Dear Ones –

We started our new round of classes this last Sunday (and will blog about that soon), following an absolutely delightful little Open House the previous Sunday (and will blog about that soon, also!).

I made a little “covenant” or pact with new intermediate student S., who has a great background in dance; strong set of basic techniques. And like many of us, she’s ready to find her “true self” in dance. She’s ready to open up her realm of technique, of choreography, of self-expression … but I get ahead of myself.

One of her dance “idols” is Suhaila Salimpour. I agree, Suhaila is one of the “great ones.” In fact, I took my VERY FIRST belly dance workshop with her, many years ago. She was eighteen at the time, and she taught the workshop in Philadelphia. It was such an adventure to go to my very first workshop! (She did a great job, by the way.)

So both S. and I would benefit by having practice sessions throughout the week, and I suggested that we each get one of Suhaila’s DVDs and work out with it. (Suhaila has lots of DVDs out, and there are at least a few with the Fairfax Public Library.)

Yesterday, to make good on my promise – before I got so distracted with other things that it slipped off my list – I pulled Suhaila’s Yoga Fusion DVD from my shelves, and fired it up in the very early morning hours. (What better way to get an official government “holiday” started than with a good workout?)

This really is a good workout; about 40 minutes. And it really is NOT for Beginners! The people who will benefit the most from this DVD will already have some dance training, and are in reasonably good shape, and who want to improve not only their flexibilty, but the smoothness, the “liquidity,” of their undulations – and get better control over their core muscles.

What I particularly like about working with this DVD is how Suhaila takes us into undulations (both “normal” and “reverse”) starting with the yoga cat/cow alternation. A great way to improve our sense of how the undulations come about naturally and organically in our bodies!

Opening Our Hearts – With Movements from Oriental Dance

Dear One –

It’s been a long winter. We’ve shoveled snow, we’ve huddled against the cold. We’ve spent our days and evenings at the computer desk, hunching over the keyboard.

Now, warmer weather beacons. (We’re going to have a warm day this Sunday!) We’re getting ready to get out and play.

Before we even think about things like “getting in shape,” we have something to do first: Restore our body’s natural alignment.

Loosen up a little.

Unkink.

Literally, this Valentine’s Day (right on the heels of Imholc, the Druidic New Year, and also the Chinese New Year), it’s time to open our hearts. Release all the tense and tight muscles in our diaphagms and our spines.

Earlier, I was going to use this first big Open House as a time for loosening up our pelvis. A lot of Shakira-shaking. (Think “Hips Don’t Lie.”) A lot of shimmy.

Well, that will have to wait for another month.

Right now, it’s all about heart. And ribcage, and spine (especially right in our midback, where we carry some tension). And our diaphragms – which have gotten very tight and compressed over this winter.

So this Sunday, we’ll do a whole lot of stretching and limbering up – and a lot of opening our heart – with movements taken directly from Oriental dance.

See you Sunday – 11AM! (Email me at alaynya (at) alaynya (dot) com if you need directions.)

yours in dance – Alay’nya

P.S. – One of my dear friends, Kathy Carroll, sent me a book – “I Come As a Brother,” by Bartholomew. He talks about “opening our heart” as “radiant pink” energy field. What a lovely read!

Darlings – read the latest celebrating our pivoting towards light, life, and movement at Letter to My God(dess) Daughters – Imholc (Feb 2nd).

“Imholc – A Time of New Beginnings”

February 2nd, 2011

My Dearest Darling God(dess) Daughter –

I’m writing to you in the pre-dawn hour of Imholc, the day which the ancient Druids identified as “beginning the year.” Doesn’t this make sense to you?

Really, Winter Solstice – or the end of the “Twelve days of Solstice” – is not our time of “new beginnings.” It may be the end of the previous year – but we have a rest time, a fallow time, between the end of one cycle and the beginning of the new.

