did you cross your midline today?

I haven’t yet. When I go to rehearsal for dirtland and start figuring out what happens next in this strange little dance I am making I will look forward to crossing my midline The moment my right leg crosses over to the left side of my body The moment my left elbow wanders down toward my right ankle in a new fangled manner, The moment I find myself spinning and then landing with a thud on the bench, crossing the midline quickly and with lots of momentum. Crossing the midline of the body (put your finger on the tip of your nose and then draw a line straight down from there…that is the midline of the body) helps integrate the body and the brain in a most tender and lovely way.

A lot of biking, hiking, running, walking, swimming happens, especially in Boulder.

Don’t get me wrong, I love doing all of these things (I just took an amazing run this morning that turned into a lovely summer hike and am looking forward to a bike ride tomorrow). But if I only do the kind of movement that doesn’t cross the midline, I get a little stiff. A little creaky. A little lopsided.

I miss the curve, the swoop, and the spin of my dancing body. My dancing body needs to cross the midline A LOT. When I find new positions and patterns of movement in my dancing, I gleefully cross my midline over and over again without even noticing.

It’s easy to do, and I notice that as adults we don’t tend to cross the midline as much as we did when we were kids.

So let’s start crossing the midline!

It’s fun, it’s easy and I bet it’ll make you super smart.

Your dance mission for the next two weeks is to cross your midline every time you hear the chirp of a bird. I know it sounds random, but see what happens if you every time you hear a bird chirp you cross your midline (that means that when the birds wake-up at 4am you better be up and out of bed crossing your midline!!! Just kidding, just do it when you are up and out of bed. If you are feeling ambitious and want to keep crossing your midline as the birds keep chirping, go for it).

There is such beauty in this type of randomness I think, don’t you??

Let me know how the midline crossing is going for you by posting your comments, photos, video, thoughts here:

Looking forward to seeing and dancing with you soon,

With Warmth,

Joanna of Joanna and the Agitators sweetly agitating/persistently upending