For three years I studied, DiRRiD, Dance in Rhythm Rhythm in Dance. We drummed and stepped to one rhythm, clapped our hands to another rhythm, and sang non-sense syllables to a third rhythm – staking a polyrhythm. Now, your brain cannot figure this out. It just can’t, so you must fall into your body and allow the rhythm to move and coordinate you. What a relief! No thinking and you are still doing exactly what you want! But as soon as you try to figure it out, you will fall out of rhythm.

I know in your generation the mind is the great king, but even science is realizing that the mind is only good up to a point, and then it just gets in the way. There are things that are beyond thought. Try to explain in words an ecstatic experience. You can’t. Yes, you will exclaim with wows and oh my goodnesses, but you can’t put your feelings into words. I remember skiing a black diamond run on Aspen Mountain in my twenties. Every bump, it seemed, was perfectly placed. The rhythm of the run was synced with the heavens. I was in the zone, flying high… You sort of get the picture don’t you? But to know the union and ecstasy is impossible. It is beyond words. Well, truth and freedom are beyond words also. Divine Love is beyond words. And, so I would say peace and calm are beyond words, a long with joy. That’s where you can get when you let the music move you, instead of thinking so much about your next move. I certainly was not planning how to execute the next bump in my famous ski run. I didn’t have to, as I was not only skiing the mountain, the mountain was skiing me. Let the music dance you next time. See you on the dance floor!

There are three phases that occur from sunrise to sunset and then three more from sunset to sunrise. The times are as follows:

                            6 A.M. – 10 A.M.        Kapha                             6 P.M. – 10 P.M. Kapha

                             10 A.M. – 2 P.M.         Pita                                10 P.M. – 2 A.M. Pita

                               2 P.M. – 6 P.M.          Vata                                  2 A.M. – 6 A.M. Vata

If you are not familiar with the Ayurvedic doshas, I will give you a brief explanation. Doshas are the Ayurvedic body type categories and attributes that apply to your body and the master cycles. Everything is related and connected.

                     A Vata is enthusiastic and vivacious by nature. Thin physique. May have difficulty falling asleep and sleeps lightly. Has an active and imaginative mind. Learns quickly, but also forgets quickly. A

                       Pita is precise and orderly. Can anger easily. Is uncomfortable if a meal is skipped or late. Fond of cold foods and drinks – loves ice cream. Has a sharp intellect and articulate in speech.

                      A Kapha gains weight easily and loses it more slowly. Is calm, not easily ruffled. Must get at least eight hours of sleep at night. Is uncomfortable in cool and damp climates. Has very good stamina and physical endurance. Has a steady energy.

Now you can take a written quiz to determine which is your dominate doshas. I administer these in my healing practice. (www.deborahmdiamond.com)

These same attributes are attributed to the cycles of the day. So, 6 – 10 both A.M. and P.M. are slower rhythms. That is why you are slower, calmer and more relaxed when you first get up in the morning and start to wind down naturally in the evening.

The Pita cycle is when you are naturally most physically active. Hunger comes in the middle of the Pita cycle around noon. As Pita is responsible for metabolizing food, it is good to eat your largest meal (if they vary) at noon. At night Pita appetite’s is not as strong, but it will digest your dinner and keeps you warm at night as you sleep and helps regenerate your tissues. Pita is the fire element.

The first Vata period begins at 2 P.M. and it controls the nervous system. Research shows that people do best on tests in the Vata period, and can add fastest than, also. Interesting isn’t it? Now at night during your Vata sleep cycle instead of “thinking” it assists in a deep dream cycle REM (rapid eye movement).

So, in Ayurveda the perfect day to correspond with nature’s cycles looks like this.

                  Rising: 6-8 A.M. Best to rise one hour before the sun comes up so that you have time to meditate, do some Yoga postures, and deep breathing. Dawn is a very receptive time of day to connect with the natural rhythms and open your psyche to higher levels. During this Kapha period your body and mind is also calm and relaxed. It is my favorite time a day. Eat breakfast. Sit quietly for five minutes and walk lightly five to fifteen minutes to aid digestion.

                  Lunch: 12 – 1 P.M. when the digestive fires are burning their hottest and not coincidently the sun is the highest in the sky! Sit quietly for five minutes after lunch and walk lightly five to fifteen minutes to aid the digestion. Later in the afternoon, take some time to sit quietly and/or meditate.

