Page 193 - Dark Matter Women Witnessing

Each Wild Animal Prayers dropped me into the earthy depths of my body-soul where I often

stood, quivering on the edge of the Great Mystery. It was very powerful to be witnessed by a

colleague or a small group of women during the movement and sounding, for I was both

intensely focused and utterly vulnerable. Coming out of the work, I sometimes felt incredibly

exposed and shy; it was helpful to witness the changes in my expression in a small mirror. I

have joked about how the Wild Animal Prayers are an anti-aging activity for invariably I look at

least ten years younger, more open and alive after five minutes of focused movement and

sounding.

I love holding space for others as they enter a Wild Animal Prayer. I hold space and wait,

listening for the buried sounds to be released as the frozen, forgotten zones of her body begin

to melt and flow. Whenever a woman lets out a whimpers or a growl, a soaring cry or a

stuttering agony, some blocked energy is always liberated in the highly-charged atmosphere

in the room.

Deepening into the work, I began to experience a potently embodied kinship with creation,

richer and more viscerally engaged than my previous encounters with nature. In a strange yet

tangible way at times I sensed I was tracking ancient songlines through the earth of my own

body, perhaps like aboriginal peoples perceive and respond to their landscapes. Danielle’s

discovery in my garden that her song was dancing with the earth’s song echoes Bruce

Chatwin’s insight, “The song and the land are one.” Though this song has been long

abandoned, it still hums within and between all of us — human beings, animals and the earth.

It is my belief that Nature yearns for this communion. Rather than coming with expectations to

heal the earth, we are most available to life when we bring our completely open-hearted

presence. Listening to the heart of Nature has been a long and compelling love affair; each

encounter stretched my capacity to be an attentive witness and to receive Nature’s varied

frequencies of love. As I communed with the natural world, I learned a profound truth:

Whatever is not witnessed with love tends to wither. To me, this is the crux of the

environmental crisis. Because we have forgotten how to witness the world with love, the Soul

of the World is dying. Whenever I feel heart-broken about the state of the world, I try to

remember the wisdom of the ancient Georgian Bay stones: The web may be broken, but the

Long Song continues...