Here at Merigar East we have just completed a course with Eleonora Folegnani on the Vajra Dance that Benefits Beings. At first I was slowly relaxing my feelings of guilt and self-disappointment because I haven’t practiced much over time. Now, meeting several people who were getting quite well into the dance, I felt a rather big gap. But gradually these apparently concrete walls started to dissolve and leave more space for experiencing the dance. When not worrying about keeping my balance during the slightly acrobatic turns, or hitting other dancers because of our different perception of what “opening the arms” means, I realized the uniqueness of each dancer, dance instructor and dance course.
I remembered, these days, the quality of the dance performed by someone who had practiced a lot of tai-chi, and about that person’s unique way of transmitting their knowledge of the dance to others. Then I remembered the apparently inexhaustible energy of another Vajra Dance instructor and the whole atmosphere the participants immersed themselves in during that very intense course, which took 10 days and implied an unbelievable quantity of dancing.
And now, watching and hearing Eleonora Folegnani, I easily became fascinated by the richness of knowledge she transmitted about the human body, about how we can play with, interact with and follow it. About the infinite ways of manifesting physically. And then, the encouragement to explore, play, experience. All these were for me very important, as somehow in my mind these were all separate: my body, the dance, how I use my body in daily life. But now, as regards the experience we have in our human existence, they are all the same.
As you probably know, here at Merigar East we have been offering the possibility to learn and practice the Dance of the Song of the Vajra within one summer retreat. This summer we will have the possibility to study the first part with Stoffelina Verdonk and the second part with Elisha Koppensteiner, with a few days break in between. For me this is a great event, because Merigar East with its three outdoor solar VD mandalas obviously has a strong connection with this terma of Rinpoche, and also because we will have the possibility to meet two wonderful and experienced instructors and let ourselves be inspired by their knowledge of the Dance.
We hope to meet you on the mandala!
Merigar East Gekö
