This weekend has been very active for me.
Started with me missing my first bus to go to yoga, so I ended up walking down to where I take the second bus, realizing that it only takes 25 min to get there.
Then the hour and a half of yoga allowed me to feel that my body is starting to get it, and resist a little less to the new way of moving yoga is teaching it. That was cool!
Then I walked another hour in Berkeley in the evening, and started again this morning with cycling down the hill to get to the BART station (OK I admit, I barely have to pedal to get there, it is all downhill, sometimes even seriously downhill...), and then from the BART station in Oakland downtown to the African dancing place, and then a good hour and a half of very active African dancing... Wow!
African dancing is really something. Great drummers, and rhythms that vibrate deep in our bellies. It feels as if the rhythm is moving us rather than us moving to the rhythm. That is, when the mind doesn't get in the way to try and control things. That's usually when I lose the step and feel all of a sudden like a dismembered puppet in a wild dance.
It is funny the way African rhythms resonate deeper in me than Cuban or Latino ones. As if these drums were deeply ingrained in my subconscious somewhere and the only thing I have to do is surrender to them and let my body do what it already knows, rather than learning it from scratch.
Dancing is a language. I will probably always speak African dancing with my own accent, like my roommate speaks it with a Cuban accent. But I can get to feel really comfortable with it, and that is probably the first time I feel like that with any dancing...
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3 comments:
You seem busy! The dancing and the yoga sound cool, great that you can do all these things now! There must be a lot to do in SF.
One thing I was wondering about right away when I read it: You're saying that the cycle to the African dancing is 'seriously' downhill. Isn't the cycle back up not totally exhausting then? :)
I'm actually quite surprised that people would cycle at all in SF with all the hills and the traffic. I'm a very experienced cyclist but I wouldn't even step on a bike here in Galway, too dangerous. Let alone somewhere like San Francisco :)
Well I wish you a great time there!! Have fun!!
Tycho
Ah you see the thing is I am cycling mostly in Oakland, not in San Francisco. Oakland is just opposite San Francisco on the other side of the Bay. And the streets/roads are way wider than in Galway, and sometimes there are even bike lanes!! Also, I have bought a helmet, just in case...
As for the cycle back up, well so far I have always taken the bus for the hard part of it (they allow you to put your bike on a rack in front of the bus, very handy). I think I would have to walk it otherwise. Too steep.
Hey hope you are well Tycho. How is Galway?
Thanks for the explanation! It's very interesting! I love riding bikes but I just wouldn't do it here, the roads are too busy (and the drivers too crazy :)) One of my colleagues got knocked down twice this year before he gave up cycling to work.
Everything is ok here! Not much news.. I'll email you soon in person to give you some more details! - Tycho
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