As an artist, writer, blogger, and creator of arts enchantment experiences like those you may have seen online or been in at the Toledo Arts Commission’s Artomatic 419,  or at the Art Walks in Toledo and Bowling Green, I believe in magic… yes, the “magic of a young girl’s heart,” the magic of dancing with a star, the fairy-fine way to feel empowered–that is, good about yourself–and able to follow your dreams.

To expand my range of possibilities, I applied to Fractured Atlas in New York City, a non-profit arts service organization. Fractured Atlas accepted my application and Melanie A. Stinson is now a fiscally-sponsored project of Fractured Atlas. This means that contributions on behalf of me and my arts enchantment experiences may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Having this fiscal sponsorship means a new kind of work for me, fund raising. Right now I have no studio or space in which to present my experiences and no funds to allow me to make dance videos or free visits to schools, to be in some of the more costly arts festivals that include tent rentals, or participate as much as I’d like in the venues that might include me.

Most artists, schools and dancers do not have the financial wherewithal to bring in professionals. A lot of people simply don’t think about the cost of say, bringing Christopher Wheeldon’s cutting edge dance company, Morphoses, to Toledo, something I’ve been wanting to have happen for three years now. The arts may seem like a luxury in these stressful times. I believe they are crucial.

I hope you’ll visit Fractured Atlas, and my blogs, Embrace Your Magic, Pofff.com and APlace4us to see all the things I contribute and offer. Then I hope you’ll find it in your heart to help sponsor my special brand of magic. Help me inspire, empower, and share the gifts I have that I know can help others, because they helped me. For some of us, the arts are true life savers.

CLICK HERE to go to my Fractured Atlas’ profile

Enchantment you can wear or hang or tote: Click here
Enchantment on line at Picasa/aplace4us: Chicago photos: Click here

CCT or or Crystalline Consciousness Technique is a complementary alternative energy modality or system. It is routinely offered as a psychic radio topic and blogged about on energy science blogs. Professionals from all walks of life use it as a daily spiritual practice.

CCT is a way to experience upliftment, satisfaction and growth, shift perspectives that are holding you back from all you are and want to be, and, it might be something to try when nothing else seems effective since it can be used in conjunction with other modalities, beliefs, and systems. Why? Because it connects you with your inner guidance, your inner Yoda, who is both practical (left brain) and spiritual or intuitive (right brain).

I use CCT in art to connect you inside with beauty, a new sense of enchantment about life, and fun, empowerment and inspiration. This art and my arts experiences can help you feel calmer, more comfortable in yourself, and more relaxed about any life situation.

CCT can help:

• Dancers and performers. CCT creates positive group dynamics and creates ease in bringing you into alignment with your personal needs and professional goals. It can help inspire and ground you so you can perform with more brilliance.
• Business Leaders and Social Visionaries. CCT helps you chart your course. It creates positive team dynamics and anchors in the energetic blueprint for the business plan, creating ease in bringing you and your business into alignment.
• Artists and Writers. CCT helps you create with ease and joy, release anxiety and blocks to creativity, and reach deeper levels of artistry and expression.
• Nurses and Doctors. Helps relieve burnout in intense work situations as well as speed healing.
• Aging parents, relatives and friends. CCT can assist anyone with aging. Used along with Reiki in art specially conceived for nurturing and comfort, CCT can help transform the experiences of day to day life, grief or critical transitions.
• Adults and children in need of de-stressing, comfort, tune ups and recharging.

I use CCT when teaching Reiki and working with dancers. I also use it at community healing shares, and as a writer/artist to create the heartfelt meaning I wish to convey.

JOY!

Next Toledo area healing share is Tues. Oct. 13 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The shares are held monthly on the second Tuesday at Alternative Physical Therapy, 440 S. Reynolds Road at South Avenue in Toledo. Shares are Free.

TESTIMONIALS:

Don’t just take my word for it… Anyone can use CCT to improve their life. Here are quotes from doctors, nurses, and just plain “regular” folks who have been using it:

“CCT has been a truly unexpected gift and seems to have integrated so many things in my life.” –K. Jaskolski, Yoga instructor, Maumee, Ohio

“Adding CCT to the Spa menu has allowed our guests to receive maximized personal healing in their treatments, allowing our therapists to avoid burn out.” -Patty Gorder, Spa Director, Moonlight Basin Spa, Big Sky, Montana

“I had an opportunity to sample (CCT) on a recent visit and found myself surrendering completely to the treatment’s therapeutic nature.”
Helen Mikseli, Spa Magazine

“Crystalline Consciousness Technique has for the first time allowed me to interact and work in organizations in a more open and healthier way.

I work in a large healthcare system and setting up my energy fields and the energy fields of the hospitals in which I work, along with using the other tools that CCT offers, has made my days noticeably easier.

