I wanted to write a little bit about the practice of the 5Rhythms® and particularly the rhythm of Lyrical. My experience of this rhythm is that of lightness and ease. As it arrives, after I have danced flow, staccato and chaos, this rhythm reminds me that I am a work in progress as a student and teacher of this practice. It teaches me self-realization, detachment and has roots in the rhythm of flow as I stay grounded and fluid in my movements and in my teaching. In chaos, as Gabrielle Roth says in her book Sweat Your Prayers, “we divest ourselves” and let fall away that which is heavy and weighs us down. When we arrive in lyrical we “lighten up” as Pema Chodron says in Comfortable with Uncertainty, and effort gets put aside as ease enters the dance.
When we transition from chaos to lyrical we cross a threshold, an apogee of change where old patterns and shapes are relaxed and allowed to shift into something new. We have exhausted ourselves in chaos and have little resistance to our willingness to change. We become the seekers of the truth about ourselves and about our purpose on the planet.
This threshold has a temporal landscape to it. It is not just a single linear point in time (Chronos) that moves along the continuum, but a subjective and expanded present moment that has shape and contour. The Greeks call these moments Kairos. Kairos, as opposed to Chronos, is an active space in which something happens as time unfolds. This Kairos is a place where the potential for change is most potent. So, after we have exhausted ourselves by letting go in chaos we arrive at lyrical where all resistance is vanquished. With our exhausted minds we have given up control and may notice something new and different beginning to emerge. Kairos gives us the opportunity to experience it. If we are willing, we may shift the constellation of our psyche and begin to form new outlooks and new perspectives.
As awareness enters, these moments become opportunities where perspectives are altered to such a degree that they demand immediate action to alter ones destiny, for now or a lifetime. If we do not act, our lives changed anyway, differently than if we had.
So, the invitation is to notice these moments in our dance and in our lives and lighten up and allow Kairos to inform us about what action to take that may alter our destinies for the better.
I’ll end with a quote from Pema Chodron in her book Start Where You Are.
“There’s a lot of joy as your burden begins to lessen and it comes from doing anything that begins to change the pattern of fearing and wanting to resist what’s unpleasant. Resistance is really what causes the pain;….Anything that begins to lighten up that resistance helps us to relax and open and celebrate.”
This coming Tuesday July 1st we will explore the rhythm of Lyrical as well as its shadow. Come join us as we dance this delicate rhythm, and bring a friend.
With Love.
Scotty