How I View Mindful Movement

I’m realizing more and more that mindful movement practiced with compassionate intentions, gratitude, concentration and care holds the potential to nourish every dimension of one’s being and our world. I believe that if one engages one’s practice in this way, the practice will translate, gradually and inevitably, into a life lived with mindfulness, compassion, and purpose in service to our living planet.

I view the practice of mindful movement through 11 distinct yet interconnected lenses, as follows:

Movement as Medicine: Promotes health and well-being. Provides the energy and vitality to serve.
Movement as Meditation: Cultivates mindfulness/ embodied presence. Provides the clarity to serve. Mindful movement shifts our perspective- the way we see ourselves and the world; what we value; and what we choose to do.
Movement as Activism: This practice begins with our good hearted intentions, is sustained by our moment to moment awareness, and is concluded by dedicating the merit to all beings everywhere (i.e., we offer the benefit of our practice out to others, including ourselves in the circle of compassion). The practice is then nourished by performing love-based actions in the world dedicated to something greater than ourselves..
Mindful Movement as Conservation: When we establish a link between our mindful movement practice and the healing and restoration of our living planet, mindful movement can be viewed as conservation. My aim is that each and every Mindful Movement Ceremony I complete is directly connected to an act of ocean conservation. There are countless ways to directly link one’s mindful movement practice to conservation. If you feel inspired, find a way that works for you. Start with something that you care deeply about and make a commitment to practice and act.
Movement as Connection– Movement develops a deep and loving connection with one’s self and with others. It creates a sense of community and the feeling that we are in this together. We can come together to move, connect, heal and serve. We can practice with others and for others. Or, when practicing alone, we can feel a sense of connection with with those who we are practicing for. We can bring to our mind-heart those who are also practicing as an offering or acting with compassion and care. Offering the benefit of our practice to others creates connection. It helps us to remember our interdependence.
Movement as creative self-expression- By this I mean that movement is a form of art in motion, a poetry that is embodied, a unique expression of our vitality and presence.
Movement as a way to embody the “Story of Interbeing”: The practice of mindful movement conservation/ activism is an act of love and compassion, it doesn’t fit into what Charles Eisenstein calls the “Story of Separation”, it doesn’t make sense to the mainstream or the mainstream parts of our own mind. It only fits into the “Story of Interbeing”.
Movement as Ceremony: Mindful movement invites vision and it’s a full body prayer. “In a ceremony, one attends fully to the task at hand, performing each action just as it should be. A ceremony is therefore a practice for all of life, a practice in doing everything just as it should be done. An earnest ceremonial practice is like a magnet that aligns more and more of life to its field; it is a prayer that asks, “May everything I do be a ceremony. May I do everything with full attention, full care, and full respect for what it serves.” – Charles Eisenstein
Movement as Prayer: For what kind of world do we want to live in and how we want to be in this life. “With each choice we face, we are being asked what kind of world we want to live in. The more courage required to make that choice, the more powerful the prayer, because Whoever listens to prayers knows we really mean it. Therefore, when we choose love in the face of enormous temptation to hate, we are issuing a powerful prayer for a world of love.” -Charles Eisenstein. The difference between mindful movement as meditation, ceremony and prayer is nuanced. It is also true that each contains the others. For example, a true ceremony is a meditation and a prayer.
Movement as cultural therapy: A radical shift in how we move and breathe is foundational to cultural renewal. We humans need to move and breathe in wholesome and mindful ways in everyday life and during formal practices. We need to feel connected again- to body and breath; to self and others; and to wild nature and our own wildness. Mindful movement is happening all over the place, but it still needs to be mainstreamed. It should be a source of nourishment for each of us and the benefits that accrue from our daily practices should be offered to others…as a way of healing the whole situation. It seems to me that mindful movement has enormous potential as a form of cultural therapy. And who doesn’t think cultural therapy is important in times like these?
Mindful movement as a way of Sustaining our Caring: “All transformation arises out of love; it is the caring about life that moves us toward inner, relational, and societal healing.” -Tara Brach A daily practice of mindful movement keeps our hearts open and our caring alive.

How else do you view mindful movement? I’d love to hear from you.

Photos: Michael Hannum (top): winter time tree silhouette, Horgen, Switzerland. (bottom): waterfall near Mortarache glacer, Switzerland.