IE takes to the slopes again--with almost enough snow

There wasn’t much snow this year, still IE was looking forward to another experience of snowshoeing, She was thinking of getting some tips from the Nordic center experts. However it was all for naught when she arrived and looked at the slopes:

 

The Nordic experts suggested just wearing regular hiking shoes and taking some poles. 

So IE set out in search of snow,

 and that high mountain feeling of trees and birds too high up to see, only to hear,

the sound of the wind in the trees where the snow bounces off and the canvas pure white.

It doesn’t seem like winter because in the sun it’s not cold and yet there is the 

chill of nothingness in the air, the pine fresh smell. Cold, clear, and simple.

Dancing isn’t a place we can get to all the time. 

 But it can be a practice that opens us to other experiences. 

And in that moment walking up

 the hill in the snow with the trees

 

the high branches waving in the air and the birds calling to each other,

and the gentle melting edge of the snow, uncovering  ground that was muddy and warm with rocks coming out.

"I praise the dance,

for it frees people from the heaviness of matter...

I praise the dance, which demands everything:

health and a clear spirit and a buoyant soul.

Dancing demands a whole person,

one who is firmly anchored in the center of his life,

who is not obsessed by lust for people and things

and the demon of isolation in his own ego...

Dancing demands a freed person,

one who vibrates with the equipoise of all his powers.

- Saint Augustine

Cheers,

IE