Okay, so it’s my third “Barefoot Boogie” dance class on the Big Island.The class is about to begin. The music is playing. The lights are dim. People are chatting along the perimeters of the dance floor. And I, ready to have a fun dance, am feeling pulled to start a-moving and a-shaking. I begin gliding along the dance floor to the soft music, when all of a sudden I feel a pinch at my feet. I look down and see this 9 inch long, red, snake-like creature:
And I watch as the front of this Hawaiian centipede’s 100-legged body arches up and then plunges down into multiple layers of skin on my right big toe. Oh-My-God! This NYC girl has NO idea what’s hitting her.
So thank Godness my fellow Boogiers swoop in to save the day. Now I’m sitting on a folding chair in the corner of the dance floor with a team of beautiful angels disguised as dancers surrounding me and offering me ways to ease the INCREDIBLE pain that I am feeling. And I start to freak out. What if I have to go to the hospital? And worse: What if I can’t dance the rest of the weekend???
I am watching myself starting to slip into victim-hood and trauma. I am being as strong as I can but that pain is INTENSE. (Many have equated the pain of a centipede bite to the feeling of being shot.)
And now I’m not just feeling it in my toe, I’m feeling intense energy rise up into my root chakra, the energy center located at the bottom of my body (and the chakra connected to home, family, stability, material needs and community…and the chakra associated with the Big Island).
I have no idea what’s going on.
And then one of those angels disguised as a dancer comes over to me and asks me some brilliant questions: What does that centipede have to teach you, Keri? What lesson did you need to receive from it? What blessing was it meant to bestow?
And then EVERYTHING changes because I start to shift the context in which I see the situation I am in.
Wow. Just earlier that day I was thinking about how I was ready to be a part of a community on the Big-Island. And now, here I am, receiving SO much love from all these dancers. Through my pain and vulnerability and their open and caring hearts, I am able connect deeply to each person there.
And in that two hour dance class, they become my community.
And I become incredibly grateful.
And when I focus on my gratitude instead of focusing on the pain I am feeling,
I start to accept the pain for what it is, instead of continuing to resist it.
I begin to embrace the pain.And then, like magic, I observe the sensations in my toe as they transmute from pain to a feeling of pure joy and ecstasy. I take the energy that feels unbearable, cross that fine line, and transform it into pleasure.
And all it took was a shift in perspective.
Because guess what?
My life in Hawaii has changed since that centipede bit me. I see the experience as part of an initiation to live on the island. I feel stronger having gone through it.
In fact, just yesterday I met someone on a hike who told me not to be afraid of eating anything poisonous on the trail…that the worst that can happen to you in Hawaii is that you get bit by a centipede!
I believe that uncomfortable energy I felt in my root chakra came up to clear and as a result, I feel more stable, grounded and well…rooted. I am HERE. Centipede Warrior Goddess, hear me ROAR!
So where in your life can you shift your perspective? Where can you choose a point of view that creates a reality that serves you and fulfills your intentions?
Your Centipede Warrior Goddess,
~Keri~ xoxo
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