Photos of Snake Goddess Performance

Sometimes I feel just like this.....

Featured Pose: Supported Forward Bend

Supported Forward Bend or Seated Pachimottanasana.

* Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
* Stretches the spine, shoulders, hamstrings
* Stimulates the liver, kidneys, ovaries, and uterus
* Improves digestion
* Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause and menstrual discomfort
* Soothes headache and anxiety and reduces fatigue
* Therapeutic for high blood pressure, infertility, insomnia, and sinusitis
* Traditional texts say that Paschimottanasana increases appetite, reduces obesity, and cures diseases.

(Yoga Journal)

photo by Meta Lackland

rain

lately, the rain has been constant. i feel like it's been a heavy weight on me. i can't seem to get out of bed easy. i sleep fine through the night. go to bed at a reasonable, early hour. now i find myself drinking coffee right now which i never do. the rain has slowed down but it's still coming down. still cloudy, dark sky. perhaps i need to do a rain dance. or a yoga practice for the rain. some kind of ritual that will acknowledge it's presence. it's been raining since saturday. i know for sure i could never live in seattle. not much has come up for me this week. just heavy. weight. dark. my yoga practice this week has consisted of forward bends which makes sense. typically, backbends would be more beneficial because at least you're awakening the heart. but my body has been wanting to go more inward in my yoga practice, especially this week. i will just honor that and not analyze it too much.

Peppermint, you save me

i have ranted about peppermint before and i'll do it again. IT ROCKS! it was nice not to have class last night and go out with some classmates, but man, going out on a school night can have an affect on you the next day. at least nowadays. for me. i found my first gray hair yesterday and was like, shit that's pretty cool. then feeling groggy after lunch, patted my temples with some peppermint oil and poof! instant perk! now with a sliver of a hangover (thank god i remembered the ibprofen and glass of water at bedtime), i dumped some peppermint oil into my green tea and rubbed some on my temples and it's clearing the brain and the stomach nicely.

thank you peppermint leaf for being created and continue growing!

Video of my performance at Bare Bones Butoh Presents 16

Watch my video, "Snake Goddess" from my performance last weekend

http://vimeo.com/8687572

Enjoy and feel free to share!

weekend of play

it was a full weekend, but of wonderful things. i performed friday and saturday night; saw avatar; taught yoga; took a butoh workshop; went food shopping and made dinner with my hubby.

performing was fun, surprising and exhilarating! i performed to yma sumac, an amazing peruvian singer of the 50s and 60s who can sing in 4 octaves (sorry, mariah but she outdoes ya!). the name of my piece was "snake goddess" in which i did become a snake goddess. i not only had the white, butoh make up on, but something really broke out inside of me. i love it when my playful self comes out, along with my sensual, sexual self. what's even better is that it's so meshed and integrated together. that's what made it so fun!

i'm not going to go into everything i did but i have to share about the workshop for my own needs and for memory. we did this exercise which i absolutely adore. one person represents seaweed and the other represents the current. the seaweed keeps their feet grounded and eyes closed, while the current intentionally touches a part of the seaweed's body. then the seaweed reacts to it. as we really progressed into the exercise, the teacher had us add sound, instead of touching then words or text. the seaweed could now move about, reacting to the stimulus. when i was the seaweed, my current gave me the following words i remember so far:

red, sodium hydroxide

i wish i could remember the others but the images that came up were of hardness, coldness, like branches of a tree in the middle of the artic, but the color red. no leaves or life on this tree because of the cold. yet, my body was there in that space. i can picture it now in the middle of the arctic ocean, emerging as if it wants to escape, yearns for rescue and refuge. a lot of feelings/emotions come up around that image. wanting to move forward but there's fear. fear of what? the unknown? beauty can emerge from the darkness.

i'm going to end there....

Time to practice

I have added another declaration to my list:

I will practice yoga at least 3 times a week

You think being a yoga teacher you would have lots 'o time. Nope! It's not always that way. Working a fulltime job and going to massage school can definitely make it difficult at times. However, last night, I got home from work, changed my clothes and rolled out the mat. I didn't allow my mind/head to get in the way of that action, no way! I began doing gentle movement to warm up my body; sun salutations came next and then prepping for backbends. I love backbends and it's a workshop I am going to teach really soon. As I took myself in and out of about 4-5 backbends of Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward bow or wheel), I could feel my heart center bursting open with pleasure and relief. I could feel it from my head to my toes and then back up to my head. It was a total somatic/body experience. Then I transitioned into inversions: headstand and shoulderstand. After shoulderstand, I once again felt that surge of energy, but with a sense of calmness and peace. It was like that feeling I used to get when I first began doing yoga. When you just smoked pot for the first time and you have that floaty feeling. I then realized how much I missed my practice. My time to myself and with my body.

