Dance Our Way Home

by Twyla Kowalenko

“Coming Home to Myself” succinctly describes the journey I have found myself on and what has taken me to the wilds of the Amazon, to an ashram in the mountains and, most recently, to my discovery of Dance Our Way Home. The opportunity to begin working with Erica as an apprentice was one that I enthusiastically accepted as it perfectly complimented my spiritual practices and helped me on my spiral inwards.

When I saw the words “Coming Home to Myself” staring back at me from a book cover I instinctively reached for my wallet.  I quickly learned that it was with that very intuition that I needed to approach Marion Woodman and Jill Mellick’s book, which is becoming a more frequently-referenced travel guide on my personal journey. Just as my own path winds and spirals, comes back upon itself and changes course unexpectedly, a practical guidebook companion needs to understand this. “Coming Home to Myself” does just this and includes not only a deep well of guidance but clear counsel on how to truly listen to it, with a section clearly entitled ‘Ways to deepen your work with this book.’

This is not a book to be read cover to cover nor to be read with the head alone. As an rationally-oriented person, I asked, “how can I really read with my heart and with my body?” Jill’s answer is simply “...feel the body’s resonance with the phrases; these are the words that are plucking the strings of your heart and soul. When you reverberate, lay the book on your lap and go within. Actively open up to the image; experience the image taking up residence in your bones.”  I have found that the practice of Dance Our Way Home has allowed me to understand what this actually means, to know where my body is and the wisdom it has to share with me. To listen and open up not only mentally, but also physically, emotionally and spiritually.

My use of this book has allowed me to explore the power a short collection of words can have when I don’t let my head do all the work. I have brought its inspiration into meditation and dance, into journaling and doing the dishes, into petting my cats and dealing with conflict, into life as I’m living it. Sometimes when I first read a passage, it rings a bell right away. Sometimes it is not clear at all what it is I need to do with what I found and it seems to makes no sense. It always, however, begs for a true willingness to explore. The process isn’t always easy or pleasant, but it always proves a source of insight and perspective, a source of fuel for my own healing and growth. If I allow it to.

“Coming Home to Myself” is a collection of adaptive contemplations from the work of Marion Woodman, a renowned Jungian analyst, teacher and author, that are organised into various categories, such as ‘finding my own voice,’ ‘active surrender,’ ‘finding meaning in darkness,’ and ‘the shadow.’  Finding my own inspiration hasn’t come from the following the table of contents, however, but rather trusting that I will open the book to exactly what I need at that moment.

What is it that I need now?

My answer comes as:

“We are so sure

that to be receptive

is to surrender control;

that to open to fate is

to plummet through the dark.

We know no loving arms will open

to receive us as we fall.

We know we dare not;

the consequences would be fatal.

The door of our cage stands open.

We dare not walk through.

If we act out of instinct,

voice our feelings,

we open ourselves to fate.

Better, silence.

Better, the roles –

daughter, wife, mother –

as we have always – even half-heartedly –

understood them.

Indeed we may be making

the only choice we can.”

My head most certainly has a response but my body says that bringing the reflection into my dreams is where I need to go. As I complete my writing and take my next step, exploring new insights through reading, dreaming and dance, I wish you all the very best in your own journeys.

With light,

Twyla Kowalenko