                  Dinner: 6 – 7 P.M. Eat a moderate meal. Sit quietly for five minutes after lunch and walk lightly five to fifteen minutes to aid the digestion. Dusk is another very powerful time of day. I like to sit and watch or feel the sun set. It is very calming and connecting for your body, mind and spirit.

                  Bedtime: 9:30 – 10:30 P.M. Light activity in the evening and to bed at least three hours after your dinner.

Now, I imagine you are thinking. “That’s not my schedule!” And I can relate. I have an 8:00 P.M. dance class on Wednesday nights! One of the reason’s I bring this up is that our society is suffering from an all time high of insomnia, stress, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Humans are the only species, a famous drummer once said, that can intentionally get out of rhythm with the greater cycles. Ever notice how crickets chirp in harmony at night? They synchronize. Ever notice how birds and other insects do a call and response. One bird will do a call and another will respond. If you are good at bird calls, you can mimic a call to a particular bird in your area and listen closely, sooner or later, you will hear a response! This is all part of the synchronization of life cycles.

People today are more out of balance than ever before! Once you begin to re-entrain with the natural rhythms, you will start to have more energy, be calmer, and therefore happier and healthier. And consequently, learn your dance steps easier! You will be riding the current instead of paddling against it. If you have ever fought a head wind, or paddled up stream, you know how exhausting it is and how little progress you make! The exact same principle is applied here.

So, how to do it in a modern world? I have found for myself that the morning time is the most important. Set the tone of the day with the meditation, yoga, or your own form of stretching, or exercise, and breathe work. And, yes, I don’t always want to get up at 5 or even 6 A.M., but I am always grateful when I do. Honestly, I am just more cheerful! Now, you gotta plan for the meals and with our insane schedules, meals are falling low on the priority list. Fresh organic vegetables, grains and meats is the best. Pick more conscious restaurants. Prepare several meals on Sundays to get you through the first part of the week, then, take another evening or morning to prepare for the rest of the week. Best not to eat food more than three days old, as it loses too much nutrition the older it gets. In other words, the food’s life force diminishes and therefore yours also. Imagine how much life force is lost in packaged and caned foods that are months on shelves before they even reach the grocery store!

How to begin? First step is becoming conscious of the cycles. So, that one is out of the way. Second step is to commit to do something to improve your connection to the master rhythms, and the third step is to do it! You will be very grateful once your body readjusts. A good reference is Deepak Chopra’s book, Perfect Health. Give it a try. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Please write me on how you are doing.

We all know about the heart pulse in our necks and on our wrists, and if you have had your pulses read by an acupuncturist, naturopath, or an Ayurvedic Practitioner you know that you have pulses for all your organs. The rhythm and the strength of the pulse tells a trained practitioner about the health of the organ. Isn’t that just amazing! No cat scans, or X-rays  no blood tests needed, just reading an internal pulse that tells a clear story. Taoists have created methods for maintaining the energy balance of each organ i.e. health – by using the biorhythm clock. So, each organ has a special time of day corresponding to the solar and lunar rhythms. You may have heard Biorhythm referred to as the biological clock. So, for example 1-3 a.m. is the liver. 3-5 am are the lungs, 7-9 a.m. is the large intestine and so forth. So, why, do I bring this up? Because so many people now suffer from insomnia and fatigue. If you track what time you wake up in the middle of the night, and know the corresponding organ, you can have the meridian of that organ opened by an acupuncturist, or Taoists exercises to open the lines on energy to the organ so that the organ will heal itself. No drugs! .

I recently learned that there is also a corresponding muscle chart for the times. So, for example, let’s say you wake up at 2 a.m. each morning, maybe get up and use the bathroom and go back to sleep. It is not coincidence that you are waking at 2 and not at 4.  The 2 a.m. mark indicates that you have an imbalance in the energy flow of the liver meridian and also correspondently the Pectoralis Major Sternal muscle. Those muscles can be relieved by a special massage technique developed by Thomas Grinner. The process is neuro-soma. And there is one practitioner in Asheville, NC. His name is Dr. Rich Livernois and his number is 828-216-8966. There are others through the US. It is a little known study of how the muscular system effects not only the body’s structure, but also organ health! Grinner’s book is entitled What’s Really Wrong with You.  Before Grinner, no one had really studied how the muscular system effects the entire body. For a dancer, it is essential to have good muscle health. But, as a person ages the muscles stiffen, and it may not just be arthritis, but an accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles.