“My day to day interaction with staff and patients is smoother, communication is better, the bureaucracy is less bothersome and my daily migraine headaches are a thing of the past.

I invite anyone to try out some these tools and observe the effects for yourself.”  -Neil Patel MD, Albuquerque, NM

“As a nurse on a busy trauma unit, I direct my day within the system of CCT. Using these tools in this fast paced and ever changing environment, I am better able to be a nurse in the vibration of love and healing, which are my goals. CCT provides a path to quick grounding and recharging in the many stressful situations encountered in the day. CCT has positively changed my life and my experience of being a nurse!”
Maureen Mercier RN, Maumee, Ohio

CCT like Reiki is available in distance sessions.

-Melanie A. Stinson, LMT/Reiki Master Teacher
Advanced CCT practitioner

Find me on Twitter as aplace4us. DM to find out how I can assist you. You may win a free distance session!

CCT/Reiki image above by M.A. Stinson

UPCOMING or ONGOING

MONTHLY… 2nd Tuesday of month… COMMUNITY HEALING SHARES… TUNE-UPS for YOU… Alternative Physical Therapy Center… 440 S. Reynolds Road (near South Avenue), Toledo, Ohio. 6:30-8:30 p.m.

You tune-up your car periodically, don’t you? Well, these donation shares are your chance to experience a variety of modalities like massage, energy balancing, movement somatics, energy psychology, EFT, Dynamind Technique, Rosen Method of Bodywork and Movement that can support you do just that. They’re also a time to meet members of the Toledo-area community interested in growing, learning, contributing, and experiencing new ways of feeling well and enjoying life more.

Each share begins with a brief talk on something to upgrade your knowledge of alternative healing practices. Then you can experience a variety of practitioners’ and their modalities in brief mini-sessions or tune-ups. All are FREE but donations are appreciated to help defray the cost of refreshments and the time these willing practitioners put in to sharing their healing art forms.

Parking is off Reynolds Road behind the buildings.

More to come…

Reiki-blessed image - Copyright 2008 M.A. Stinson

Melanie’s unique vision of a co-creative and enchanted universe evolved over years of self-exploration and discovery in dance, writing and ceramics, digital art, mixed media, and alternative/ integrative and complementary health and wellness energy medicine practices.

Melanie is a weaver of yarns.

http://embraceyourmagic.com

While it was a surprise that Lil Kim and Derek went off the show last week, it was no surprise that Ty went off this week. But this is television and ratings count. So I can see that certain people are brought on to keep the ratings high, to keep the show’s audience entertained, and to elicit from the audience a sense of belonging by our being able to contribute votes and a sense of being involved in the high drama and conflict of a behind-the-scenes show that sets up pretty much what they’d like the viewers to see.

How a judge can demolish an Olympic Gold Medalist of 17 who gave us all she knows as heartfelt in her second dance of the evening on Monday, May 11, and then argue with another judge that Ty only made a few mistakes shows the fallibility of judges (because they’re only human) and the growth potential for the show. I’d love to see some energy healing happen in the entertainment industry. I’d love to see someone on the show offering a way to go toward the solution so the weaknesses or growth lessons behind a judge’s comment can be addressed.

I said from the beginning in an e-mail I sent to one of the dancers on the show that I didn’t see how anyone could beat Gilles. As is the pattern on the show, he went down in the ratings from the judges, and his performances seemed less appealing to the ladies, especially when he tried to be funny. Monday night he regained his momentum. While I’m not here to predict that he will win, it has been the pattern on the show that he has the most probability of winning, just as putting down the next contender, Shawn, has occurred in the past.

For me, this show is a fabulous opportunity to see how I would help some dancers grow more into themselves, as people and as performers. Melissa intrigues me because she is so talented. Everything comes easily to her and she is showing more of herself. The comment from Carrie Ann that Melissa did not seem to be fully enjoying herself is covered by Melissa’s smiles and her ease and facility. All performers know how to cover fear, nerves, or whatever else may be going on. But in the context of this competition, DWTS cannot go further right now. In the context of life, I’d want to know what is at the core of this hiding. The way Melissa holds herself back is subtle. I doubt the audience sees it. She seems such a happy girl.

Sometimes it’s a matter of feeling into it. Does she makes you sing? Do you feel like joining her on the dance floor with all of yourself? What do you feel deep inside when you see Melissa? I feel a weakness in how she comes across. She can’t be all there because–? It’s something emotional. She needs a Ladies Night Out where she’s free from pressures and can be her ordinary self.