Our society pushes us to hyper-activity. Just as we are most desiring to withdraw, to go inward, and to be very quiet, our social calendars and family responsibilities often dictate a time of increased shopping, travel, and social activities. We expect ourselves to write cards and notes to people (often – right around Winter Solstice – more than we do in the entire preceding year). We expect ourselves to shop for gifts, wrap them, mail them, all when the weather is getting very difficult!

Yes, of course at this time, we want to connect. We want emotional warmth. But the expectations that we have on ourselves sends us into over-drive, into hyper-achievement, just when our inner selves desire to calm down, to get centered, and to be very quiet.

A little silly, isn’t it?

And as for this “seasonal affective disorder” business? Bah! Of course our psyches are drawn inward at this time of year. This should be our time of going into our cave, of snuggling up by the fire, and maybe sleeping a little more than uusual. And if we put on a few extra pounds, well, don’t bears do the same?

Well now, that’s all settled. And we’re not in the deep, dark, heart of winter anymore. As of today, the cycle of seasons is at a very important turning point.

We’re at – very literally – the beginning of our new year. (The Chinese, an ancient, wise, and noble culture, don’t start their new year until this month, also. They simply tie their new year to a lunar starting time, rather than solar.)

As of today, no matter what the weather is outside, we have more energy. We have more sunlight. Our days are noticably longer, and we can see more daylight every day. And despite the fits and spurts of winter storms, we notice that it’s also a bit warmer.

We’ve survived winter thus far, and we have some confidence that we’ll get through the rest.

So now – that we are on this New-Year-threshold – what to do?

Get out of the house! (or the office, as the case may be) – Go for a walk; at lunchtime, whenever. Move about!
Clean and organize – Organize last year’s financials. Do your spreadsheets. Gather up the contact info from your last set of Christmas cards, and all the emails you’ve received, and get a headstart on cleaning up your people-contacts.
Go to (or hold) a party – Make it a “get moving” party – a belly dance party, or any sort of shake-off- the-winter-doldrums kind of gathering.

And if you can – join us – we’re having an Open House in just ten days; Sunday, February 13th! Noon – 2PM. Contact me for details – alaynya (at) alayna (dot) com. See you soon, darling!

Live joyously, my darlings! – Alay’nya

Dear Ones —

I began writing more to you, here in this blogpost, back last spring – during April and May. And many of you (wonderful, dear family and friends) responded by signing up as “Followers.” Thank you so much! Each one of your warmed my heart with your interest in Unveiling, in what we were doing here in the Alay’nya Studio, and most of all – in the unfolding pathway as it exists for each of us.

Up until now, Unveiling has been largely a private journey. I began writing the book itself as far back as 1996 (and have chapter drafts in Archives that have that copyright date). But as I admit in the Unveiling Introduction, it took many efforts, over many years, to get to the point where I was really and truly ready to complete the book.

Now, after an arduous and extremely focused summer, Unveiling is complete, and has been uploaded to the Design Team. Just a few minutes ago, I started a new blog: The Unveiling Journey. This is the Unveiling-specific blog. It will contain everything from sharing the “meta-story” of how Unveiling came to be written (my own process for writing), to the strategy and tactics of book writing, publishing, and marketing, to the unfolding Unveiling story – the juicy, special details – who is who and what is what. I’ll reveal my master teachers and their teachers (and perhaps include a few special stories), and share my special, “behind-the-scenes” stories of the real, live unveiling of Unveiling!

To stay on top of Unveiling, go to The Unveiling Journey and sign up as a Follower. (Just the same as you did to become a Follower at this site – and if you haven’t done so already, start Following me here today!)

I’ll be sending out occasional (don’t worry, you won’t be “spammed”) emails to all my Unveiling Followers (at least, those of you who give me an email address) letting you know all the juicy details of what’s coming up: The Video Book Trailer (and maybe even show some behind-the-scenes shots of it being produced). The parties, the book signings, and the interviews. The articles that are being written about Unveiling.

