The Dance of Longing

A movement poem

Hi, I’m Faye and I share the practice and philosophy movement as a pathway to personal empowerment.

Subscribe for free to enjoy the philosophy and occasional movement snacks. Or, better yet, join the SPINE community and learn to embody your power. With a paid subscription, you’ll have access to weekly movement practices and prompts to spark your creative fire, and seasonal workshop series to dive deep into embodying your unique purpose, passion and flavors of expression. 

Let’s Move Together

“Sometimes I try to write something to you 
and it’s like none of the words even matter. 
I just want to touch you,”
I say to Luke. 
My whole being fills with longing.

I wander to the kitchen,
fill the kettle with water for coffee. 
As I wait for it to boil, 
a memory of a song I heard yesterday. 
I open Spotify and hit play. 
My body wants the doorframe. 
Three narrow, solid surfaces to navigate. 
The floor below.
Open space surrounding.

One arm reaching to the molding for balance, 
my spine rotating,
the other hand tracing a 
clearly defined 
opening, 
feeling from ceiling to floor and up again.

Here I am. 

One hand pressing out on either side of me, 
tension, release, tension again; 
I am swaying in two dimensions. 
Writhing within this slender doorway. 
One foot firmly planted, 
the other exploring, 
delicately searching for a perfect landing.

My arms, now together, 
reach out and over,
tracing an archway 
to step through,
expanding space.
I rotate on my axis, 
reaching for the frame behind me,
lean gently,
arching my body.

My writhing gains dimension 
as I tiptoe, lengthening one leg,
creating space for the other’s
circling in space,
and now kicking,
backwards and forwards,
testing the open waters,
leaving home base,
but not completely.

Another arch, 
arm against frame.
I step through the space I’ve created,
spine twisting, reaching deep,
touching something, 
a feeling I carry 
on my fingertips,
gently stretch above my head.
Tension spiraling into 
my cupped hand
pulled to my chest.
I spin again,
rotating heart towards ceiling
coming back to balance.

Once more 
through the process,
learning space.
Right and left 
leaning weight into frame.
Hand gripping wood beside me,
hips sink down,
leg splitting to ground.
Tension. 
Pulling myself up again.
Two points of contact,
spinning,
arching,
weight shifting,
a wave cresting.

I am standing. 

Free in space.

Whoever you are, and wherever you are in your journey, if you want to discover tools to reconnect with your body, find joy & pleasure in movement, and learn to embody your creative flow, I invite you to join SPINE’s very first 8-week movement workshop series for paid subscribers, The Creative Body

The Creative Body starts April 22 and will explore the body as a source of creativity, wisdom, and power. Together, we will journey through a series of movement practices and writing prompts crafted to help you build a strong foundation for a lifetime of empowering, embodied expression.

This is going to be the start of something wonderful. Get more details in the post linked below. I hope you move with you!