I attended a workshop on meditation this weekend and was reminded once again how much the Argentine tango is a form of meditation as much as it is a dance. More than the steps, the tango enables us to use the movements and the music to practice mindfulness - the state of awareness in the moment, and allowing oneself to live inside that moment. It is challenging to dance tango if one is always thinking about what is going to happen next or regretting the last step that didn't work out. Every step and pivot has it's own life that must be experienced and savored. On Sunday, the facilitator spoke about the "elasticity of time", how our perceptions of time can vary according to our interpretation of experiences. How a bad experience can be perceived as lasting a long time. And a good experience flies by! But in tango, mindfulness of beautiful moments can extend the duration of these in our perception, providing for gloriously sensual dancing. We can stretch out moments if we listen carefully to the music and allow ourselves not to rush to the next step, thus deepening our experience of a single movement or pause.
In tango, a moment is a world!
In tango, a moment is a world!
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