Day 12: May 12, 2010

Done and done!
Tonight I did my first Reiki Healing Dance treatment in 2 years (although I'm thinking I may need to find a new name, since it's actually a combination of DansKinetics, Reiki Healing Dance, and 5Rhythms-ish ecstatic dance). And it...was...fabulous.

I spent almost the entire day in an absolute panic. It wasn't so much that I doubted my ability to teach a class (or facilitate a dance experience, to put it more precisely), it was that I kept having these panicky "Yes, but what if I'm WRONG and it SUCKS and she HATES me and she HATES my studio and Xander FREAKS out...etc etc etc" thoughts. They would whirl round and round and round in my brain until I would realize that I'd been holding my breath for the past 5 minutes. It was bad. It was also totally unnecessary. Because I wasn't wrong, it didn't suck, she didn't hate me, she loved my studio, and Xander was just fine, thanks to my wonderful husband. All that fear and wasted energy...I need to work on that.

The session itself played out like a DansKinetics class, which means that we warmed up and danced each chakra in turn. The differences were that 1) there was only one person besides me and 2) I was sending her Reiki during the dances. As far as first-time-trial-runs go it couldn't have been better. By the second chakra I was feeling really secure (possibly something to do with getting nice and grounded in Chakra 1), and I found myself tailoring my commentary to fit the client's energy level and mood, which is good. If I want to do this regularly I'm going to need to be able to customize sessions to meet clients' needs.

Anyway, on to the dancing. We danced for about an hour straight, and yes, I did manage to dance AND send Reiki at the same time. It was difficult to stay focused at times, but mostly it was surprisingly easy. I moved how I wanted, but I kept my focus towards the client and pictured myself as walking the perimeter of a safe space that held her in the dance. Working with a "non-dancer" client also helped me a lot by reminding me that you don't need technique, training, and steps in order to dance. I knew that deep down (you can't start a business like mine and not know that), but a real-life reminder is always good. There were some truly beautiful moments.

All in all, the experience cemented my commitment to this dance challenge and my desire to get out there and MOVE in any way that makes me glow. It's clarified my mission to remind people what dance really is all about. And, frankly, it makes me want to get down to that dance room and move my body again and again and again. These are all very good things.