What do I feel when Gilles dances (besides heat)? Not always, but on Monday night, I felt how he cares, how he can be both vulnerable and connected to his sexuality. He loves to move. Do I still think he’ll win? Yes, but I also think Shawn and Mark are the cutest couple going. What a challenge to work with a gymnast, since gymnastics is in some ways antithetical to dance. Shawn herself called dance a sport, which it is not. It is an art form. Shawn would need some intricate coaching, I think, for her to grow in an art form. She would need to learn something we call in Laban Effort-Shape, fine-touch. She needs more contrast and more freedom. Like Melissa, I’d like to see Shawn the way she is when she hangs out with her friends. DWTS and perhaps Mark have attempted to make her this grand, glamorous star who looks twenty-something rather than the teenager that she is. This is what we do in America. Girls, women… we’re never fine the way we are. We’ve got to put on makeup, put our hair up, get thinner. We can’t play at makebelieve any more. I’d like to see Shawn be a teenager dancing with Mark to music that expresses her soul.

I wonder what would happen if there were a contest of ballet dancers, the best in the world, and ballroom dance stars doing what comes natural to them rather than what is forced pretense so one can please and thus win a competition. Get me tickets to that. In the meantime, I’ll be watching next Monday to see who wins. At the same time, Derek and Lil Kim, I’ll never forget some of what you showed us. I know I saw it, and I believe in magic. Thank you.

Many blessings.

Tags: Dancing with the Stars, entertainment, insight

Definitely an exciting evening on Dancing with the Stars. Because I particularly love supporting dancers and choreographers, I felt like doing a little something different on my blog. I’m going to talk about what I saw. My view is as a dancer who happens to be an energy practitioner. So I’m looking differently than a typical audience member and not exactly like a ballroom dance judge either. Ballroom dance is also not my forte of expertise.

Gille and Cheryl. First dance. Light, airy. Not especially unique or convincing. Second dance. He tried really hard. But everything that happened from the scores to what he did came from Cheryl as choreographer/ teacher. The judges talked as though he was responsible for the way he came off. He was sexy. He was sensual exactly as Cheryl asked him to be. What I wanted was his heart. It’s kind of like turning on a stove. The pilot light in the pelvis (tanden) was lit. It even burned upward. But it wasn’t enough to ignite the top of the stove–the heart. If it had, we would have been swooning, we would have been wooed. What happens often in these ballroom dance competitions that are a show is that the young dancer/ choreographers feel they’ve got to show us the sharpness and the sex of it instead of going for something deeper, something unique and unexpected that is both committed and honest. Give us vulnerability AND passion, soft AND sharp. Len is the one who often brings that out about what the pair needs and he also gets booed, but Carrie Ann does mention it as well.

The way I see it is: a dance can be a roasting hot squash soup. It’s golden and you savor it. You’re going along with it; it’s carrying you when suddenly there is this taste… with the heat there is this cool dab of cream. It’s that light. You see what you didn’t before because the contrast–the authenticity of it touches you in a way that is so unusual that you learn, you feel something unexpected, something you need at a soul level. It makes you sing inside. It uplifts and transforms.

Melissa and Tony. She bugs the hell out of me. So with that out of the way, because I hate coming to something with prejudice, I’ll say that she probably has something really special inside her; however, to me, she is one of the dancers with facility who is a dime a dozen. She is also brave. I keep seeing her facade, which means there is something under that which she has allowed to be submerged. I’d really like to see it, Melissa. I’d like to see you. Not what you “think” you need to be but what you are–you. You are enough.

When I look at a dancer and a performance, I want something and someone so seamless that I forget I’m supposed to analyze or be in any way outside the dancing. The last dance that received 10s, I feel received those from the last 1/4 of the dance. Ballroom dance judges aren’t going to get what I’m about to say, for the most part. Melissa was not “in her body” energetically until 3/4 of the way through the last dance. Then she went in. She carried most of us until that point because she’s graceful, moves with ease, and has flawless technique. In the last 3/4, she was honest, passionate and authentic and she stopped being afraid. To me, this last quarter of the dance was where the 10s came from.

Shawn and Mark. She is such a little delight. Mark knows how to work with her to bring her out. I am thoroughly enjoying how she’s growing and how he is. I feel we can see more of Mark than we have before due to his being Shawn’s partner. There is more excitement to him and through him to her. His choreography has been stunning and stimulating. The second dance held a power that I had forgotten Shawn had as a gymnast. However, it had all the same quality to it. Beautiful quality. Dancers are usually pretty demanding and relentless in what they demand: I want that feeling, that taste of cream. Yet, I feel for Shawn’s age, her being able to deliver that would be something she might grow into if she continued to perform. It would be quite unusual to see it in someone her age. Lovely, lovely work.

