Tag: healing through dance

Dance Improvisation: Connecting to Source through Magical Arteries

This weekend I’ll be teaching my first workshop in NYC of 2018,

Connected to Source: Deep Listening & Freedom of Expression through Dance Improvisation.

And for the first time in the three years since I moved away from NYC, I feel really excited and energized to be heading in to share my work in the city. As in, not secretly dreading or deliberately avoiding NYC (a la 2016 & 2017), but sincerely looking forward to working and playing there.

Why? Because I know it won’t suck me dry.

I know that even with all the crazy paced running around to get anywhere, the dulling sea of myopic gazes and the drowning noise of lights and sounds and advertisements, I’ll be shining on. That is to say, I don’t expect to be leaking too much energy.

Not too much. Maybe just a little, because there’s no use wasting as much on the effort of guarding it in as I would on letting it out. Some energy out means space for energy in after all, and strict orthodoxy of any kind is a dangerous form of militarism in today’s world. But even with those little leaks, I’ll be motoring through the streets to teach my workshop, dropping in on favorite classes and jams and reconnecting with dear friends fueled by confidence that the energy balance is in my favor.

It’s not my clairvoyance I’m relying on to know that, unlike the past, this time I’ll be coming home with more energy than I expended…

Wasting clairvoyance on seeing into the future and holding on to a specific image of how things will be is a surefire way to cut yourself off from your creative energy.

I have no idea if things, and the workshop especially, will go well. People, the studio, and even material I’m sharing will be new, so lots of unknowns await. And I’m not relying on a game of low expectations to keep my balance and protect me from the drain of disappointment. I have a fair share of expectations, but they’re not really about outcome, they’re about what I’ll treat my life force to: surprise, stimulation, intimacy and perspective.

In part, I can be sure that I’m in a very different place because I gave myself the time and space to fully integrate a deep transition.

When I closed my beautiful Brooklyn studio 3 years ago and moved upstate to Newburgh, it felt like a free fall at times. But I was aching to be more fully invested in my art work, dance improvisation at its core, and walking my holistic talk was motivating me to find a more quiet and balanced life. Permission to do less and observe more helped facilitate a seismic shift in my inner world.

Now that I’m easing back into doing more, the quality of my doing is very different.

Still, my confidence in riding the energy of the city with mastery and grace is not so much about the past or the future. It’s about what I know I can do in the moment.

This is what dance improvisation is all about, and this is what it’s taught me about myself:

I know I can keep myself grounded. And balanced. I can find great pleasure in falling and satisfaction in resistance. I know I can soften in an instant to avoid a hard blow… or to welcome a warm embrace. That I can articulate what I feel with great clarity and bring a sharp focus to the small details splitting my attention. I’ve learned I can release a thought or a plan that’s weighing me down and catch inspiration from a random sideways glance. And that I can listen with patience and curiosity to the subtle shifts of my energy and take a pause when I need, or even pause just because.

To pause in NYC! And just because, no less!

If that’s not art, it’s sorcery. Or rather, Sourcery: because doing it on a whim comes from a deep connection to the inner flow of your impulse, blood and breath. It’s Artery too! Because cultivating your pathways to that deep connection is a matter of artful craftsmanship, fueled by passion and imagination and informed by patience and technique.

Dance improvisation is the practice of cultivating arteries to your life force.

It is a magical, powerful craft that teaches you to connect to the deepest sources of your energy. You can use it to create art if that’s your thing. You can use it to create more healthy resilience to your every day if that’s what you need…

And once you’ve experienced the connection and know how to get there again and again, you have much more agency to actively and consciously choose how you use your energy. That in itself is an act of great resistance and activism in the demented political climate we’re living in. Add that to healthy resilience and creative flow and watch things change.

There you have it: to be Connected to Source through the magic Arteries of Dance Improvisation – that’s our destination for this weekend’s workshop. Details and RSVP below – check it out and join us on the adventure!

