Many of us Aussie Dancers have become regulars at the NZ dance Camp and the Mana retreat over the years. Mana is such a deeply nurturing space, whose equivalent in Ozland, is still to be found, if it exists. This year 12 of us attended the Leilah Be Mana retreat with 8 of us from Byron Bay, diving deeply into Divine Presence , under the skilful guidance of our beloved Murshida Leilah Be from Hawaii. We enjoyed beautiful warm weather where back at home the cyclones were howling!
We looked at the parts of ourselves that needed reconciling and forgiveness, we broke through new territory and emptied out so we could live from the fullness of our radiance. We felt a fuller measure of Divine Love flowing through us.
One of the things we covered is what to do when you have an aversion to someone. These steps were outlined:
Have a strong wish for boddhicitta
It’s natural to effort for peaceful abiding
Have a deep longing to change the experience
Give up the aversion and it will disappear.
We explored the attributes of God , from the book Physicians of the Heart as we looked at what does it mean to be truly human and how to heal our wounded condition of abandonment and to cope with the above
Through acceptance and not resistance we can transform. We journeyed through many dances and zikrs as a vehicle for transformation, opening our devotional heart , making every breath our Lover. We gave ourselves and each other forgiveness and appreciation as we came into the centre of the Shalama Bayta dance, the Aramaic for “Peace upon your household.” This was so deeply moving there was hardly a dry eye in the Dance space.
We experienced how the dances are a practice of Openness, which reveal our times of contraction and how in life we need the balance of both.
In spaciousness and gentleness, kindness and compassion we looked at it all, and felt ourselves coming to a deeper place of peace than we had known before. Alhamdullilah allah!
“Although we seem to be in a world of song and dance, we are most concerned with peace on earth” – Sam
