Because we believe when you live your life creatively—the art will take care of the rest.
Spring Feels Like The Dam Is Breaking
Perhaps it’s because the land that raised me up as a young person, adolescent, and young adult was very dependent on the snowpack melting and a giant burst of water filling up our river corridors—but once Aries season rolls around, I can’t help but feel like the dam just broke and I need to move my body big.
The juxtaposition between the slowness of winter and the rush of high water can be exhilarating…and exhausting if we don’t manage it well. Whatever that means, exactly.
Regardless of how we might try to keep the currents between the banks, the whiplash of corralling our springtime energy is vast and you’re not alone if no matter how much physical movement you have in the body to disperse the stagnant energy of the winter, you don’t feel like you ever quite get enough.
The word for March is uppekah, or equanimity.
Our own version of working with this word in April is noticing internal energy and sensations, and then putting that noticing into behaviors in a way that is wise and value-aligned.
The challenge is to not burn it all up and out, but dispel it as it comes in waves.
This April for a creative practice—we’re dancing.
Many Ways To Move
This month I’ll be offering you a variety of ways to move your body.
Virtual, In-person, together, solo. Long-form, short-form. No wrong ways. All ways to wiggle.
Short Form, Solo or Group, Mostly Effortless
The first, most accessible form of movement is to just commit to moving 20 minutes a day, every day, as an experiment just to see what happens.
I’ll spare you the science-nerd take on why this is so good for the brain, the body, the stress response system, and likely for your sleep-health—but trust me. If we could all commit to 20 minutes of dancing every day, I think the world could be a vastly different place.
I personally, need a bit of an accountability boost on this front, and signed myself up for the Kula Cloth Dance Experiment. There’s a longer story here of how I’m involved with this amazingly cool outdoor gear company, but the short version is that they’ve been in my sphere for a long time, and I’ve known about their very long term dance experiment since it began, but somehow never participated in it until now.
Kula hosts a 20-30 minute collaborative dance party every single morning at 7:30 MST and they send out a recording around 10:30 AM MST to those who can’t make it live.
They’ve been running this every single day since January 9, 2022. That’s 1544 days in a row of community dancing. Fucking incredible.
This expressive practice is low bar, high benefits.
There are no rules, you don’t have to have your camera on, and there are absolutely zero wrong ways of doing it. Two days in, and I’m sold. It’s the perfect way to get that high water energy out of my system and slide my nervous system from the shutdown of winter into the tender buds of spring.
Long Form, Class Setting, In Person, Routine-Setting
For those of you who can’t fathom movement in a virtual setting, there are so many alternatives. I can’t speak to the location that everyone lives but here in Missoula there are tons of ways to express, dispel energy, and connect through movement.
All the teachers at Ritual Yoga are folks of high quality.
Anything happening at Westside Theater is a performing space I would recommend.
For a mountain town we have a surprisingly fun hip-hop scene.
Community energetic releases like Contact Improv or Groundswell through Touch and Change are potent to say the least.
Individual practitioners like Rylee Moore who do 1:1 work or host weekly classes to explore the self are compassionate and curious.
There’s a plethora of couples dance classes in this town, and my personal favorite flavor is the dynamic threads of Missoula Tango.
And the new wave of embodied movement packages at Sacred Ally host uniquely beautiful ways to connect deeply to the self.
Each of these spaces is on average, a little over an hour each, but the payoff is also quite a bit higher. In addition to the exercise and the neuro-plasticity garnered through the movement itself—showing up consistently to a sense of community is one of the most nervous system supporting activities you could engage in this time of year.
Wise-Action, Deep Roots
There’s no shortage here on choice. No right or wrong. But if we’re thinking about achieving some level of equanimity this month, it’s about skillful choice in the wake of understanding our internal world.
Does the body need big explosive movements near smiling friends? Or a private dance party during the morning sunrise? Or perhaps a one on one witnessing with a practitioner who can compassionately and curiously track the internal impulses of the body?
It’s impossible to commit to all of these movement spaces at the same time, but as the season of the year shifts, all that matters is that you’re choosing the one (or several) that work well for you.
In what ways are you wiggling? What does this tell you about the ways you are currently being wise?
I’m currently in a swirl of 3-4 of these as a combo pack recently. It’s keeping me sane as the water rushes downhill. I’d love to hear what cocktail you’re watering your strong roots with this month. Let me know & we can do a happy dance together.
With a wink and a smile,
Dagny Rose
Our Community Announcements:
Freeflow River Camp — August 22 - August 25 — Freeflow Institute — An adventure for women of all backgrounds, focused on cultivating river skills, resilience, and tools for creative expression in a supportive, connective environment | Women Specific | Registration Ends May 10
Embodied Movement Program — Kicking off April 1 — Sacred Ally — For Missoula locals, this is an exciting way to get into the body and explore how your body feels like moving through space. Every single movement facilitator involved in this program is an experienced gem in their own right. I’m not on the regular schedule but I’ll be subbing quite often and plan to put a regular class on the books in the fall. Come find your own, authentic movement practice.
I’ll for sure be subbing:
TODAY, THIS MORNING, COME HANG April 10 from — 9:00 - 10:00
FOLLOWING FRIDAY April 17 — 9:00 - 10:00
Come wiggle with me
Ground: Forest Retreat — May 29 - June 1 — Yoga, Sauna, Music, Great Food— My dear friend, and extraordinary yoga facilitator is hosting a cozy, spring yoga retreat. The cabins are built right into the hillside an hour outside of Missoula and it will be a sweet mixture of yoga, food, sauna, and time on the land. Her very affordable pricing keeps this yoga retreat accessible and is absolutely worth checking out.
This sub-section of The Art of Rest, is all about—you guessed it—The Art!
Here we explore the creative practices that bring vitality into our lives. Whether we are creating for the pure joy of it, finding ways to have our art help make our lives better, or intentionally honing in on our creative practices or dreams, “The Art” is going to regularly touch into our creative pulse5.