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Autumn 2007
--->Quote of the Season
--->Fact of the Season
--->News: Breaking up workouts may burn fat faster
--->Autumn Practice: by Dunya Dianne McPherson
--->Autumn Events Calendar
--->New: Sensual Alchemy DVD
--->Book Announcement: Skin of Glass Coming this Winter
--->Writing by Celeste Roth
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Quote of the Season
“…if, beyond memories, we pursue our dreams to their very end, in this pre-memory it is as though nothingness caressed and penetrated being, as though it gently unbound the ties of being.”
––Gaston Bachelard, Poetics of Space
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Fact of the Season: the Body Language of Bees
Honeybees are the animals besides humans to have a representational language: they convey to one another the location of food by dancing.
––Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, August 6, 2007
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In Dancemeditation, the antiphon of rest and motion to help our bodyself integrate our experience is a foundational aspect of practice. Here is another benefit.
News: Breaking up workouts may burn fat faster
July 31, 2007 12:52:59 PM PST
Breaking up an exercise session, by adding a rest period in between, may boost a workout's fat-burning efficiency, a team of Japanese and Danish researchers reports.
When men exercised for two 30-minute stretches, taking a 20-minute rest break in between, they burned more fat than when they exercised for a single 60-minute session, and then rested afterward, Dr. Kazushige Goto of the University of Tokyo and colleagues found.
Current recommendations on exercise for preventing or treating obesity emphasize longer exercise sessions, Goto and his team note in the Journal of Applied Physiology. But there is evidence that following one exercise session with another workout may increase fat metabolism, they add.
To investigate, the researchers had seven healthy men complete one long workout and then two shorter workouts on exercise bicycles, measuring several different indicators of fat metabolism. All exercised at 60 percent of their maximum level of exertion.
When the men performed the two shorter exercise sessions, their blood levels of free fatty acids and other substances rose during the rest period, indicating greater fat metabolism. Levels of these substances also were higher during an hour-long rest period after the two-part exercise session.
Greater fat metabolism was recorded during each of the rest periods in the two-part session than during the rest period following the single, longer workout.
The men also showed lower levels of insulin and blood glucose during the second phase of the two-part exercise session.
While the proportion of total calories burned did not differ between the two workouts, fat represented nearly 77 percent of the calories burned in the recovery period after the two-part exercise session, compared with about 56 percent of calories burned in the recovery period after the single long exercise session.
Although a single bout of prolonged exercise is often performed in response to a physician's advice to exercise more, exercising for the same amount of time but with rest periods in between may be more effective, especially for sedentary or overweight individuals, the researchers conclude.
SOURCE: Journal of Applied Physiology, June 2007.
Submitted by Celeste Roth
(If you have solid news/informational items that would be of interest to our community please send them in.)
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Autumn Practice: Sufi Hands
Hands. We work with them all the time. In my many years of teaching, I’ve observed that hands, without exception, are our most comfortable and familiar body part. Anyone, even the shyest person, can do a Hand Dance, and when given free reign, people do the most imaginative, evocative, and personal dances. Yet despite such natural Hand Dance eloquence, many realms are never touched.
Below is the beginning of a set of ideas I’ve been working with for many years. Several of these emerged from the energy of Sufi training with Adnan Sarhan; much of his transmission was conveyed through hand gestures. This is true of my own work as well. Though the Sufi energy cannot be conveyed solely through a written instructional manual, the ideas here are imprinted with their lineage identity. I hope they will bring you a peaceful entry to a pure core.
Practice: Finger Touching
1. Sit comfortably, close your eyes and become aware of your breathing. You may have music playing or not.
2. Bring your awareness to your hands. Be aware of their weight, what surface is touching what, their temperature. Feel all this as you breathe.
3. When you are ready, let your hands move away from any surface they are touching and hover in the space in front of you. Open you eyes a sliver to watch your hands between your eyelashes.
4. Move your hands gently from side to side, as if you would brush smoke from the air in front of you. Connect this rhythm to your breath rhythm.
5. Continue this parallel hand motion––it can become a side-to-side Figure 8 if you wish––and put the thumb tip and forefinger tip together. This touch makes a teardrop shape, or an eye. The other three fingers can stay separated from one another, but at ease. Continue to do the Figure 8 Parallel Motion, feeling the sensation of the two tips meeting.
