Imagination, Energy and Focus

I have a dear friend who lives in Maine; I’ve spoken of her before, the lovely and talented Karen Montanaro, wife of my beloved late teacher Tony Montanaro. She is a seeker like myself. Our conversations would drive most anyone mad as we stay up late into the night bug-eyed considering thoughts in the realms of self actualization, possibility, metaphysics, the arts, we tear apart poetic stories, nibble food, drink wine bought only because of the compelling or ‘pretty’ labels, and then after gaffaws of laughter, end up in her studio, listening to music, dancing the night away. It’s magical.

Karen Montanaro

We then sleep exhausted for hours to begin again the next day where she’ll take me to a draining and exhilerating Bikram Yoga class, we shop the streets of Portland drinking expensive coffees, visit dress shops and twirl and plie, kick our feet high to see how we might move in gorgeous dresses with yet no event in mind for ‘it’ to adorn us, (but we’ll find one), and we might end up at Whole Foods in the make-up aisle trying on all variety of eye shadow shades and lipsticks, followed by an overpriced but scrumptious something or other from the store deli. An indulgent ‘treat’ at a nearby boutique dessert store is the only fitting end to a day of play.

I love my trips to Maine and may travel there over Christmas just to wear my fur coat and make a few snow angels after a rousing day in her studio and to rest my mind after we’ve torn apart quantum physics and the origins of tantra, created soup (after she declared having ‘nothing in her kitchen’), (I’m the ‘stone soup’ queen and I LOVE to cook for her), and after having written a dance/theatre piece based on the hilarious and possibly angst ridden mishaps or exhilarating tristes we’ve had relating to men and ‘falling in love’ over the past year. She’s a friend of the rarest kind!

Karen, like Tony, is an artist and moreover, a teacher relentless in her journey to raise children (the world) to a new level of functioning and possibility. Her drive is inspiring (as is her heart). She is a gorgeous dancer with long flowing red hair, her body trained for decades in menus of movement that the rest of us only dream we might accomplish. Her body, agile and light, is precise and fluid, her variety of turns, jumps, twists and swallows, a veritable chapter book of movement recipes, though none written down.

Tony was the master of improvisation and more than anything else, taught us (me) to respond, shift and move in a moment. More importantly, to endeavor to LIVE in the moment. I need him still. Trained at a young age to ‘go with the flow’, it serves me at times when I can feel my own rigidity (fear) set in.

So today, I am reminded of the work she does with her school kids as she travels throughout the planet, opening doors in young minds, lifting hearts and creating smiles of personal possibility with the people who experience her….I am reminded of the importance of coaxing and nurturing our energy reserve, finding ways to daily unleash our imaginations and something which my own business coach, Brian Patrick Cork, harangued me about at our coaching session only last week, the importance of focus.

IMAGINATION. ENERGY. FOCUS.

Powerful all. Powerful.

BB Webb