The Transformative Power of Acceptance

I encourage you to attend, Journey Dance, at The Center for Mindful Living in Chattanooga, TN. https://centermindfulliving.org/ Journey Dance is an organic movement dance class and if you attend, it might seem like everyone in the room has had at least three alcoholic drinks, because they are dancing with such freedom and authenticity. But the class attendees are actually all stone-cold sober!!

The teacher of this class, Katherine, has an infectious joy and smile, but also an accepting way that encourages you to be who you truly are. Even if dance is not your forte (that would be me!), the permission she gives you to be yourself, has a transformative power that gets you out of your mind and into your body.

When I recently attended this class, I felt myself dancing out concerns, anger, and fears that I needed to both feel and let go. As I reflect on this class, I recognize that there were four very important ingredients that allowed this experience to be a healing time for me. What were these ingredients?

An accepting teacher who modeled what it means to accept ourselves and dance with reckless abandon… Do we seek out people and experiences where we are accepted as we are?
My own self-acceptance… It was vital for me to give myself permission to dance boldly and freely, without worrying what people thought of me. Do we offer ourselves acceptance?
Accepting my fellow dancers and allowing them to be exactly who they are… Do we accept others as we find them?
As I danced I moved with an awareness that I am loved by the Lord of the dance whose presence far bigger than me and who whispers to me daily, “You are accepted”… Are we aware of the Divine One who accepts us just as we are?

Of course, there were a few moments during the dance class, when I was out of my comfort zone and as self-conscious as I was in middle-school at a school dance. But when those feelings surfaced, I would remind myself to let go and be me, and these places of acceptance on the dance floor were the moments when I felt joy, sadness, freedom and other important feelings. The same is true in the dance of life. Acceptance allows us to be truly present and find abundant life.

May your dance of life be one filled with acceptance,

Christy