6. Continue Figure 8 Parallel Motion and put the thumb and middle fingertip together. What is different with this?
7. Continue Figure 8 Parallel Motion and put thumb and ring fingertip together. This may feel less comfortable. We so rarely use the ring and baby finger. Feel the circle their connection makes.
8. Continue Figure 8 Parallel Motion and put thumb and baby finger together. Like the ring finger, this may feel strange. Be aware of how the insides of your palms fold. How do the other fingers feel?
9. Now, cycle through the finger tip touches, one after the other. As you continue, begin to take the hands’ spatial motion into other tracks. The hands might mirror one other, or move oppositionally in space. Alter one aspect at a time and feel what you are doing. Connect the new sensation or action to your breath rhythm. Do this idea for ten minutes. Resist the urge to do a million fancy things. Just do this one idea for now and feel it fully. Feel the action fully while you feel your breathing.
10. After ten minutes of Finger Touching, let your hands do whatever they want to do for ten minutes.
11. Lie down, close your eyes, and rest. Be aware of the sensation in your hands. Be at ease.
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Autumn Events Calendar
Course: Sensual Alchemy
Moving Body Resources, 112 W. 27th St. #402 NYC
October 1 – November 5 * 6:30-8:30pm * 212 226 2114
Sensual Alchemy
Seminar: Dervish Dancemeditation: NYC Fall Intensive
Moving Body Resources, 112 W. 27th St. #402 NYC
November 8-12 * 12:30-6:30pm * 212 226 2114
NYC Fall Intensive
Seminar: Clear Delirium: Dervish Dancemeditation
Boston, MA
December 1 * Info: 781 662 6027
Clear Delirium
Seminar: Skin, Veil, Breath & Heart
Hartford, CT
December 9 * Info: 860 989 2592
Skin, Veil, Breath & Heart
Retreat: Winter Movement Monastery
Margaret Austin Center, Chappell Hill, TX
December 29 – January 4 * 212 226 2114
Winter Movement Monastery
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New Instructional Video!!!
Sensual Alchemy: Spiritual Bellydance with Dunya
Experience the pleasure of bellydance as a path to inner connection. These beautiful, curvilinear movements naturally massage your internal organs, awaken pelvic energy, release low-back restrictions, expand spinal mobility, and increase graceful strength without joint stress. True to Eastern tradition of meditative, organic teaching, Dunya’s focused presence and gentle expert guidance create an inspiring environment for discovering new avenues to your essence. Moving from her peaceful center she invites you to move from yours.
Filmed at the Margaret Austin Center in Winter Movement Monastery.
•Slow Movement
Attentive motion is the key to releasing tension. An oceanic oscillation of gentle stretching born on breath quiets the mind and awakens sensation.
•Sufi Mudra & Deep State Motion
Sufi movement meditation practices allow cells to absorb and heal.
•Hip Motion Techniques
Subtle, awakening processes promote fluid, accurate hip movement and lower spine mobility.
•Sensory Exploration
With these awareness exercises, release undue tension and increase sensuousness as your body grows stable, integrated, strong and sensate.
NEW FEATURE!
Turn on an instructional Narration to hear fully articulated breathing, alignment, visualization, movement initiation, and emphasis cues for technical accuracy and inspiration.
Turn off the Narration to follow visual and musical cues when you prefer a more meditative, nonverbal experience.
DVD 50 minutes
ISBN-13: 978-0-9792990-4-9
ISBN-10: 0-9792990-4-7
© MCMXCVII Dunya Dianne McPherson
Order now! DVD ships by September 20th.
Sensual Alchemy DVD
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Book Announcement: Coming this winter!
McPherson, Dunya. Skin of Glass. New York, NY: Vivanja Press, 2008.
Available December 1st. More details shortly.
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Writing: In the Moment In the Body
by Celeste Roth
I find that I am happier when living closer to the moment, even if not exactly in the bliss of the total immersion. Just living closer to it makes my life feel nice. I find I consciously move closer to the moment, which might mean the same thing as "being in your body"…This gives me control over making my life more enjoyable whenever I want. As I perform tasks, I can actually enjoy the process of doing the tasks. This helps me feel that life has not slipped through my fingers. I know this is no surprise to regular practitioners of Dancemeditation, but for me it is less magic now. I make it happen when I want more easily. Not total bliss, but on the approaching curve.
And that is the end of our newsletter. Thank you very much!
©2007 Dervish Society of America
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