Moving Mama
Reflections on Body and Soul
More about Jenny
Jenny Finn is a licensed social worker (LSW), movement educator and owner of Soma, Ltd, offering opportunities for healing through creative expression and embodied practice. This spring Jenny traveled around the world with Semester at Sea, a unique study abroad program, where she taught undergraduate students the value and practice of self inquiry through creative expression. It was on this trip that Jenny felt an immense connection to the students of this particular age group and has become a passionate advocate for these young people. With attendance at her classes numbering over one hundred students, it became very clear to Jenny that undergraduate students want and need creative opportunities for self development in their educational process. She is pursuing her PhD in Sustainability Education at Prescott College to explore the issue of sustainability through the lens of internal development, creative expression and bodily connection. To fuel her inner life and guide her passion, Jenny loves to be outdoors, where you will find her hiking in the canyons of Colorado, or swimming laps in the pool. She loves to sing and play piano, write, practice yoga and knit. She loves to travel and has circumnavigated the globe twice with her family. Jenny lives on an urban farm with her family in downtown Colorado Springs, where they take care of bees, chickens and organic vegetables. She mothers two young children, is married to Andy and continues to deepen into her body and soul through movement and dance. She is grateful for this incredible gift of life and continues to be awed by the beauty that it offers.
Moving Mama
How About This!: On Uncertainty
How comfortable are you with being uncertain? Do you avoid it or do you hang out with it? Check out what Akiko Busch has to say about this, and if you wish, read the whole article attached at the end.
It is not unusual to begin something—a book, a painting, a pot, a walk, a recipe, a relationship, a marriage, any enterprise of the mind or heart—in a state of uncertainty. But I wonder now if some like uncertainty isn’t also a good place to end up. Possibly, it could even be the objective. ~ Akiko Busch
Check out the article in its entirety here.
Build Your Safety- For Earth's Sake
Walking Meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh
Take my hand.
We will walk.
We will only walk.
We will enjoy our walk
without thinking of arriving anywhere.
Walk peacefully.
Walk happily.
Our walk is a peace walk.
Our walk is a happiness walk.
Then we learn
that there is no peace walk;
that peace is the walk;
that there is no happiness walk;
that happiness is the walk.
We walk for ourselves.
We walk for everyone
always hand in hand.
Walk and touch peace every moment.
Walk and touch happiness every moment.
Each step brings a fresh breeze.
Each step makes a flower bloom under our feet.
Kiss the Earth with your feet.
Print on Earth your love and happiness.
Earth will be safe
when we feel in us enough safety.
Dancing With Myself
I was walking to my yoga class last weekend listening to fantastic music- Michael Franti covering Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues to be specific. It was good. And I suddenly felt this urge to dance as I was walking. I mean I felt an urge. It took everything in me not to bust out dancing on the sidewalk. You might ask, why wouldn't I bust out and dance on the sidewalk? I am wondering the same thing.
I was sent a video yesterday by a student who traveled with me on the Spring 2010 Semester at Sea voyage- a trip where I traveled and danced around the world with 600 young people. It was amazing to say the least.
Here is the video he sent to me.
The timing was impeccable on receiving this video. I was just wondering why I didn't dance down the sidewalk when I wanted to, and here is this guy Ben in New York City, dancing his butt off. I wondered what my deal was.
Last night I took that same walk to yoga but now with this guy Ben in my heart. If he could dance on the streets freely without inhibition, why couldn't I? I mean I dance all the time with others for my work, for heaven's sake. Dance is my spiritual practice. What the heck was going on with me?
I strapped my yoga mat to my back and started walking; Matisyahu the Israeli rapper singing his heart out into my ears. He is another musical artist where it is almost impossible to not dance when you hear him. As I walked, I began to move my hands. I had a small bounce in my step. But this was nothing compared to the dance I was feeling inside. My movements were way smaller than what was inside of me. It was like having to poop but holding it in. It was uncomfortable to say the least.
The vulnerability that swept over me as I walked was remarkable. I was conducting an intimate study of my vulnerability. What I learned is that it was hard to break out into a full dance as I walked the streets of Colorado Springs. I was nervous and awkward. And I then I felt sad. I could not believe I was restricting myself in this way. No one outside of me was telling me that I could not dance. There were no signs that said "No Dancing." I wasn't going to get in trouble for it, no police officer was going to ticket me. It was me who was restricting me and for what good reason? Well, there wasn't a good reason. I was afraid of what people would think. I also wished I had my friend or my sister with me; two people I know would bust out dancing with me. I had a hard time busting out as myself alone.
I learned a lot in this walk with myself. It's not just about dancing on the sidewalks–it is about living my life. The prison bars that restrict me from being fully myself are not outside of me; I have built them slowly inside. Some of the bars are stronger than others or they have a stronger hold on me than I thought.
