Begin Again, Again
As I walked into my first Argentine Tango class, I imagined learning dramatic, breathtaking moves. Instead, I spent months learning how to walk. I walked forward, I walked backward, I walked side to side, first alone, then with a partner. It felt agonizingly slow. However, it did teach me the patience of advancing at the speed of connection. When I broke the connection with my partner while simply walking, it was obvious we weren’t going to be able to do anything more complicated. It also taught me the incredible advantage of mastering the basics. Thanks to months of practicing walking in connection, I excelled extremely quickly once I started dabbling in the dramatic. As my first tango teacher was fond of saying, “Dancing is just fancy walking.”
Performing with the UC Santa Cruz Argentine Tango club in “Tango Prohibido,” less than one year after my first lesson.
Even now, ten years later, I still attend beginner classes and study how to walk. For this, I thank my aforementioned tango teacher who emphasized the importance of practicing the basics. He likened lessons to dying fabric. Each time I dip the cloth in the dye, I get a deeper color. Each time I begin again, I gain a deeper understanding.
Meditation and yoga helped me realize this concept applies on and off the dance floor. Each time I notice I’m distracted by a thought during a meditation session, I begin again, focusing on my breath. The more I practice this, the faster I am able to recognize when I’m lost in thought, giving me even more opportunities to begin again! When I first started practicing yoga, I held my breath. Static. Waiting to move to the next pose. Now I breathe into them, allowing my breath to help me find release and new perspectives in the poses. In each case I’ve found the more I begin again, the more advanced I become.
These experiences learning to begin again have been invaluable in my studies with the Resnick Method. Over the last few months, I’ve been taking care of a horse for one of my trainers, Nancy Zintsmaster. As a new student, I focused on the beginning exercises designed to build a strong connection with the horse.
I spent about three months doing the beginning exercises with Nancy’s horse, Pericles. As with dancing, mediation, and yoga, these exercises weren’t something I breezed through once. If I felt I was losing connection with Peri, I would return to exercises we both enjoyed and found the entry point of connection waiting for us there. As Peri prepared to reunite with Nancy, and my time with him drew to a close, Carolyn Resnick herself checked in on our progress. After speaking with me and observing Peri, she asked us to demonstrate some more advanced exercises. To my relief and delight, Peri gifted me with everything I asked for, walking with me wherever I went, listening intently as I led him from a distance, trotting away from me when I asked, and trotting right back up to me when I called.
Carolyn told Nancy Peri looked excellent and his training would be right there for her when she sees him again. This dreamscape of fulfilled wishes was built on months Peri & I spent together, beginning again, gaining a deeper understanding of what it means to build a bond.
Which core skills do you rely on in your work or play? When things get difficult, do you find yourself returning to them? Why or why not? Let me know on Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and may the horse be with you, always!