Here are the details:

Connected to Source
Deep Listening & Freedom of Expression through Dance Improvisation

Sunday, March 18

1 – 3 PM

CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing)
White Room
124 4th Avenue, New York, New York 10003

*A Fundraiser to Support The Dragon’s Egg Artist Retreat Center*
$30 Suggested Donation (all proceeds go to The Dragon’s Egg)
RSVP to attend forthedragonsegg@gmail.com

Workshop led by Ophra Wolf from Force and Flow Integrated Bodywork

Dance improvisation can be one of the most direct and profound ways to communicate with your soul and give expression to the subtle movements of your heart. When you’re able to drop down into a deep state of listening and connection with the very source of what moves you, you experience a sense of freedom and innate knowing that will fuel every aspect of your life.

In this 2-hour introductory workshop we’ll explore pathways for entering this state of deep listening and embodied awareness, and draw on knowledge and techniques from the worlds of Qi Gong, bodywork, authentic movement, and Tuning Scores. Expect to move energy, find new possibilities for expression and discover thrilling satisfaction in free and mindful movement.

Open to all levels and backgrounds – whether you’re a dancer, a creative from another field, or simply someone who’s ready to move more freely, there will be treasures waiting for you. Bring comfortable clothes to move in, water, and a notebook.

PHOTO CREDIT: CRAIG CHIN

March 13, 2018
What if the Key to World Peace Is Your Personal Relationship to Your Body?
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Hello dear friends and lovers of pleasure, health and vitality!

It’s been over two years since I published a blog post and I confess I’ve missed the conversation with you very much.

But OH! I’ve taken such great pleasure in the freedom from forced screen time.

I promised myself that when I came back to sharing reflections and lessons from my journey with you, it would be without an ounce of pressure, and wow, do I take my promises seriously.

Hence the hiatus and hopefully also your confidence that whatever I write, no matter how simple or strange it may land, is coming from my heart with lightness and a love of life eager to be shared.

I invite you to take it as poetry rather than science. Or just the opposite! As proposals for scientific experiments in search of personal laboratories like yourself. You are the scientist, your life the laboratory, and this a place to share your observations and results… comments and private messages are welcome!

[spacer height=”10px”]Here’s an experiment to try on yourself…[spacer height=”5px”]

…though, I confess it may take a lifetime and requires serious dedication. (Serious, by the way, is one of my best and worst traits, it’s the secret to my health and also to my sickness. So take serious with a grain of salt and do it your way.)

The hypothesis is simple, it’s written in the headline and goes like this:

[blockquote]The answer to world peace is to be found in you and you alone, and the key is in observing and transforming the way you relate to your physical organism, aka your body.[/blockquote]

Underlying this hypothesis are three fundamental philosophies:
1. Your body IS your mind
2. The outer is a reflection of the inner is a reflection of the outer (aka the part reflects the whole, microcosm=macrocosm)
3. Love is the answer and you are the Source (click the link for info on an upcoming workshop!)
[spacer height=”10px”]Peace is a way of being, not a way of thinking. It’s an action, not an idea.[spacer height=”5px”]

You can think you want peace all day long, but if you’re waging war against your own impulses, habits and desires, or even worse, against the very essence of who you are, then your actions are violent and you’re living in battle mode.

That’s not to say that you should give in to every habit you’ve formed or act on every desire and impulse that arises. Peace is not submission.

Peace is acknowledgement, dialogue, and a willingness to be transformed.

That last one – that’s the kicker. There’s a difference between seeking transformation and a willingness to experience it. When we’re seeking, we can have a sense of what we might find and a feeling of being in control.

But to be transformed? You have to let go of who you think you are and what you think you want and open yourself to the experience of seeing and feeling from an entirely different perspective.

You may as well call transformation death. And who in their right mind goes out seeking death?!

Death is not for the faint of heart. But neither is birth, and here you are born and living, and as sure as you are born you will die – at least your body will.

Peace, I propose, begins when you acknowledge and make space for death in your life.

And I further propose that how you choose to eat, sleep, spend the greater portion of your time, exert yourself and care for yourself (or not) has more to do with your relationship to death than to health.

[spacer height=”10px”]Health is just a byproduct.[spacer height=”5px”]

I assure you that if you enter into a more peaceful dialogue with your incredible body that’s bound for death, your health will flourish.

For women, peaceful dialogues with our body can be especially challenging. I’ll skip the discussion of sociopolitical and religious reasons for this at the moment and simply refer you to guiding philosophy #2, i.e. as without so within… I’ll be back in another post with more to say, that’s a promise. Meanwhile, look to mother nature and the environmental crisis we’re facing for clues of what we’re individually facing within.

