Stories

A real Dancing With Gaia Moment.....an unsolicited note from Ruth, one of the people demonstrating Aikido in the film... (used with permission).

"Found your email from the gaiadancing website. Want to share an aikido story I think you'll appreciate.

Three weeks ago I went to San Diego for a three day aikido seminar with Patrick Cassidy. It was an awesome seminar and the whole thing was done to music! I had an experience training there with one man that was in the realm of magic, both of us connecting so harmoniously, in sync with the music, and just glowing. I've never had such an experience training like that. It was like dancing. Dancing with Gaia!
I found this quote from Cassidy Sensei in an online interview,

“When the rhythms of the music are in sync with your movements, you have the experience of something moving through you rather than something coming from you. That is the experience we are looking for that sense of being connected to something larger, coming into touch with a context that contains both uke and nage. The music is a catalyst for that."

So that was what I got, and now I'm a huge Cassidy fan! I also found a video of one of Cassidy's students taking a sandan test, set to music. Thought you might enjoy it. Here is the link below. Cassidy is the blond examinar in the video.

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/aikido-performance-clip-sandan-test/2581504873

Looking forward to the premiere of Dancing With Gaia."

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The best of times and the worst of times on the road, shooting Dancing With Gaia:

Production Notes from the filmmaker...

"When I first started looking for funding for Dancing With Gaia, none of the grant agencies would even consider it. It was too religious, too spiritual, too much about sex, too everything! I am thrilled that now when I bring up Gaia or the Goddess, people generally know what that is and often want to see the movie.  Times have changed, and Gaia is making herself known.

The worst time of the production was when my taxi driver in the lonely mountains of Crete started saying he wanted a kiss and put his hand on my leg. I grabbed my things, jumped out of the taxi and ran. He didn't follow, so I got to get shots of the dank mouth of Eiletheya cave, reputed birthplace of Zeus. I was glad I wasn't impregnated on my way to see the birthgiving Goddess.   Then it was a long and weary trudge all the way back down to town carrying my equipment.

One of the best times was being alone in the Temple of Mnaijdra on Malta. I had rented a moped and slung the camera across my back; it was perfect that when I arrived, no one else was there. I got to lie down on one of the huge carved stones inside the temple, with the warm sun pouring down on me. It was one of the most peaceful times of my life. The temples there are all built in the shape of the full bodied mother Goddess. Lying there really felt like I had gone back to rest inside her body."