Questions Put to the Sick - II

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

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Philosopher and Education Scholar

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Questions Put to the Sick – II

When was the last time you danced?” – Question put to the Sick by a Native American Medicine Man

Then last time I danced, I remembered the first time I danced.

I started dance lessons when I was five years old. I kept studying dance until I was 18. I was never a good dancer, but that was not the point. I loved to dance. I still love to dance. I love to move. I love to feel rhythm. I love to dance with others. I love to get carried away in music. The release is precious and unique. The deep connection is a true gift.

The last time I danced, I felt beautiful.

I feel beautiful when I dance. It is not about being graceful or flexible or knowing every step. Beauty when I dance is about owning my space and breath. Beauty when I dance is about stepping outside of normal. Beauty when I dance is about being free and daring. Beauty when I dance is about not caring what others think. Beauty when I dance is about the embodiment of joy.

The last time I danced, I danced on the ocean.

When I was in Mexico, I took a salsa lesson with my husband. I had tried to learn salsa many times before, but this was different. We were at a little bar next to a beautiful beach. This lesson was the first time we had taken a dance lesson together. We learned the steps and danced for a little while. I had to learn to take a lead. He had to learn to get out of his head. We learned these lessons together. After dancing we swam on the ocean’s edge.

The last time I danced, I embraced all my imperfections.

Dancing allows me to embrace my imperfections. Dancing allows my ears, which don’t hear very well, to feel music. Dancing allows my legs, which are not very long, to be statuesque as they pose and twirl. Dancing allows my face, which spends too much time in stern focus, to smile. Dancing allows my mind, which can be filled with noise and chaos, to be quiet and peaceful.

The last time I danced, I promised to dance again.

I don’t dance enough. Dancing is something that falls off my list of things to do in the midst of the day-to-day. That is not a good thing. I need to connect with my body in the way that I only do through dance. I need to let go in the way that only do through dance. I promise myself that I will dance more after every time I dance. I will make good on that promise this time, so that when an elder asks me the last time I danced I can say, “today.”

https://kitt.global/june-24-questions-put-to-the-sick-ii-mark-nepo-the-book-of-awakening/