Instead of an end-of-the-year letter, how about a beginning-of-the year one? I like to think about the Chinese New Year, because it responds to nature and uses imagery to enhance meaning. This year is the Wood Snake. Qualities include growth, creativity, introspection. Wood Snakes are resourceful and adaptable. We are encouraged to focus on self-development, nurturing connections and pursuing long-term goals. These are to me just reminders of qualities we can focus on all the years of our lives, but giving them a little more emphasis, the extra reminders, is always a good plan.
I hear the distress repeatedly of our loss of connections. The rising loneliness in a world of increasing technology. How do we hold on, how do we nurture that which we know is vital to us thriving?
Reminders of what is important to us, can be found by putting our physical bodies into environments that wake up our attention. From quiet nature walks to volunteer work, wherever you find connections, embrace them. I believe it is important to keep your eyes open to the beauty and the destruction, smother yourself in self-care, and reach out to others with our actual voices, our physical touch. We need each other, we always have.
This year’s offering of retreat in New Mexico, is focused on far more than yoga asana, but it is a yogic practice, As the term “yoga” originating from the Sanskrit “yuj”, meaning to yoke, to unite, this time aims to connect the body, mind and spirit, bringing together aspect of oneself and connecting with the world around us. The land of Abiquiu, where the retreat will be held this year, has a palpable history. You can smell it in the air, hear it in the silence, feel it in your bones as you sit on its dusty earth. This is a week to slow down, get a good dose of nature to assist in our dive inwards, strengthening us from the inside. Reminding us that time in the presence of other humans, as well as the visceral connection with the land we live and depend on is more important than any social media scroll, any virtual world could offer.
I have been focused on “creative pathways”. Not just doing things the way we always have, sitting back in familiarity, but through playfulness, discovering the availability of other resources so we can shift more easily to the changing tides, bend as the bamboo, soften instead of harden in our responses or reactions. So don’t forget to play, and then play some more!
To conclude, cheers to another year where we strengthen our human web, holding hands with our tree friends and listening to the mycelium synapses, one big interconnected hug.
About Nadine Lollino
Nadine Lollino has been creating and performing in the arts of dance, costume making and video since 2002. She currently creates as MovementLab. Nadine has previously danced with Anatomical Dance Theater, Breakbone Dance Co., and the Humans, all Chicago-based companies and was co-founder of multi-media collective PosterchildArt. She has been presenting her own works since 2005, traveling nationally and internationally.
