The Blue Rope

A year+ of covid. I have to say, it’s wearing on me. You, too?
So let’s escape for a bit…

Here’s a soothing, engaging body adventure….

The Blue Rope

Put on some slow, slinky, music. Lie down on your back (on a mat or some blankets) with your knees up, feet on the floor. Close your eyes. Feel your spine sink into the floor. Let it relax and soften. Visualize all the tiny little muscles that attach the spine together—little bitty bands that hold the discs and let everything move. Let them relax and soften.

Visualize your spine as a glowing blue rope. It’s thick, shining, infinitely flexible. Move the tiny muscles that hold the spine together—no movement really, because the muscles are so small. Just activate them with your energy.

Let the rope begin to move. Tiny little arcs and spirals, circles here and there. S-curves running up and down. Let it move with the music, subtle, so tiny it is barely discernible. Breathe with the music. Keep it small and gentle. When your body feels ready, you can let it lift you, but stay low: on your knees for a while. Continue to visualize the spine as a soft, glowing, blue rope, infinitely flexible.

Notice how the movement feels. Keep your eyes closed, the better to focus on the inside.

You may finally graduate to standing, if and when you feel like it. Continue to move from the spine—avoid activating anything else. Let all the shapes of your movement stay grounded in the glowing blue rope. Cultivate a quality of effortlessness as the spine roils around, enjoying its freedom to ooze and twist.

Play!
How much of your movement can be initiated from your flexible, glowing spine? (hint: A LOT!)

Here’s some music for that: Merçan Dede, Sufi Dreams.

We did this last week in Belly Dance BEDROCK. We had such a good time in this series, re-patterning to find organic ease in our deep movement vocabulary, that we are doing another 5 weeks. This time, we broaden our view into Transitions and Combinations, finding sleek, elegant pathways from one move to another, with some traveling steps to pull it all together. Back when I was first learning, Bobby taught transitions as movements in their own right, and they are.

What folks say about BEDROCK

This way feels so much better.

I get less tired lifting the hip from under

This makes it so much richer

It feels so effortless

It’s amazing how you feel the psoas by thinking of the movement

I love your approach, Alia!

Come explore with us! All classes are recorded (instructor view). Recordings available for a week each.
BEDROCK II Transitions & Combinations runs from Tuesday, March 23 through Tuesday, April 27 (no class March 30), from 4-5PM EDT Registration is open now.