Women aren’t alone here. We’ve all been trained to look for our sense of self-worth in the image we project out to the world and we spend a lifetime waging war on our multi-dimensional, embodied being trying to beat it into submission and create a flattened image we think will earn us a place in the world. No wonder we feel stiff and tired, heavy with pain and bruised by our own emotions.

[spacer height=”10px”]When you’re working too hard and resting too little, when you’re eating without pleasure and moving without feeling, when you’re ignoring your pain and silencing your emotions, you’re in the war zone.[spacer height=”5px”]

On the flip side, when you’re giving yourself the rest you need, sacrificing productivity for some play, taking time to acknowledge and attend to your pain, making safe space in your life for feeling emotional, you are doing nothing less than contributing to world peace.

You’re also cultivating peace at home and at work and giving health the right conditions to crop up as a byproduct you didn’t have to struggle and toil for.

So remember to eat with pleasure! Because, you know, death. And peace!

[spacer height=”10px”]And as for moving with feeling…[spacer height=”5px”]

You may be wondering what the hoo ha that means? Maybe you’re even sensing a longing to know more?

This is where the work of coming into a more peaceful relationship with your body begins, and this is the exercise I’ll leave you with:

Beginner: Whenever you notice that you’re moving (ha ha! that’s a joke!) try to also notice what you feel. For example, can you feel the floor? Or your clothes? Certain muscles moving (or hurting)? Certain bones? Are you making contact with objects or people? What are you sensing? Notice sensation, but don’t lose track of noticing that you’re moving. Also, don’t shy from pain or ignore pleasure, they’re both calling your attention! Think of them as your personal mindfulness coaches.

Intermediate: Next try to notice how you feel while noticing how you’re moving. Doing one without the other doesn’t count, so pay attention. And be careful of controlling or shutting down the feeling, even if it’s “f’ing tired” or “like shit”. If your mind is doing it’s job trying to notice everything at once, it should be too busy for judgement. I can write this in a sentence, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do. I suggest trying this step when you’ve remembered to do the first exercise at least three times that same day.

Advanced: This is really ninja, but go ahead and try – notice that you’re moving, what you’re feeling as you move and how you’re feeling as you move. Actually, this isn’t ninja at all, this is Dance. But don’t let that stop you!

[spacer height=”10px”]The exercise is not an answer…[spacer height=”5px”]

…it’s a way of posing a question and listening to what comes up.

Take some time with it, and while you may not come out the other end considering yourself a dancer, you’ll certainly emerge with a better picture of how peaceful or not your relationship with your body is. You might even find clues as to where you’re ripe for a change in dynamic – if you need help picking them out, I’m here to help. In any case, try it out and please report.

[spacer height=”10px”]And one last word for those of you whom are feeling especially ripe for change![spacer height=”5px”]

I’m also ripe and now ready to re-open my private practice to a few select new clients. If my way of working with your body and cultivating health in your life is speaking to you, let’s speak us two (or three, I also work with couples)!

What makes you one of the select?
1. You’re serious, in your own special way of course, but enough to commit to a process and not assume that dropping in now and then at your convenience or only when crisis looms is the way forward.
2. You’re hungry for peace, thirsty for pleasure and willing to sit at the table with your pain and look it in the eye. I’ll create and hold a beautiful and safe space for the feast.
3. You’re not only open to transformation, you’re haunted by the thought you might die without experiencing it. And while you understand that no one can make transformation happen for you, you know that you need to be witnessed, held and sometimes guided in the process to move forward.
Contact me using the form below and we’ll start with a conversation.

Love,

Ophra

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Contact Me! (or leave comments below)
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February 9, 2018
Love After Brooklyn (a story in Dance)

I left Brooklyn three times in the past year, each time more definitively. By the time I’d officially given up my beautiful space on Dean St at the end of February, the heartbreak was so tangible that I was actually diagnosed with a broken heart by two cardiologists.

My 11-year love affair with Brooklyn was deep and passionate. That’s the longest I’ve lived in any one place my entire life, and it’s the first place I truly created a home for myself in.

