Harmony

Happy October, friends!

This week in Aya, we're gonna take a deep dive into: harmony.

We'll explore things like:

What does it mean to be in harmony?
What does harmony feel like?
Harmony with who? With what?
With our voice?
With our body throughout the collective space?
In class?
At home?
At work (or anywhere else)?
Where/when do we feel disharmony?
How are we contributing to the harmony (or lack thereof) when _____?
How might we help create more harmony in our self, life, relationships, or world around us?

Friends, I cannot wait to see where this focus takes us... This one's been marinating for a couple of weeks, so here are a couple of ideas to get us started:

We are familiar with the concept of harmony in regard to music, so perhaps we might first explore this with our voices. As we dance and sing, we might begin to experiment with singing the melody, or a known harmony. Or perhaps we'll branch out and add a complete brand new layer of harmony to the experience in the moment. Alternatively, maybe we'll explore the power of contributing with our silence. Another way to play with this via our voices might be to really sense and explore the volume with which we are singing. Are we loud enough to be heard? Are we too overpowering? Where's the sweet spot in relationship to the whole?

However, our sense of harmony doesn't need to be limited to just our voices. We can explore other ways we are bringing harmony to the group experience. We can always become aware of our relationship we are having with something beyond ourselves. We can explore being in harmony with the other bodies in the room, the space surrounding us, our homes, the earth under our feet, our family, our friendships, our neighbors, our co-workers. We can apply the concept of harmony in all sorts of ways. In class, for example, we can notice how we naturally space ourselves in our group circle. Or how we space ourselves as we move and dance throughout the room. Where are we in relationship to the whole? Sometimes we all come close. Sometimes we space out. Sometimes we all travel one way. Sometimes we create shapes and designs and patterns together. Sometimes we just are free to be chaotic... yet are still maintaining some level of harmony. What's going on there? How do we maintain group harmony and cohesion?

Harmony requires an awareness beyond the self. Something that is so beautiful about this exploration is that it is relationship-focused. It's not self-absorption. To sense and be in harmony with something, we need both: 1) an awareness of the whole, and 2) how we personally contribute to that whole. It's about relationship. Connection. Union. Togetherness.

Although, that said, we could also play with this in regard to harmony within the self. Perhaps how unique parts of the self contribute to the harmonious whole?

Harmony requires differences. Another thing that I think is so exciting about this, is that harmony is not simply about sameness. For example, if all musicians in a band played the exact same notes, there wouldn't be the beautiful mix of unique layers and depth that is so incredibly magical to experience. Harmony is when your uniqueness combines with others to create a pleasing unifying whole.... a something bigger. A higher unity. Same goes in life. It's not about all being the same, or sounding the same, or moving in the same way. It's about showing up and intentionally being a part of something bigger than the self. It's about offering our unique contribution. We participate. We are part of the whole.

Sometimes overall harmony requires that we be bold, or stand out. Sometimes, that we step back or blend in. Imagine your experience in class (or in life) as being like an incredible jazz ensemble. There might be times where you need to really step up, stand out, and shine brightly in a spontaneous solo. At other times, what's needed is to soften & support others while they are stepping up and going for it. It's dynamic and spontaneous, yet cohesive. Sometimes we might quiet down. Sometimes we might amp it up. Sometimes we might splash out larger and take up more of the empty space. Sometimes we move in smaller ways so we don't run into our neighbor. Sometimes we take the lead. Sometimes we follow. Always, we are contributing to a larger whole.

Then, we can also explore: how might we apply these concepts/ideas of harmony beyond the dance floor?