11.30.20 // ecstatic dance

I turned on a playlist the other day.
.
I turned it on and placed my noise-canceling headphones on.
.
And it took me hundreds of miles away.
.
It took back to my time in San Francisco, to my Sundays spent "worshipping" at the Church of Eight Wheels.
.
For those of you who haven't spent time in San Francisco, the Church of Eight Wheels is not a religious establishment. It is a converted church turned roller rink. It is spectacular.
.
On Friday and Saturday nights, the Church of Eight Wheels would ignite with the pop hits and 70's classics that would draw all walks of life. The line would be out the door for folks to get in, clad with their glitter, flared pants, and San Francisco style.
.
But on Sunday, the church became something else...
.
It was bliss.
.
It was "Ecstatic Dance".
.
Maybe you've heard of it before? I had once or twice, but it was nothing like I expected. It was so much more.
.
It was one of the most freeing experiences of my life. To slip into a place where time no longer existed and societal constructs washed off you as soon as you slipped between the church doors.
.
Underneath the stained glassed windows, hundreds of San Franciscans would lose themselves in dance, hundreds of San Franciscans would *find* themselves in dance.. Bringing only love, no cell phones, no judgment, no drugs, and an open mind. Sundays were a means for connecting to a higher self through movement.
.
I would frolic freely across the hardwood floors of the old building once used for worship. Sometimes my dance would reflect my 10+ years of dance training, sometimes it would reflect my feelings, sometimes I would dance with others, following their lead and connecting in motion.
.
Those Sundays spent spinning in dance could be anything I wanted them to be...
.
And while it wasn't religious, that church granted me expansion.
.
Expansion of my mind, my heart, and my world.
.
It was an experience I once would have shook my head and laughed at because deep down it scared me, it felt vulnerable, unknown, and "weird." And to be honest, it was all of those things, scary, vulnerable, and "weird," but I wouldn't have it any other way.
.
You're not too cool to try something different that is out of the realm of what is considered "normal." Push yourself to find yourself. What you find will be way cooler than what other people tell you is cool.