When I was in savasana, I basked in it. I allowed my body to let go and integrate everything I experienced in the practice. I visualized myself teaching what I just practiced and that felt so good. I ended in a seated position and chanted "Om".

I want more of that now. Even if I have limited time, I want to be there again. I will be.

Gotta rant about this....

okay, i know some businesses and organizations have to take certain measures to keep their workers from spending too much time on the internet. at my job, they blocked facebook (even though they have a fan page whatever!). now they're blocking a blog website, www.thoughts.com, which i used to be able to view all last year and i have an account set up. now i can't view it. FUCK YOU!

sorry but it's just obnoxious when all other affiliates of the organization i work for can, in fact view youtube!!!! youtube for heaven's sake! which has the most obnoxious stuff than any other blog site.

okay, i've ranted enough.


thanks.

2010 Declarations

As I read from a friend's newsletter, the new year is like a fresh canvas. You get to start from the beginning, reflect on before and look ahead. Last night, I went to my support group, WealthSTeam. It's been our 2nd meeting where a bunch of like-minded individuals get together and create what they want out of their businesses, career or life's goals. It's also been a great support system. People need guidance in some form. For me, it's community and being able to connect with others.

One of the things we shared was our declarations/goals for 2010. Mine are:

1. I will complete the massage therapy program by the end of the year
2. I leverage my debt in a healthy way
3. I will teach 1 yoga workshop and 1 movement workshop this year

I know there's more brewing inside, but I thought I'd start with the ones that are really alive for me right now. What I learned about making declarations is the importance of repeating them to yourself everyday, whether it's before you go to bed or when you wake up, or both. The theme of the meeting last night was creation/manifestation. What's really great about this group is that we all know or have heard of the Law of Attraction and/or Conscious Creation. We all have something to bring to the table that will benefit each other. It's so inspiring and exciting!

So write a couple or more down for yourself and speak them before bed or when you wake up. Be patient and you will receive!

Butoh Workshops this weekend

I'll be attending Sunday's workshop. Totally psyched!

Workshop #1
Syzygy Butoh Workshop
Taught by Nathan Montgomery

Saturday, Jan 9, 2010
2:00-5:00 pm
Studio 210, 3435 Cesar Chavez (@Valencia)
San Francisco
$35

In this workshop we will focus on recovering and cultivating physical dignity in the body and expression. Syzygy Butoh proposes a dance training in which we develop energetic presence in order to liberate our impulses and learn to work with all our energetic qualities. We start by exploring the empty body, or corpse body. From there we move into progressive explorations of standing, walking, running, twisting and jumping. By focusing on these simple physical actions we can recover basic energetic principles of presence in the dance. We then move into improvisational explorations that challenge us to reach beyond our normal movement patterns and explore our connection to multiple dimensions of body, space, time and content. For example, we may explore what the quality of stone has to teach us in dance, or the quality of paper, flower, wind, water, etc. Come with a beginners mind. No previous dance training necessary.

Nathan teaches and performs throughout the United States. He has studied Butoh for over ten years with Diego Pinon, as well as spent time in Japan with the Ohnos. He works in collaboration with such groups as Human Nature in Arizona and the CarpetBag Brigade of San Francisco. He co-created TinHouse Experimental Dance Theatre in Boulder, CO, and continues to base his productions there . In classic proscenium, on mountaintops, or in the town junkyard Syzygy performs in diverse venues. and settings. For Nathan, while the work is originally connected to the seed of Japanese Butoh, Syzygy grows as an American Butoh.

