Relating is connecting with others, nurturing relationships, building community, developing leadership, balancing exertion-recuperation, phrasing, and navigating personal uniqueness and diversity.
Hello, this is Blythe Stephens of A Blythe Coach: dance education and coaching to move through life with balance, grace, and power. This podcast includes bite-sized insights on ballet, dance, yoga, well-being, creativity, and joy! This is the fifth and final part of a series about being present in the body and living mindfully. Of course I’ll be re-visiting these topics many times in the future, but this is my first stab at distilling key points that underpin all of my work. They are all connected!
If you haven’t yet heard the sections on Grounding, Centering, and Orienting, and Creating, you may wish to go back and check out those episodes as well. Here I’ll discuss the next critical element, finding a Related State of Being. Of course my discussion here is just the tip of the iceberg- truly this introduction is just a tiny taste of the philosophy behind my work, and it draws on many sources.
Many faiths share a basic premise of treating those around you well. In his translation of the classic text of yoga philosophy, The Bhagavad Gita, Sri Swami Satchidananda provides this interpretation of how we are to relate to others: “This explains the Bible commandment, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ It doesn’t say, ‘Love only your good neighbor as yourself,’ or ‘Love your neighbor who has the same label. [...] And who is your neighbor? The one sitting next to you now, or in the next room, the next house, the next town. Everyone close to you is your neighbor. But how do you love your neighbor as your own Self? You have to see your Self in that person.” (The Living Gita ) We find that “Golden Rule” in the Bible, in the books of Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39, & Mark 12:31, and other belief systems do share in this core value.
While I was training with Accomplishment Coaching, we started from the premise that you are already fully related to everyone! In coaching, we can nurture healthy relationships by tending to the Four Corners of Relationship, which are Relatedness, Responsibility, Integrity, and Communication.
Key to our connection with others is our relationship with ourselves, so I invite you to start there. In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron suggests the following simple practice: “Several times a day, just take a beat, and ask yourself how you are feeling. Listen to your answer. Respond kindly.”
Then from a foundation of self-love, we can share our care and respect for others, providing ourselves and our community with physical and intellectual safety, and we can even work to promote social justice for all.
Of course, this is NOT a linear path! It is spiralic, and there are lots of stops and starts and overlap and intersection between themes. In yoga, we seek to connect to Self, spirit, and others.In dance, we relate to one another continuously and in an embodied way. In life, may we greet one another with respect and love.
I leave you today with a gesture from the yoga tradition, with my palms together before the heart center, the highest in me greets the highest in you. Namaste!
For more information about all of these themes and the work I do, and for lots more free resources, please visit me at www.ablythecoach.com
