today

We are rotating our hips and opening up the core center of our bodies. Teacher says to move from this core. I remember Kider say for Feldenkrais workshop, they say to move from spine, like led by spine. Different ways of movement. Lead by core, or lead by spine... posture like a little invisible rope from the sky holding me up, suspending my body in the air. Held up by sky, held down by gravity, suspended right in the middle, both floated and grounding. And this is how our dance and our movement has power.

In tai chi (I haven't gone to my regular morning practice for about a week now. Had small cold last week. This week, am dancing instead. I miss my morning tai chi people... and wonder how I can fit EVERYTHING into my schedule... and, I cannot. And, it's more than perfectly fine.) So, in tai chi... also, in all my dance classes: weight transfer from one side to another, then some body part leading the movement, and rest of body following. Effortless and graceful, and relaxing as well. In my Wednesday dance classes with Teacher Wu, we will learn to fly... he says his classes are designed to OPEN OPEN OPEN us up in all the ways we've always kept ourselves closed... and we will become weightless, and fly. Oooooh... and then in jazz class, our movements are "knife cutting tofu": sharp and precise. Modern dance is a combination of gentle opening and ripping openings. When I brush my teeth, gentle force of horse stance: feet apart shoulder width, weight down, knees slightly bent right over feet... and then pelvic circling and opening opening opening...

lub-a-lub-lub Love

I don't have much computer time. But, the days that I do have computer access, I want to write a small blurb each day about something. Anything rather ordinary yet meaningful that catches my attention, and deserves to be remembered and shared. Enjoy. :)

"The English teacher is in the bathroom stall next to you!" a small kid proclaimed to another kid in the bathroom today. I felt rather self-conscious about my large feet sticking out of the bottom of the bathroom stall. And then, they waited for me to come out afterwards, to see if it really was me.
"Hi teacher Osha," they walk by with beaming smiles.
A girl leans against the book shelf. She is singing the song that I've been sharing with them for the past few classes. Maybe this is only my third class with them? She sings it perfectly. I've taken the big-Washington-tree song from Orchard Hill Farm ("uma uma uma yay...") and added words to it adapted from a different African song, and then I fitted it to teaching basic English to small children. ("Hello, hello... how are you? Welcome to my village! Hello, welcome here! Welcome to my village! Welcome to our village!") Today, also taught "standing like a tree" (thanks Teaching Drum, Chelsea, Lety, and all the women of every women's circle I've ever been part of), including the dance... and "round and round we go" (thanks Teaching Drum again, and Two Coyotes and all my Connecticut and other connected families!) I am glad that my night-teaching classes are over. Now, kindergardeners are high energy, laugh a lot, and exude playful loving energy that just sends all the phlegm and cold autumn-transition sickness straight out of my system, and my cheeks are sore from smiles.
Am starting to tutor a little 6 year old who reminds me so sweetly of the Teaching Drum clan kids, and my small Coyotes from already a year ago. I miss my small coyotes... the little girl here started out very shy. Then when she opened up... it is like watching the first rays of morning sun hitting the baby leaves of the plant I just planted this morning. Exquisite, radiant, precious beauty, and miracle of life.
In Sunday Taichi, new friends have a baby named Agor. They want to move into the mountains and raise their child in a natural way and natural environment. They want him to build huts, play with other kids, make his own toys, and plant food and medicine.
Grateful for all my teachers, both academic and non-academic. I have all the best teachers in the world right now! Especial love and joy from past week to Tara, Ah Ji, Fa Ge, Ah Fu Ge, Ah Ge, Kider, my taiji teachers, 85 year old dancer choreographer and anthropologist Liu-Feng-Xue, my dance teacher Wang, dance teacher Zeng, dance teacher Wu, ceramics teacher, Tofu, Marina... big love, inspiration, support, and... grateful to have found all these lovely people. Hoping to wave fear away and deepen connections with all colors of rainbow beauty and ugliness: and that balance makes it all the more beautiful.

Today's was more than a small blurb! Tomorrow, I'll write much less. :)

taiwan to china to thailand to taiwan

6 moons have rotated their way on by

i am riding a different bike now

my knees hurt more than ever i've experienced in my life

i am rotating my wrists more than ever in my life

i am taking classes again

i feel like a college student

i am a teacher again of small children

and a follower of old people thru the hills

always have been following these old ones thru the hills

i like the very old and the very young

these are the closest to truth, perhaps

the knowing wisdom of old age, borne of a lifetime of accumulated stories

the innocent beaming of childhood, borne of the freshness of previous lifetimes accumulating into now

i've wandered off from taiwan for half a year, and now back

everything feels the same

it is so easy to return to old rhythms, but now in new ways

i feel fresher, more grown?

