Open road

One special treat during our stay in Miami was a Sunday morning practice of PrayerDanse led by Rachel Levy and Susana Perczek. Loosely related to Gabrielle Roth's Sweat Your Prayers, it is a guided free dance practice with interesting music, some partner work, some group work, and some sharing. The 2-hour format allows even the shyest participant to relax into a personal exploration of movement and energy flow. One organizing concept is that your prayer is your dance, your dance is your prayer, and that your wishes, hopes, dreams, goals, yearnings can be developed and advanced through your dance, and vice versa.

At my last PrayerDanse practice before leaving Miami, Susana guided each dancer to set an intention for their morning and to discover the nature of the dance (and prayer) for the day. I found myself focusing on my longing for home, my wish for a safe and uneventful journey, and my goal to partner with my husband as co-driver and co-navigator to create a pleasant and smoothly flowing passage. As I neared the end of class, I imagined an image of an open road before us, embracing us, welcoming us ever onward. Bright sunshine illuminated the road and all the changing scenes along the way.

As we traveled over the 2000 miles to reach our home, eight days of traveling across eleven states, punctuated by two stops to visit family and friends, I saw that same vision of the open road welcoming us and the bright sun lighting our way, this time on a real road under our wheels. Each time I caught a glimpse of that vision, I took a moment to give thanks for safety, the home that awaited us, and the pleasure of companionship with my husband.