the Richness of Sifting

Apropos of spring and all the transitions therein, here's an excerpt from Natalie Goldberg’s chapter “Composting,” from Writing Down the Bones. "Our bodies are garbage heaps" is a bit strong, but, overall, I find composting a useful metaphor to draw on in your approach to Awareness Through Movement.

Our senses by themselves are dumb. They take in the experience, but they need the richness of sifting for a while through our consciousness and through our whole bodies. I call this “composting.” Our bodies are garbage heaps: we collect experience, and from the decomposition of the thrown-out eggshells, spinach leaves, coffee grinds, and old steak bones of our minds come nitrogen, heat, and very fertile soil. But this does not come all at once. It takes time. Continue to turn over and over the organic details of your life until some of them fall through the garbage of discursive thoughts to the solid ground of black soil.

What would the movement equivalent of ‘black soil’ feel like? Let’s give our movement habits the time they need to sift, sort, and transform into the more useful effort.