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Articles: I Own The World Walking - by Nita Collins "Okay - stand with your feet hip width apart, knees slightly bent, pelvis neutral, back straight, chest lifted, shoulders down, chin up..." and the class of new students erupts into giggles as they try to contort themselves into what seems to be an un-natural way to stand. Good dance posture is so important, and yet seems at the same time so uncomfortable and unfamiliar to new students. As a new teacher with my first class, I wanted to find a way to give them the tools for good posture in a way that would make instant sense to them. I recalled a time several years ago when I was going through a difficult emotional period. One day I had a revelation that literally changed my life. I was getting out of my car at the grocery store when I caught sight of a woman - a total stranger -walking across the parking lot. She absolutely captured my attention, and I stood there in the open car door watching her until she disappeared into the mall. She STRODE across the parking lot like she owned it: head up, arms and legs swinging, her movements full of grace and self-assurance. I couldn't take my eyes off of her! I felt something fundamental shift inside of me, a recognition of something important, though I couldn't put words to it. When I got home and had unloaded my groceries into the house, I went back outside and tried to imitate the way this woman had walked. I walked up my driveway and back, and then I did it again! And again! I discovered that when I lifted my head and breathed deeply, when I consciously looked at everything around me and was aware of my body moving, I became present in the moment. I realized for the first time that the way I carry myself can affect the way I feel inside. By putting on the body language of self-confidence, I began to feel self-confident. I carried the image of this woman in my head, and actively practiced walking the way she did. I strode up and down the grocery store isles. I lengthened my stride and straightened my spine as I walked my dogs. I looked into people's faces as I passed them on Main Street. I called what I was doing "I Own The World Walking". Eventually the image of the anonymous woman was replaced in my mind with the image of myself, striding out into the world. This eventually led to classes in Tai Chi. Imagine the overwhelming astonishment I felt when I walked into the room on the first day of class, and discovered that my Tai Chi teacher was none other than the anonymous woman in the parking lot. Soon after, I rediscovered bellydance and began taking lessons again after many many years away from it. Last year I became a teacher myself, teaching both Tai Chi, and also my first class of beginner Bellydancers. I tell my students the story of "I own The World Walking" on the first day of class. Then I tell them to stand up straight. Raise your chin. LOOK at everything around you - the things on the walls, the pretty hair of the person in front of you, the curtains on the windows. FEEL your body move: how your foot rolls across the floor, how your arms and legs swing. IMAGINE you own the world: if you had a job interview, they would hire you just by the way you walked into the room! BE beautiful and strong. Put, as they say, a nice swing on your back porch! Let your arms swing, let your leg swing out from the hip. Put on the body language of happiness and self-assurance as though it were a dress. Breathe! I put on some music, and we stride out, around and around the studio, warming up both our bodies and our psyches with "I Own The World Walking". When you walk like you own the world, your shoulders go down and back, and you lift your sternum naturally. You raise your chin and smile. Now, carry that over into "owning the world" dancing, and there you go, girl! It isn't so hard, after all! Published in Sahda magazine, Jan. 2002
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