Karma is “the natural and necessary happenings in one’s life pre-conditioned by one’s past lives.”*
This is the third year in which Marge and I have exercised weekly at her home. Marge is the leader. She chooses what we practice. Our current exercise is Somatic Exercise. From these weekly sessions these past three years, as well as from over a lifetime of exercise and dance, I now see these activities as part of my “karma,” and an explanation of my nature—I love body movement!
The first expression of this karma was at five, with ballet and tap dance, then four years later with ballroom dancing.
In my early thirties, I exercised with Inga Holm—all business. With braids on top of her head, and age seventy, at least, she energetically kept our class in constant motion to the rhythmic piano playing of an African American lady who never looked at the keys. In my late thirties, I returned to jazz and tap with the now humorous view that I could tap dance into my sixties.
Exercise in my early forties was yard work and a one-time, 10k race that I finished—not quite last—and then retired from running.
Three years before I met Marge, I was practicing the Melt Method exercises,* daily mopping my hall floor, and quite frankly, missing any opportunity to go to a class.
Then one day I went to Marge’s home. I’d heard that she was exercising. I didn’t know her well, but as I liked exercise (and was thirteen years younger) I wondered if I might help in that activity. Little did I know that I was about to find what had been missing in my life. We became a group of two. At the time, she was doing Feldenkrais* exercise, zoomed in from America by a friend, a retired Feldenkrais teacher. After two years, Marge announced that we now needed to do Somatic Exercise.* She had been given four cassettes and had a player. I was thrilled. Each Friday, we rotate to the next cassette, but any afternoon Marge might tell me of another exercise we need to do. And I’ll be ready with my answer—Yes!
My realization is, “The Indian word karma, when defined in plain English becomes easy to understand. It can bridge together separate periods in life to create a recognizable theme, preconceived in past lives and now seen with a new perspective.”
* Marge Liboiron has been a resident in service at Meherabad since 1990. Meherabad is the Tomb Shrine of Meher Baba, Avatar of the Age.
* Meher Baba, Discourses, 7th revised ed. (Myrtle Beach, SC: Sheriar Foundation, 1987), 210.
* Susan Hitzmann, The Melt Method, A Breakthrough Self-Treatment System to Eliminate Chronic Pain, Erase the Signs of Aging, and Feel Fantastic in Just 10 Minutes a Day! (New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 2013),
* The Feldenkrais Lessons: Awareness Through Movement, dvd.
http://brucetholmes.com/Feldenkrais.html; Moshé Feldenkrais was the founder of The Feldenkrais Method.
http://www.feldenkraisinstitute.com/about_feldenkrais/overview
*Thomas Hanna, Somatic Exercises,™ “The Myth of Aging” (Novato, CA: Somatics Educational
Resources, n.d.), casssette. www.somaticsed.com