And if you’re thinking now about Christmas presents (it’s never to early to start), why not plan on getting autographed Unveiling copies – dated on the first week of Unveiling’s release – for your smother, grandmother, favorite aunties, sisters, teachers, students, and girlfriends? My Design Team and my Production Team are working around the clock; we plan to have Unveiling ready direct through Amazon.com, and also through me (which will be the way that you can get an autographed copy – or as many autographed copies as you want) for Christmas.

More soon!

yours in dance –
Alay’nya
The “Fountain of Youth” Guru

I stepped outside earlier this morning, and could feel it. It wasn’t just the sense of the very longest of the very long early summer days. It wasn’t just the heat, the humidity – promising that a lovely morning would turn into a sweltering afternoon. Rather, it was feeling, and sensing, that pivot point of the year.

Earlier today, for the briefest of moments, the sun stood still. At least, that is the sense that we have, here on Earth, in our experience of orbiting around the sun. And now, with a greater sense of acceleration, we start to whoosh towards the other side; towards the shortest days, and the longest nights.

And we will repeat this two more times, and on the third “whoosh” towards the longest night, we will be approaching Winter Solstice of 2012; the time that has been the focus of much attention over the past several years.

What exactly are we expecting? Will the world suddenly come to an end? Will the Apocalypse of John’s story in Revelations start coming true, word for word? Will we wake up on the morning of January 1st, 2013, to a world that is remarkably different – if we wake up at all?

Or is there something else?

Inner Healing through Belly Dance

It’s been a lovely day. I started with – if not reconnecting with some people – at least getting a few more of those names into my ACT! contact management database, AND my MS Outlook contact cards, so that – when the time comes – I CAN connect with them. Lovely feeling.

I’ve done a lot of preps for the very technical course I’ll be teaching at one of the local universities this fall.

And, because my mind needed something “real” – not just the latest techno-story, but something with a bit of meat – I did some physics. At least identified some articles that were VERY interesting, and did the quickest of little write-ups on a few of them – more just annotating bookmarks than anything else.

And then I went for a walk.

Lovely, almost cool early summer evening. The birds had started singing before 5AM (I was up well before then), and here it was well after eight – and the sky was still light. How I love this season! And just a few days now until solstice – the maximal energy point of the year. I can feel it, and love this time.

But during the walk, something started happening. Actually, it had begun before I left the house.

I was beginning to feel things — lots of emotional “churn” was coming up. Feelings of sadness, of loneliness, of needing to connect, and of loss. Of remembering people who had died, and with whom I could no longer connect – or not so easily. And feeling the “pain” factor that is the flip side of being highly creative, and needing intensely focused time in order to create. That is the loneliness of these moments.

And it just so happened that there was no one of “like mind” to whom I could turn.

And so, during the walk, it started to happen. Some music came into me — I was “dancing” in my mind as I walked down the street. I came home, put the music on, and started some improv. Yes, there were some choreography fragments that I’d learned in a workshop – about a year ago at this time. But the music had a lot of “heart-swelling” types of movements embedded in it.

In fact, the music was very “heart-oriented,” with a subdued “dub-dub,” “dub-dub.”

And it was that feeling that I started connecting with during dance.

I used the dance to open my diaphragm, to open my shoulders and pecs (which had become very constricted during all the computer work of the day), and to feel.

And tomorrow, I hope to again do the same.

Unveiling: An Inner Journey

Chapter 1: What Do Women Really Want?

Dear Ones – An excerpt from the first chapter:

“The Wife of Bath was a saucy lady. We find her interesting, even today, as we note her feisty and independent spirit. She held her own among fellow pilgrims when, enroute to Canterbury, they held a story-telling contest. Her story harkened back to the days of knights and dragons, of spells and sorcery, and of damsels in distress.

“In the days of King Arthur, a lusty young man came upon a beautiful maiden, and promptly raped her. There was a hue and cry at this misdeed, and King Arthur sentenced him to death. The ladies of the court, however, felt this sentence was too harsh. They pleaded for his life. Finally, King Arthur gave this young man over to the Queen. His life was completely in her hands. If she decided that he was to die, he would die. If she decided he could walk free, he would walk free.