But in order to make life in Brooklyn work, I increasingly had to sublimate my deepest passion – my fiery longing to dance. Worse, part of me started to believe that it was a doomed relationship, that dance was a lover I would never be allowed to hold, and I buried my sadness in busy-ness.

Moving out of Brooklyn was really moving towards that fire again, pleading with it to come back to me. I put my business aside and for several months didn’t see any clients or bother with many computer tasks, while I gently went about rekindling my love affair with dance.

I’ve had to be careful not to smother my fire with expectation or bury it under the weight of the past. And I’ve also had to fan the flames of the fire by investing precious resources without any demand for results other than a deepening connection to the longing to be together, dance and I.

Throughout all of this, there’s been one particular Rumi poem that I’ve found myself turning to over and over again (from Birdsong, translated by Coleman Barks) ~

TRF2W Long Dock – by Craig Chin

The way of love is not
a subtle argument.

The door there
is devastation.

Birds make great sky-circles
of their freedom.
How do they learn it?

They fall, and falling,
they’re given wings.

I’ve written before that I’m a professional faller, I teach people how to fall with grace and thrive in dynamic situations. So I took the leap myself and fell into the fire of my love for dance.

If the journey hasn’t been entirely easy or comfortable, it’s been a deeply moving and sometimes ecstatic lesson in the power of surrender.

Connection and Surrender have been the at the core of my dancing since April. The lessons and gifts along the way have been overwhelmingly beautiful. Here’s a truth I now know with every cell in my body:

Remember to keep moving towards what you love, no matter how fast or slow, with ease or difficulty – it’s the greatest contribution you can make towards a better world.

And here’s a glimpse of my rekindled love affair with dance, through photos & video, starting with an upcoming performance this Sunday and working back to April:

This Sunday, 8/23 – if you’re up for a summer adventure in the Hudson Valley, Craig and I (aka The River Flows Two Ways – dance & ambient guitar duo) will be doing a unique site-specific performance at the beautiful and haunting St. Margaret’s Orphan Asylum in Red Hook, NY this Sunday, 8/23. This abandoned historic home for girls will be full of art and life at this weekend’s pop-up event, Dog Dayz organized by the Red Hook Community Arts Network.

It’s family friendly and free. And there’s a great ice cream shop next door! We’ll be performing hourly, on the half hour, between 12:30 – 3:30 PM.

You can find directions and more information here.

This past Tuesday, 8/18, I hopped on the train to NYC to take part in this beautiful and loving tribute to the great Anna Halprin, who turned 95 this year. Nine of us met at Washington Square Park in the early evening to take part in a score organized by Laura Colomban and featuring dancers from Los Angeles, Europe and South America.

The beautiful video below was filmed and edited by Alysia Mazella, from our July 25 performance at the FAST.BACK. exhibit at Newburgh Last Saturdays. Jane Rigler, a dear friend and an incredible flutist, joined Craig Chin and I for the first and second of three sets.

https://vimeo.com/136833904

If you’re curious to see more, follow these links:
1st set, short: https://vimeo.com/136833903
1st set, long: https://vimeo.com/136315715
2nd set, long: https://vimeo.com/136318826

I spent a good part of the Spring and early Summer up at Minnewaska, at the gorgeous Awosting Falls, exploring movement and connection to nature with Teresa Smith’s Earth Body project. The project started in May and culminated in three public showings on the weekend of July 17. It was nothing short of cathartic to be rehearsing and exploring amidst such beautiful and majestic nature, and my other collaborators were sensitive and inspiring in so many ways. (Photo by Teresa Smith)

In June I snuck into Brooklyn one Saturday evening to perform an excerpt from my Duchamp-inspired piece that’s been in the making for over a decade now. I called it “The Bride Loosens Up”. Around 10PM, in the backyard of a house somewhere in BedStuy, with dance performances unfolding in fits and bursts outdoors and in in support of my colleague Rebeca Medina’s upcoming dance project, I came out in a white dress, took the silk handkerchief out of my mouth and let my voice rise from my belly before sliding into a big hole in the ground. It was dramatic, and funny, but it was entirely undocumented. Until the Bride rises again…

And finally, here’s a short video from the April performance that started it all, at the Art About Water event, my first public collaboration with guitarist Craig Chin under the moniker The River Flows Two Ways. You can find more videos on our YouTube channel:

Love,

Ophra

August 21, 2015