Remember being back in high school and waiting for the slow dances to play so you could cuddle closely with your friend and enjoy the sweetness of the connection? And how sweet it was. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to create that magical moment without going back to the teenage angst that overwhelmed those tingling feelings? An ever-increasing percentage of people are finding that meditation is one way to capture that feeling of oneness we experienced during those slow dances. What if we could bring back those moments on a regular basis as adults, free of all the baggage that made those moments so rare and tainted?
I have practiced meditation for more than 20 years. I keep waiting patiently for the great insight that will resolve all my questions about life. I’m still waiting. Over the past few years, however, I have been working with Artie Egendorf, founder of Energy’s Way, to learn the moves that activate and align our energy centers. I have incorporated the moves into my meditation and find that energy flows much more freely as a result. It’s like a slow dance with life.
Just like AA, Energy’s Way (EW) has 12 steps. The goal, though, is different. In AA, people practice the 12 steps to avoid going back to destructive habits that were ruining their lives. In EW, people practice the 12 steps to approach a transcendent experience of life where every move we make is a dance. More Jazz than rock, more ballet than march. Yes, spontaneous, extemporaneous, and free flowing—Slow, gentle movements that are welcomed with ease and grace.
The steps are deceptively simple: Turn, Tune, Read, Care, Grow, Bloom, Reach, Greet, Join, Share, Speak, Glow. Each step is designed to activate one of our 12 Chakras. And meditation becomes a tool for aligning those chakras. The key is to practice each step with calming mantras:
Purpose, Peace, Presence
Patient, Gentle, Sensitive
Ease, Flow, Grace
Do, Allow, Welcome
So this slow dance with life can be represented in the following grid:
| Purpose | Peace | Presence | Patient | Gentle | Sensitive | Ease | Flow | Grace | |
| Turn | |||||||||
| Tune | |||||||||
| Read | |||||||||
| Care | |||||||||
| Grow | |||||||||
| Bloom | |||||||||
| Reach | |||||||||
| Greet | |||||||||
| Join | |||||||||
| Share | |||||||||
| Speak | |||||||||
| Glow |
I like to practice these moves in triads, understanding that all 12 steps are ideally applied to every step. So, Turn, Tune, and Read correspond to the crown, forehead, and brow chakras. Care, Grow, and Bloom apply to the heart, solar plexus, and navel chakras. Reach, Greet, and Join apply to the spleen, lower back (ming meng), and sex chakras. Share, Speak, and Glow apply to the base, throat, and divine spark chakras. Each triad has a different set of movements. For a full explanation of what, how, and why those moves are important, go to Energy’s Way.
When we were teenagers stumbling over our partner’s toes and our own words in an awkward attempt to come across as cool, that slow dance still felt good—really good. Now we have a chance to experience slow dancing as adults in everything we do without the awkwardness, angst, and anguish of our earlier years. Try it. Make that slow dance last forever.
Also published on Medium.
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