DANCING WITH YOUR DEMONS
“Anyone else feeling hella lethargic but then creative and spiritual,
cranky then peaceful?…” -
- Kassa Overall
I just saw this post on social media from drummer Kassa Overall the other day and I had to laugh out loud. If you know Kassa, then you can probably also hear his voice asking this but in addition I FELT this. So I had one of those full hearted “Yes! Right there with you” knee-slap laughs.
I have been hearing from lots of students and friends lately saying that they are feeling numb, anxious, tense, tired, relaxed….A close friend of mine recently said to me that they felt as if they were “unraveling...in a good way”.
In a lot of ways covid19/quarantining feels like some version of ourselves/our demons have been let out without our permission. Like someone left the tap running or forgot to close the back door and now we find ourselves with more mental and or emotional overwhelm and less options to release the noise if we are not conscious.
In times like these I am so grateful that I have been building and refining an Embodied Artist practice for the last 15 plus years. While my voice and movement training help my voice to sound clear, loud, strong, steady, on pitch... it’s also actually what I use to balance and regulate my thoughts, my mood, my fears and my excitement.
Another way of saying this is WHAT THE SONG NEEDS YOU ACTUALLY NEED AS WELL...if that makes sense. The song, whether original or a cover, needs your voice to be healthy, your throat to be open, your breath to be free yet supported, your mind to be present, your heart open and your body strong yet flexible.
This is what makes an Embodied practice SO valuable and it's what allows my students to dance with their own demons when they show up.
Want to learn more about how to dance (or sing:) with your demons?