As far as dancing on the sidewalk, I know it will happen with practice and it will feel like freedom. The humbling part of this is, is that I thought I would have no problem at all doing what Ben did here, because dance is something that I do quite often. But it wasn't as easy as I thought. It will forever amaze me how I have this one life to live that I know in my bones will not last forever, and I continue to hold back from my life. These spaces where I restrict myself are doorways to liberation if I have the courage to stand before them; and not just once, but over and over again. It takes practice and attention to break the prison bars down.
So thank you Ben. You have given me something to work on. If you live in Colorado Springs, don't be surprised if one day you see me dancing down the street. One breath at a time.
You Are Standing on the Stars
A while ago my mom sent us an application for the IPhone that allows a person to be able to see and name the constellations, maybe you have heard of this? You hold it up to the sky and on the screen of the phone appears the different constellations and planets and identifies them as well. When we got the application we all ran out that night to the back porch to try it out.
My sun sign is Libra so I began looking for the Libra constellation. I swayed back and forth all over the sky, no Libra. As I stood confused at my inability to find Libra my husband said, "Hold it to the Earth." I brought my arm down and directed the phone to the Earth. Constellations and planets showed up on the screen and sure enough, there was Libra.
Okay, this might be VERY obvious to some of you readers. We all know that we live on a planet that is spinning in the universe. We all know that the cosmos exists above and below us. Of course. But how many of us actually integrate that understanding that we learned from reading a book into our very lives. How often do we think that underneath us, just as above us, there is infinite space and to get to the other side of the Earth we must pass through molten, fluid fire to get there? Not me apparently. I thought Libra got lost or something. That is how human-centered I can be in this life.
As I held the phone to the Earth, I saw all of these stars and planets beneath me. I am on a planet spinning in the middle of infinite space. I am living on a planet that is tilted just the right way towards the sun that life can survive. I am living on a planet that's atmosphere is just the right elemental balance so that I can breathe.
There is something perspective-changing when intellectual knowledge penetrates the body. Like I said, I have known this, but in my head. When I held that phone to the Earth and saw the stars beneath me, my perspective grew. It grew much larger than little ol' me. All of the things that seemed like such a big deal in the moment became very, very small.
I am standing in the center of a cosmos. We are standing in the center of a cosmos.That is just amazing. There are stars beneath us! There is infinite space holding us! What might that expansive knowledge do for us if we let it move below our heads and enter our bodies?
Consider today that you stand not only upon the earth but upon infinite expansive space. Consider today that you stand on the stars. How does that change your perspective of what is true?
A Little West Coast Talk
This is a keynote presentation on wholeness that I offered last week in southern California. I was honored to be with the WACUHO conference and teach and learn about what wholeness, intimacy and self awareness have to do with one's work in the world. Enjoy and thank you for reading and listening!
Download | Duration: 00:55:10
Rise: Busyness-Awakening to Our Collective Addiction
When seven-year olds are saying that they are "too busy," I think it might be time to wake up from our collective addiction. Peace to you and thank you for listening.
Download | Duration: 00:28:35
Weird Things are Happening
Weird things have been happening to me lately.
I talk to the birds now. When I am sitting outside and I hear the crow calling above me, I say hello.
When I am entering my backyard and walking on the patio, I look down to make sure I am not stepping on an ant. I have nearly done the splits to avoid them.
I can identify some of the constellations and know my orientation to them. I noticed the other night that Orion was in a different place because I came out later that night to look at the stars. Then I realized that I was actually in a different place. Funny how perspective changes everything.
I cannot throw away plastic, metal, glass, or close to anything for that matter. We have been recycling for a long time, but sometimes I would get lazy and just throw the paper in my hand away rather than walk ten more feet to put it in the recycling. I know now that there is no throwing away. There is nowhere to throw away to. What I "throw away" I throw into the earth or its atmosphere. The atmosphere and earth that I cannot live without.
Two days ago I found myself turning off the shower water as I lathered my hair. That is very, very strange for me. I don't like to be cold in the shower. But there I was, standing and shivering, naked in the showering lathering my hair. To hear water running for no reason causes me physical discomfort.
Weird things are happening to me. I am starting to care more deeply for the planet that I am a part of. Not because anyone told me to or because I read it somewhere. It is happening because I am deepening into the earth through my very own body.
Published: How Breathing is Sacred
I had a piece recently published in the Journal of Sustainability Education. It is called The Sacred Breath: Teachings from the Inner Landscape. This 2012 edition was on geography and I decided to write about the human interior life. This article goes into detail about what I have learned from the act of breathing and why paying attention to the breath might help us better connected to ourselves, each other and the more-than-human world.
You can read it here. Click on the button on the upper right that reads 2012 edition. Enjoy.
Jenny's Denver Keynote: Leadership, Vulnerability and Empowerment
To see my keynote presentation, given this month, at the Denver Women's Leadership conference, click here.
I spoke about vulnerability, leadership and empowerment. It is from the place of vulnerability that I am empowered to be the leader I am called to be. I certainly felt this as I spoke.
Enjoy.
