Zen and Ballet: 10 Tips for the Journey

It’s time once again for my annual trek to Vajrapani for a three-day silent retreat. Last year, upon my return, I penned an article for Dance Advantage about how my meditation practice paralleled, oddly, my experience in taking ballet classes. Rereading it now, I’m grateful for the wisdom I’d accrued last year and utterly, wholly … Read more

Why the Hyatt Regency Maui?

Folks who know The Classical Girl still might not be aware that, sandwiched between my ballet dancer cycles, and long before my writing career commenced, I worked for Hyatt Hotels for close to four years. It was after my stint in Africa with the Peace Corps, when returning to Kansas became quite the letdown after … Read more

Which way is the dancer turning?

All right, readers, opinions, please. Which way do you see the dancer turning? This psychological study fascinates me. My first reaction to seeing this, years back, had me thinking, oh, clockwise. Without question. I felt like surely it was a trick question. And, further, suggestions that I could make it go the other way seemed just as … Read more

Retreat to Esalen

Today I go to Esalen. I say this in the way a kid repeats to himself in a dazed, reverent tone, tomorrow is my birthday, or today is the last day of school. Ironically, my son was reciting the latter just yesterday. We both were, repeating it to each other in incredulous tones, as if afraid that someone or something … Read more

Gentle tips for the motherless daughter on Mother’s Day

Good for you—you got here safely. The hardest part is over. And I’ll just say this: oh, honey, I know what you’re going through. You are not alone. Fellow motherless daughter, allow me to offer you the blog equivalent of a bone-crushing hug, a long one, the kind that makes you sort of sag against the … Read more