Let's talk about the Ramayana...or not

So, at Monday's class we were supposed to be discussing the Ramayana in our circle. We circled up and our guru led us in our stretches. I agree with Guru Francis that I do feel the sense of community while we are stretching together. We are linked together through him during that time, and the exercise we did with laying down and popping back up was a cool way to really see how in tune with each other we can be.

When we started doing the chanting circle and Francis got up and started singing/chanting about the beginnings of the Ramayana. None of us really knew what we were supposed to do. I think the hardest part about this class for me is truely getting to a point where I can step out of my comfort zone and "surrender." Monday's class was really confusing to me in many ways, and it was/is hard for me to verbalize what I was feeling during that class. All the talk about the economy and people's future plans made me feel like all the things I'm going through right now are really petty and unimportant, which is why it's hard for me to open up about what's on my mind when asked in class. When I left class I felt really unsettled about it all.

Being in a situation like our discussion on Monday is really hard for me. I'm very quiet by nature, public speaking is a huge fear of mine, and to just jump into a conversation in or outside an academic setting requires major effort on my part. So I know that is something I need to work on, and have been working on, but I also know its something that will take a lot of time.

I think that dance is a realm of this class that I am definately more comfortable with, even though I'm not necessarily good at it. It's something that is more familiar to me, even if the style is way different than anything I've ever done before. I'm much more confident in a performance or dance setting than a speaking setting given my background in cheerleading and dance. So I'm hoping I can contribute more to the class in that way!

That's all for now.