Lil Kim and Derek. First dance. Trying to please others, trying to conform to the definitions others have placed on what will be hard for you… these will always work against you. I would have gone with Kim’s vulnerability and worked from there. She’s got that inside and she is very very feminine. I feel certain that she knows what that is for her. Second dance. When I saw the tricks in rehearsal, I went “Oh no.” When I saw them in performance, I said, “Thank you, Derek, for enlightening me as to what is possible.” The solo sang. The whole dance went something like this energetically: tatata Stop tatata Stop tatata Stop ahhhhh. I’m not sure that the breaking, the feeling that the dance came in pieces was all Kim, it could have been the choreography in part. And yet, despite the piecey feel to it, what Kim did was more honest than what Melissa did and more unique. I’d trust it and I’d bet my life on it if we were in a room together and I needed her. Doesn’t that deserve a ten? I would have given her at least one.

Ty and Chelsea. Great comment about the breath. What I saw was the woodenness of his chest. Something being held in. That might take a few visits to learn to move differently. He could do hips when that was all he did but hips and other steps, no. He deserves applause for his commitment. He’s got an engaging personality. That sells tickets.

This contest seemed predictable when it began. It seems to me that the winner will depend on which dances are given to which participants. Stephen King writes about how a writer seduces readers to some extent. So do dancers and choreography. Dance with me on the limbo… just you and I and God. Sing to me from where you are inside whether its a lullabye, a seduction, a lover calling to his soulmate. Make me forget who I am, where I am. Show me my limitlessness. Be vulnerable. Ignited. Share with me that dash of cream where there’s never been cream before. Even if you’re playing a role, there’s a place for you inside it. Inhabit that place and make me believe.

Many blessings.

Upcoming 2009 experiences & events in Northwest Ohio:

ARTOMATIC 419 – an incredible warehouse full of art including paintings, photography, dance and more! Last chance: Saturday, May 2. Toledo, OH – 201 Morris Street by the Oliver House off Broadway. 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. On street parking & small gravel lot with easy access to exhibition space. FREE.

• Kiss of the Fairy Experience: Avalon, The Grail & The Quest. Fairy-kissed wearables & other flights of fancy such as Grail vessels, art activated and inspired by mystical isles, magical quests and the oasis earth.
• Kiss of the Fairy Improvised Fashion Show in the Performance Space in back: 6:00 p.m. May 2. Special guest fashionistas Merce Kuhl and Carmen Latte plus local models Shelly Demeo, Hoola Hoop Artiste Cheyenne Rieger, Julie Auger & Carol Smethstad.

What makes you feel like magic? What defines who you are? A new do? A fairy-special outfit? Do the clothes make the man or woman?

Explore this today and if you find you have something that calls to you–a new design–a new way to wear or cut your hair, leave a comment or drop in, inhabit yoursElf and divine.

Enchanting you. It’s what I do.

And its our planet, so let’s connect today and shine divine blessings everywhere.

Upcoming 2009 experiences & events:

• Northwest Ohio’s First TOLEDO BODY MIND SPIRIT FESTIVAL – APRIL 4-5. Delta Banquet Hall 6800 Industrial Dr. Delta. OH, just 10 minutes from the Toledo Airport. Look for Melanie in the Children’s Area and as a roving joy guide: have dance, will travel.

www.toledobodymindspiritfestival.com

Saturday April 4th 10am – 6pm
Sunday April 5th 10am – 6pm

It will feature over 9,000 sq ft. of well known speakers, lecturers, and authors.

Reflexology ~ Massage Aromatherapy ~ Acupuncture ~ Body Workers ~ Aura Photography ~ Health Food ~ Herbal Products Jewelry ~ Crystals/Stones ~ Artwork ~ Candles/Incense ~ Books/CDs & More…

FREE parking FREE lectures and classes both days, featuring speakers from all over the country, including CBS’s Psychic Radio Host Kimmie Rose Zapf.

Sponsored by: www.kimmierose.com, www.midnightmoonmetaphysical.com, www.healinggardenworld.com

*** FREE ADMISSION ***

Dancing with Your Soul © 2005 M.A. Stinson

TOLEDO ARTISTS CLUB - March Show
Feb. 27-March 27 – Toledo Botanical Gardens

TOLEDO ARTISTS CLUB – 48th Annual Art Auction – Sat. March 21 – Gladieux Meadows, 4480 Heatherdowns Blvd., Toledo 43614 Cocktails/Preview – 6:30 p.m. Auction – 7:30 p.m. Come support the club and area artists in living their dreams! We really appreciate it.

APRIL / MAY:

ARTOMATIC 419 – April 18, 25, and May 2 – Saturdays - 201 Morris Street – 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Free. Loads of art. Performances, Music. Don’t miss it!

Another Kiss of the Fairy Experience but this time, all hail King Arthur… “The Grail, Avalon & The Quest.”

Wearable Art FASHION SHOW on May 2 at 6:oo p.m. featuring local models Shelly Demeo, Julie Auger, Carol Smethstad, and Cheyenne Rieger.

NEW YORK, NY

Dates and locations TBA – April/May/June