Workshop #2
The Poetic Body
Butoh: connection, spirit and form
Taught by Jennifer Hicks

Sunday Jan 10, 2010
12:00-3:00 pm
Studio 210, 3435 Cesar Chavez (@ Valencia)
San Francisco
$35

The Poetic Body is a movement laboratory for those interested in traveling deep into movement consciousness in the context of dance/theatre. Topics of exploration toward choreography may include personal memory, embodying imagery, awareness training, translating poetry to movement, puppetry techniques for the body, meditation, physical stamina training and choreography/designing space. Splicing metaphors and specificity of form, we become the worlds and carry its atmospheres. Exercises range from slow internal focus to chaos. The physical and energetic body transforms through birth, influence and letting go, revealing a new relationship to imagery, the audience, and body/mind. Combining movement imagery with space, shape, time, gesture, relationship and kinesthetic delight. Spirit, space, atmosphere, partner exercises meet though form.

Ms Hicks believes form must go hand in hand with spirit for the theater, not one chancing the other. We will explore pure kinesthetic joy of moving and finding connection to space, self, others and spirit as well as finding a repeatable form. We will work with form/technique letting spirit erupt from inside. We dance from metaphors and experience, colliding worlds open to a river of thoughts and feelings. We move from earth, from emptiness, from strength and from turmoil. From specificity, we create, through spirit we dance. Students will work as a group, solo and in partners.

Jennifer is of the 3rd wave of butoh artists which began dancing in the United States in the late 1980's/early 1990's. She has studied with many Japanese Butoh Masters, but her main mentor is Katsura Kan. She has also been influenced greatly by her study with Maureen Fleming and early training in butoh with artists such as the Tamanos at the San Francisco Butoh Festivals. Her other influences include modern dance, Body Mind Centering, Yoga, The Viewpoints, Shintaido and Trancedance. These aspects are taught in unique combination creating an ongoing investigation into how one is to take Butoh, as a viable performance technique, into the next century. Let's talk, dance, and share ideas.

Basic class structure: brief meditation - warm-ups to unify the group, stretch and train the body/mind - dynamic group, partner or solo exercises designed to build spirit, energy and focus - work with butoh kata or forms - combine into dance/set in space and time - closing.


Once again, to sign up for these classes, or for further info on the performances, please contact:
Bob Webb
bobwebb20@hotmail.com
415-821-7124

Bare Bones Butoh Presents 16 this weekend!

I'll be performing this weekend. Come check it out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Benefit for a member of the community who wishes to remain nameless.

WHEN:
Friday Jan 8, and Saturday, Jan 9, 2010 (yep, that's this coming weekend!)
Both performances are at 8:00 pm

WHERE:
Studio 210
3435 Cesar Chavez St
San Francisco, CA 94110
Studio 210 is located in the former Sears Building, inset from the corner of Cesar Chavez and Valencia Street. Accessible by BART - 24th St Station; and MUNI - #27, #12, #14, #49.

TICKETS:
$5-$20 sliding scale. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Additional donations are graciously accepted and gratefully appreciated.

WHO:
This time around: Christina Braun (Sat only), Cheryl Burns, Shelley Cook-Contreas, Michael Curran (Fri only), Mark Deutsch (Sat only), Jennifer Hicks, Henry Kaiser, Mateo Lugo, Luku (Fri only), Martha Matsuda (Sat only), Ri Molnar (Fri only), Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney (Sat only), Shawnrey Notto (Sat only), Liz Roncka, Liz Saari-Filippone, Sharoni S. Seigel, Bob Webb, and Daniel WrightAbigail.
Surprise guest artists may well also be performing. There are often last minute additions (local, national, and international artists) to the programming, it's that kind of show.

Bare Bones Butoh Presents is a performance showcase for local and International artists working in the areas of Butoh, Performance Art, and/or Ritual Performance. It exists for artists to try out new material, show works in process, hone improvisation chops and redo or revisit previous material. Bare Bones Butoh Presents employs the grassroots ethic of working together to sustain an artistic culture.

The minimal fee the audience pays at the door allows Bare Bones Butoh Presents to function as a fundraising platform which supports local Butoh and Performance Artists. Every Bare Bones Butoh Presents show has been a Benefit Performance for an individual or group within the Butoh/Performing Arts community in need. Bare Bones Butoh Presents 16 is no exception. All proceeds from these performances go towards a member of the community who wishes to remain nameless. Please feel free to donate freely, it's a good cause.

Bare Bones Butoh Presents is community building and performance all smushed together into two evenings.
We hope to see you there.

For further info on the performances, or to register for the workshops, please contact: Bob Webb
bobwebb20@hotmail.com
415-821-7124