year that was filled with an intense healing process while I recovered from a life-changing surgery. As a dancer and dance therapist, much of my life has revolved around movement. Having to learn to walk again and not knowing if I would dance again has deepened my inquiry into how I relate to movement. It has also sparked a deeper dive into my place of origin, my place of ancestry, and from this place of geographical proximity, these questions: Where am I at this moment? Where are we all?
Walking through the city and still tentative on my feet as I continue on my path to recovery, I was hyper-aware of the fast pace of people walking near me—especially those who were looking at their phones. How do we as humans in such a high speed, device-driven society relate to place now? I wonder if we can be willing to pause long enough to let this inform who we are with ourselves and our relationships with others.
In 2012, when I was in Darwin, Australia, I heard a beautiful song, sung by Gurrumul, a Yolnu Aboriginal Australian musician, about place from his First Nations perspective. I am reminded of this song periodically and even rhythmically as I move through my life. I am fascinated by how we relate to place as part of our identity.
This will be my third holiday season without my parents. As this year comes to an end and we enter a season of gathering, reflection, and family, I feel a sense of appreciation for the ways my parents tended to our family holiday rituals. As I continue to navigate this new relationship to my parents as ancestors, I offer an invitation of a practice that supports my ongoing inquiry into the connection between ancestor, time and place. Take a moment to pause, close your eyes or soften your gaze, and notice where you are. Notice all of you, inside and out, on the ground and in the place you are. Consider how this present moment is inclusive of your past and your relationships and journeys. And then listen to your whole-body response to this question: Who am I?