Most athletes and therefore dancers suffer from painful muscles. As the muscles are freed from the lactic acid with the neuro-soma massage, their receptors come back on line and can respond more quickly, become pain free and the circulation in the body improves. Corresponding organs also rejuvenate. Neuro-soma is not taught in massage schools yet or in the chiropractic schools, but you will see more about it in the future as more people learn about it. You can learn about it at www.neurosoma.com.

The rhythm cycles go through out the entire day, so if you notice the time your stomach hurts, or a discomfort arises, you will notice a pattern which can be traced back to the bio-clock. The bio-clock has twelve watches that correspond to the zodiac. Here is the entire chart:

                        1-3  A.M.                        Liver

                        3-5  A.M.                        Lungs

                        5-7  A.M.                        Large Intestine

                        7-9  A.M.                        Stomach

                        9-11  A.M.                      Spleen-Pancreas

                        11:  A.M. – 1 P.M.         Heart

                        1-3  P.M.                          Small Intestine

                        3-5  P.M.                          Bladder                     

                       5-7  P.M.                          Kidney

                        7-9  P.M.                         Heart Constrictor

                        9-11  P.M.                       Triple Heater

                        11 P.M. – 1:00 A.M.   Gallbladder

So, in summary, your internal rhythms, which are synced to the solar and lunar rhythms of our planet, run by your parasympathetic nervous system, directly effect your muscle, bone, and organ health.

 I hope these tips open new doorways to your health and your awareness. I will be writing more on how rhythm supports health, happiness, and joy!

 See you on the dance floor!

 Deborah-Marie

It’s been an interesting ride to finally after so many years create a gift like our DVD for the world. I had the idea for ZeDiamond Dance Method after about my third Ballroom dance lesson. Though I certainly adorned my teacher Kem, and had so much fun in the class, I just knew that it wasn’t a feet first type of learning. Everyone in dance talks about the ’steps’, but it’s not about them! Not to say doing the steps isn’t fun, for of course they are. There are so many patterns to learn! So, many turns to do. And SO much love and joy to express while gliding around the floor. But without your partner music, what’s the point?!  Yesterday my chiropractor said after he had watched the video on “About the ZeDiamond Dance Method,”  how it all made sense to him. He reminisced about how great it feels when he dances at a wedding or a social gathering and he “really gets in the groove” how much fun it is. Yeah, that’s when the mind stops running the show and music and the body become one. Then his feet knew right where to go!

I really struggled with patterns when I was young. Even though I grew up on Greek Line Dancing ”Hopa!” It seemed like I had to relearn the “steps” every time there was a family gathering or a church dance. My cousin, on the other hand, could lead the dances with such flare and confidence. When I was put in the front of the line – you can bet against my protest – my heart quaked that my feet would not remember. I even took a Jazz class once, but could not continue as I couldn’t do the patterns. It was  a little disruptive, to say the least, when we were all dancing down the line in a sequence, and I fumbled and crashed into someone. I didn’t make many friends in that class!

But, after I took Dance in Rhythm Rhythm in Dance for three years while also learning how to play the Buk drum (you can see the Buk in the background of our promo, it’s hanging on a frame, just scroll down), then I could learn patterns!?  Something in my brain neurology changed. Some switch got turned on and my body was more connected to itself. Through the entire three years of DIRRID, www.dirrid.com) I could feel my brain changing. The only other time I felt my brain change SO distinctly was when I studied A Course of Miracles, a spiritual teaching of freedom. In the Course, all the old beliefs so embedded into my brain were transformed. Not that I just started to ‘think” differently, but that my neurological patterning was actually changed. I changed on a cellular level. Rhythm does the same thing. Ever know an African Drummer? Notice how grounded he/she is? That’s why. They are grounded, as their brains work differently!  I ‘ll ponder on this some more and get back to you. Any thoughts?

Deborah-Marie Diamond

 If you have trouble with rhythm, hearing the music, difficulty remembering the steps, or would just like to know about a different way to learn dance, you will find our method quite fascinating. We created a 2 DVD set on the East Coast Swing. It’s a live class with Warren Wilson Students who had never danced the new method. No rehearsal. We just taught the class and video taped it.   And then spent six months editing it!! Look Below or click here to see a short video on the method. www.zediamonddancemethod.com. I know you’ll love, so please share the good news with your friends!

See you on the Dance Floor,

Deborah-Marie Diamond

But I am a secret for now. 

Shhhhhhh…