“I hope you are keeping well”
“Are you well?”
“Go well”
We spend our days referring to wellness. We
ask how strangers are, through good manners and social expectation. Yet how
often do we genuinely ask, in a manner that suggests we truly want to know?
Moreover, how often do we evaluate how we ourselves are feeling each day? How
well do you feel today, as you’re reading each line of this - are you restless?
Full, or a little hungry? Do you have any pains today, any discomfort within
yourself?
The reason I originally chose the word
‘wellness’ as the co-title of 'Liberty’s Arts & Wellness Centre' is due of its beautifully open
nature. At the time that I first came up with the concept of Liberty’s, I had
clear vision of it’s purpose. I have had clear vision of what Liberty’s will be
since it’s first moments of conception, and although details have been added to
the first image I envisioned, it remains the exact same scene in my mind. As I
first stated in my opening entry of this blog;
“I have my title. The name for the Centre I am now working
towards opening. A studio centre, a centre for dance and arts, a centre for
therapies, for counselling, and for so many other creative and holistic
opportunities and facilities. All inspired by my own experiences. This is where
I'm headed, and where I'm coming from.
But I am not ready quite yet! I cannot open Liberty's without a
stronger base foundation of experience, education and several significant
others. I am still yet to come across so many experiences, so many
significant people, to be educated in so many areas.”
That was
written in the autumn of 2012. The sentiments still stand strong. It has never been
solely finance that has stopped me dropping all that I am working on currently
and running off to open it all up tomorrow. It is the fact that I wanted, and
still want, to be able to work on the journey first. As I travel and explore
the world I intend to naturally gather experiences in order to be an able
person to open the doors of Liberty’s eventually. I was aware at the commencement
of this journey that I still had plenty of people to meet, numerous places to
explore, and many more opportunities to take up before I would be ready to say
that I felt I was up to the job. Essentially, I have been in training, with
myself as my own leader and harshest critic!
Most importantly, I wanted to truly know the meaning of wellness before
beginning to approach it conceptually within the walls of Liberty’s, or indeed
within the centre of each it’s visitors.
I have
in the past commonly focused on only a few aspects of my wellness. During my
dance training years I focused a huge amount of my energies on physical
exertion. I did eat well in order to feed my training body. But I was under a
considerable amount of emotional stress at the time, which undoubtedly affected
my health. In turn dancing freed my mind and body to heal itself
naturally and my performance time was hugely cathartic as such. But I ricocheted between the two, without necessarily confirming a definite sense of wellness at the centre of myself. I was
misbalanced internally, despite my strive for agility in my professional life.
A few
weeks ago I attended a yoga class. I have been to many yoga classes during my
dancing life. Or I thought I had. What I had experienced was ‘exercise yoga’ essentially.
I had moved through the motions and taken on the shapes I was instructed to.
But I had never touched upon what I experienced within that hour and a half Saturday
class. The class was true yoga, taught by a yogini (a female yoga teacher) in
the heart of Atlanta, and it may well be one of the most significant events of
my time here in America.
We began
with meditation, which for me is usually near impossible. I have always found
it very difficult to switch my mind off, to not fidget or shift my body from
it’s seat. But then I was given a key. I was taught how to use my body instrumentally
to truly attune myself with myself. I broke through my usual levels of
consciousness and found peace and understanding on the other side, just as I
had previously found within my first ballet class 5 years ago. All at once, my
body and mind fell into step with one another and I was aligned in the most
intricate and open way. As the class progressed, more and more rigidity fell
away from me and I opened up fully to the experience, finding myself physically
able to do more than I initially ever imagined.
As the
class came to an end, the yogini silently moved between us in the class and
spent some time with her hands on the two energy points of my forehead and the
centre of my chest, gently telling me it was safe to let go of whatever it was
I was carrying that was causing harm to me. She gently guided me through a release
of negative energy from me . And as my mind and body came to a moment of
completeness, I physically felt the biggest pressure ease away from me. A
pressure I wasn’t even entirely sure I had been carrying the weight of. As the
class drew to a close, we gently arrived back in the room and became more aware
of our surroundings. It was only then that I realized I must have been crying,
with no awareness of it at the time. Such was the gentle yet powerful nature of
the experience, I had released heaviness from myself without even knowing it
was happening, or knowing I had any I wanted or needed to let go of. The
class experience has stayed strongly with me, and has since ignited bright and fresh
interest in yoga as a potential new avenue for myself and in turn for Liberty’s
of the future. Watch this space, as they say!
I am not
suggesting that yoga can work for everyone. We are not all constructed the same
way, which is a complexly beautiful element of the life I’m so interested in.
My aim within Liberty’s is certainly not to force-feed all I have learnt to the
unknowing visitors of the centre. Quite the opposite! I am simply travelling as
far and wide as I can within the life I have been given. I am doing so in order
to learn as much as I can about both arts and wellness to be best equipped to
appreciate the needs, desires and interests of anyone who may cross it’s
doorway. In whatever mode or area of arts or wellness they are looking to explore. This is what I believe in, and all I am being in these current years. From
there, it is the Liberty’s concept that will guide the journey path forwards.
I am
interested to know how you are today. I receive many e-mails and messages from
amazingly loyal readers of this blog most days and I would love to hear what
wellness means to you, or what it has meant to you previously. What period of your life have you felt the most circularly well? What single element can bring a sense of wellness to you, on any given day? Please feel free
to get in touch and let me know your thoughts!
My next entry is due to be a very significant one, both in terms of announcement and for the path of Liberty's from this point. I look forward to sharing it with you, but until then have a fantastic month of wellness!
Helen
Victoria.
X.