Updated at the bottom of this post:
  "When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor.  It's to enjoy each step along the way" - Wayne Dyer

I just read this quote on Nia Technique's facebook page ... I am sitting here, upright with my laptop positioned at eye-level.  I am in recovery from whiplash.  A little amused by this quote, I breathe a sigh of release as I am reminded that I am dancing through life even in this physically inactive moment.

A 4x4 [SUV] driver smashed into my car rear. 

My body knows how to heal. 

Day 2 - My Body Stress Release practitioner told me my back muscles felt like a brick wall to touch.  I was not feeling too much pain.  Day 6 - Feeling more pain as my muscles are letting go.  Day 7 - Being easy on my body and rushing nowhere.  Going Nowhere Slowly.
 
Enjoying every step along the way.  Trusting the healing process.  The Dance of the Moment.  Grateful for the substitute teachers who are teaching my classes.  Enjoying this time scrolling around facebook ;-)

Aha!  Savouring the moment.  The Moment that is always here.  The same beauty.  It is just as inspiring as when I am on that dance floor.  The light landing on the floor in shuttered patterns.  Bird sounds filterring in.  The muffled noise of suburban traffic.  Charlie Brown, our chocolate labrador, barking at passersby.  And inbetween, there is the Stillness.  And Grace.

My breath is dancing me.  My breath is dancing my healing ... my shoulders are relaxing, my neck is softening, my chest is moving in a rhythm.
My breath is dancing my body.
My breath is dancing.

Day 8 - I'm finding that to relieve the ache in my lower back - swaying my hips and tail bone is great.  I'm walking around my office like a weirdo swaying those hips while speaking on the phone.  My body somehow is yearning to dance the Nia clock step with this hip sway.  In my office, no music, with feel-good loose joints, the 'sway' and attention on the "smile line" from hip to hip - I am experiencing the healing tonic of Nia movement.  Later when I walk into my singing teacher's studio, she laughs at what she calls the "Marilyn Monroe walk".  And yet basically these movements are about creating ease and comfort in my lower back! 

Day 9 - I've been giving thought to what I was thinking just before that car crashed into mine.  I was thinking about making some changes in my life.  About filling myself up more.  I had not yet given myself permission to make these changes.  Hmmm ... interesting!  Now I have time to give it all serious thought and to institute these changes in my lifestyle. 

My breath is dancing me.

Day 11 - I am seeing and feeling light at the end of the tunnel :)  I have gone for an afternoon walk in Emmarentia Park the last 2 days.  That disconcerting strange deep ache through my back has gone and now I only have some moments of feeling jarred or tender.  I am feeling confident to move about more!

Day 12 - The Body Stress Practitioner advises me to rather have another week of as much bedrest as possible.  Even though most of the worst pain has gone, my body is still needing to do more healing work. Oh ... okay.

My breath is dancing me.  My breath is dancing the healing.

Trusting the healing process.  Savouring the moment.  Thanking my body for the good job it is doing.

Day 14 - Pain and discomfort comes and goes.  I am feeling angry at the woman who slammed her car into mine.  Our daughters go to the same school.  The accident happened a few blocks away from the school as we both left school after having dropped our daughters off.  I feel all my emotions.  I cry.

I return to Peace.  My breath is dancing me.  My body is healing.  I choose Peace.

Day 18 - I go to my first Nia class since the accident.  Standing in the back row I move gently.  Doing Nia is easier on my back than walking through a shopping mall!

My breath is dancing my healing.


A COUPLE MONTHS AFTER THE ACCIDENT: I bumped into the woman who crashed her car into mine and I shared with her the trauma of the accident's repercussions. Later that day she arrived at my home with a bunch of flowers and a card.