resilience

The Myth of Failure

The Myth of Failure

In my journey of training and working as a professional dancer, the most harried learning curve I had to make it through was that of my fear of failing. It nearly broke me, and many times over.

What I realize today, many years later, is that while I did - thankfully - make it through that particular form of the challenge, everyday, every year, new and different shapes of this same challenge are showing up

I’m also realizing that, as I am able to see more clearly where and how the fear of failing is still present in my life, the very concept of ‘failure’ is starting to fall away. I’m not sure a more relieving experience exists than this, of gradually understanding that one’s worst fear - or at least one of them - is not even a real possibility but simply a misunderstood distortion of the mind.

Why your Greatest Ally Against Quarantine Stress is a Mindful, Expressive Movement Practice

Why your Greatest Ally Against Quarantine Stress is a Mindful, Expressive Movement Practice

Maybe you are someone whose stress levels have not actually gone up in the last weeks. If that’s you, that’s wonderful! For, me, though I don’t overly have reasons for my anxiety and nervousness to increase, I have still been feeling this at times. At times I wonder whether it is even my anxiety that I am experiencing or whether it is more my picking up on a sense of collective angst; an increase in the overall level of tension in society at the difficulty of less contact with others and the uncertainty of the future that every single one of us is facing. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that I do my utmost to keep my own system regulated, calm and vibrant. Here are two reasons why a movement practice is a powerful tool to do exactly this.