“The Queen thanked King Arthur, and made her decision. ‘I will grant you your life,’ she said, ‘if you can tell me what thing it is that women most desire.’ She gave him a year and a day to find out, and to return to her with that answer.”

For the rest of Chapter 1 — Unveiling should be released by early Autumn. Until then, I’ll be posting more tidbits and teasers — enjoy!

Candle Dancing by Alay’nya!

I’m thrilled to present a beautiful candle dance, set to “Mosaic” on Sandstorm by Farzad Farhangi, this coming Sunday at the annual Washington Area Mid-Eastern Dance – WAMEDA Members’ Hafla in Clinton, MD. The event will be at the American Legion Hall in Clinton, and will start at 2PM. I’ll kick off the second set – which is my favorite; this dance really is a “ritual invocation” of fire energy – and now is the time to bring this into our lives!

Photo by Kriss. Used with permission.

There will be many other wonderful area dancers, including Amustela, who first introduced me to Farzad’s beautiful music. She’s closed out our last several shows, and always gets rave reviews from the audience!

No kidding. It does, really.

As I write to you, my day is just beginning – a couple of hours earlier than usual (it’s 4:30 local time, and the time that you see for blogposts is Pacific – VERY misleading!).

Early, early morning – right about now – is my favorite time for writing to you. The “air” is quiet, so to speak. The hubbub and churn and people-density of the day has not yet started.

I love this quiet time. Because I’m an early-morning person, my mind is awake and clear – perhaps at its best in terms of insight coupled with intuition. (And a little bit of caffeine helps!)

At various times this year, I wasn’t even “playing by my own rules.” I’d wake up, and immerse myself in a project – still wrapped in a warm, fuzzy bathrobe. Yes to a cup of tea and feeding the cats. No to everything else. And then, I’d come out of “project immersion” to find that it was late morning – sometimes even early afternoon – and I was far from either looking or feeling my best for the day. And a very late recovery would ensue.

Now, one of my “secrets” to happiness (and even fame and prosperity!) is to “get gorgeous first.”

This means everything. I’m not kidding; I really do mean EVERYTHING. The full, all-out, pull-out-all-the-stops gorgeousness. Do everything you might do for a big date, or a great night out on the town. (OK, sometimes, even now, I skip setting my hair — but I’m even becoming more diligent about that!)

As an example, right now I’m not only showered and “dressed,” I’m taking “dressed” to its highest level. I’m wearing a long, coral-peach silk negligee – trimmed with lace that has just a tiny bit of sparkle. (And although I’ve had this gorgeous piece for a couple of years, today is the first day that I’m wearing it. I had been saving it for something “special.” Well, today is “special”! I’m writing to you, and that’s “special” enough, isn’t it?

I’m wearing my silky Chinese-brocade robe, best Manolo Blahnik mules, full cosmetics and jewelry, and whooshed all over with my very best perfume! And there’s no one in the house who is awake to enjoy this. Except that I’m writing to you – and for a private moment, between us right now, isn’t that reason enough to make this time very “extra-special”!

We’ve got a lovely Memorial Day weekend coming up. Why not take time – MAKE the time – for yourself? Whatever it is that you’ve got planned, look (and feel) as gorgeous as possible while doing your “whatever.”

Take a look at your to-do list, and see if there isn’t a way to simplify, or get some things off your list entirely. Add a little time for making yourself beautiful, and giving yourself a little pleasure. Allow your inner Goddess to emerge, and allow others the privilege of serving the Goddess – by serving you!

Remember, there is a world of difference between approaching others when you are stressed, harried, and groomed just enough for social civility – versus being a “Goddess;” someone who is so beautifully put together, and so calm and simply enjoying being in the present moment, that others simply want to be with you – because they’d like a little of what you have to rub off on them!

Live joyfully, my darling!

yours in dance – Alay’nya