listening to THE ANCESTORS
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A week ago on June 9th I released my newest Indigenous African dance single called THE ANCESTORS WHISPERS.
Since I’ve been through 10 lifetimes of healing already and it feels like 10 years ago I released this, I thought I’d circle back with ya’ll on what I’ve learned.
Taking a moment to pause, breathe, and celebrate releasing music is always a practice for me.
Celebration is a practice that I have to teach myself.
Emotionally present fathers even in their older days will remind their sons of how proud they are of them.
Fathers who never had a physically and emotionally present father find it very very very difficult to say the words, “I’m proud of you” because they are not proud of themselves.
Cultivating a practice of celebration within ourselves as Black and African men breaks this generation pain of self-hatred (just another impact on the Neanderthal cave-dwelling European way of life on the psyche).
Since releasing this dance single, I’ve been thinking a lot about my own unique connection with The Ancestors.
How do I even know I’m hearing right?
How do I even know I’m listening to their divine guidance?
This is what I call “THE CONNECTION”, and may be the title of my next single (yes I’ve been working on music again - woo!).
THE CONNECTION - WORK IN PROGRESS (2 min)
THE CONNECTION between us and Spirit is guess?
Yes, THE BODY.
I can listen more clearly when I hear the cries from my inner child through the pain in my body I feel everyday.
I can listen more clearly when I soften and tend to my muscles.
I can listen more clearly when I put my feet on the grass and take the biggest breath I’ve taken and visualize Mother Earth taking my fear and shame away.
This is how we listen.
When we begin to listen to ourselves.
Our body is the sacred connection between us and the natural.
People may think this is woo-woo, which I understand, and it took hundreds of thousands of years (even more) for us Homo Sapiens Sapiens to evolve to where we are now.
That means that during this long ass time we were always dancing with nature.
With the trees, with the birds, with large bodies of water, with the darkness, and with the unknown.
A lot of our challenges with our mental health as an African Diaspora simply comes from us not dancing and singing enough.
This was how we originally prayed.
The modern colonial term is music and for our Ancestors, it was just them dancing with the divine.
Calling on rain to water the crops to feed the village.
We moved our bodies and moved stuck emotions and energy.
It was part of our daily life and if there is resonance in what I’m saying then please only take this gem away.
You are being invited to dance again.
You don’t need to take dance classes, all you have to do is take 5 minutes out of your morning and listen to your own body.
Less Structure = More Spirit.
What a gift to give our inner children each day!
You can find more of my Indigenous African dance music on this Spotify playlist.
KEEP DANCING!