Naomi Katz
Embodied Prayer
Since humans have walked the earth, we have been blessed with the art of the dance.
By moving, we express what is in our bodies, we learn to listen to what is moving through us.
We are the body of the universe.
I draw my prayer from the molten lava core of the earth
through the waterways that flow deep beneath the surface of the soil
into the waters that flow in my blood
my tears
my saliva
my sweat
dancing upon trails carved in the earth that is my body
nourished by the air that is my breath
to feed the rhythm of the fire of my heart.
I am these four sacred elements.
I am the cycles of life, death and rebirth that live in my body, and in the universe.
I am prayer.
Embodied prayer is a journey
through the body
to the essence of what we are grateful for in this life,
to the essence of our relationship with our source -
the earth,
the air,
the fire,
the water.
Through movement and word we encounter the heart of our personal prayer, that which flows from the deepest place inside ourselves and blesses the universe with our personal magic.
Through engaging all of our senses we awaken the awareness of our essential relationship with life, our essential relationship with the powers that live within us and around us, our essential relationship with what it is to be human upon the earth in this time.
Dance heals.
And the people dance
to the rhythm in my soul
Carrying the steps
Into my heart
My heart is alive
With the rhythm of the people
Moving the water
That is my blood
And my blood flows
In the rhythm of the earth
Called by the moon
In the voice of the people
And the spirits sing
To the rhythm of the wind
Spoken in the word
Of the people of the earth
Ceremony and Ritual