and that which i wish to attract into my life

feels like it comes ever faster

life is so very very full

spent weekend in mountains with new friends

by pure chance meeting one beautiful person after another

i would follow you thru the hills any day, and for a long time too

but the question keeps arising

as i keep following one wise beautiful person after another into the hills

and we emerge back out again into the sunshine from the shaded forest

which is my path?

i keep following the path of another

sculpting my own winding path of another person's, then jumping onto another, then another

learning so much thru walking in others' footsteps,

but what footsteps mark my own path?

my grandma says that i jump around too much

some other elders applaud my jumping, saying that without dancing around, i may not recognize my own path

and gradually a general rhythm arises from the jumping and seemingly sporadic dancing

it is not so sporadic

there is rhythm in this

what gifts have china and thailand given me?

what gifts are taiwan giving me?

i have returned

it is rare for me to return to a place, to a people

i have planted seeds on my uncle's balcony

every morning, i brush my hair there, and feed it to the seeds, and watch them grow

this feels very fulfilling

in thailand, we planted everyday

we kept seeds and scraps of plants with roots attached and planted everything

i am doing a bit of the same on my uncle's small porch

a physical manifestation of thailand, a bit of this and that

i am practicing tai chi every morning

i am beginning a slow dive into martial arts and basic tai chi sword play

i want to learn everything!

the sword play music is in my head everyday, right now

a strong rhythmic drumbeat, and a voice wild and free, looping up and down vocals that send mad tingles up and down my spine

after a good tai chi practice, even during, i can literally feel myself rooting, rooting

the chi goes back into the earth and i experience it as a rooting that is oh so satisfying

and yet... question keeps arising

how long to stay, when to leave, where to next... need to plan this already

so i know. so i can tell my family and such

staying present while also being prepared for the future

in tai chi: stance of knees slightly bent.

i can feel this now, this feeling of strength and power

energy rising from earth into my thighs, up spine, into head, back into sky

aligned

knees aligned with feet both for feeling of rightness now, and for health in future

now, sitting and typing

spine straight, head like a string suspended from sky up, floating me up up, tailbone tucked in

sitting like this, feeling of energy flow, but also preparing for future: do not want to be hunchback old woman

staying present while also being prepared for the future

am now drying a gourd for my guitar

one of my new elders is amazing with music

hung out with her this weekend

she suggested i carry around The Stick (my unfinished guitar) and really learn to play it

bring it everywhere, she says

yesterday, ate sweet potato leaves

this morning, planted them into sweet soft soil

rain graced us yesterday in mountains, and now even more grace today

biking around like a wet turtle: happy, but a bit too wet for my taste

will go seek moon cakes, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms with rice and greens at my grandma's house soon

am laying out my schedule... and it begins to look like my college schedule: colorful, and completely packed

so different from thailand forest life, yet somehow satisfying

i wonder about this nature: constantly being so busy

my family too

mmm much to mull, digest, and just be with

love and gratitude aplenty!

answers

Grandma, tell me:
Why, why, oh, why?
Blue sky, green earth,
Huge world, small me?
My sweet darling,
Look in, hear heart.
Breathe deep, walk strong.
Blue sky, for you
All the world, yes.
The world is yours.
Green earth, for you.
All the love, yes.
Love, thanks, here, now.
You're the answer.
Yes, yes, oh, yes.

rain

You should be able to tell... yup, these are for small children. I hope they either make you smile... or make you want to write your own poetry. :P haha

---

Desert skies open.
Drip drop, rain falls down.
Dry earth's been waiting
For this moment, now.
Happy fish swim in.
Grinning frogs jump high.
Birds chorus wildly.
It's a rainy day!
Time to celebrate!
Hooray for the rain!
Hooray for the sun!
Hooray for the earth!
Hooray for this life!
Now, let's swim in rain!

flight

I'm standing on the edge.
I'm ready for this leap.
Preparing all my life,
Today I am ready.
My past forms my two wings,
My future gently waits.
The wind's strength will lift me,
Mama Earth's strength will guide.
I trust in this process.
I know I am okay.
I release my old me.
I step into the dark.
Time is now, moment's right.
Embracing the unknown,
Here I go, now I fly.

I am thanks

I am now writing some super short verse-type things for a school, for kids to learn English. I will post some that I like... they are really different than my usual writing style, I think. It is fun and difficult to write like this!

---

Touch the stones,
Smell the sea.
This huge world
Is much more
Than just me.
Sing a song,
Dance and play.
Climb a tree,
Wild and free.
I'm a bird.
I'm a stone.
I'm joy, bliss.
I'm beauty.
I am thanks.

happy Moon Festival!

lovelovevolvelove...!