I have journeyed with and ecstatically followed Cynthia Winton-Henry for over 30 years. It was an image of Cynthia on a poster designed by her graphic artist colleague Phil Porter that literally stopped me in my tracks. It was the spring of 1991, and I was in California to promote my first book, Stillpoint: The Dance of Self-caring, Self-healing. Coming out of a classroom at the Pacific School of Religion, on a billboard covered with notices like “Free Cats,” and “Need a Ride to San Francisco,” there she was. I was drawn to take a closer look. “Who is that woman?” I asked my host and was told she was a faculty member, but not due back on campus till fall. The next part of the story will seem odd to those of you who are members of a younger generation, but I called Cynthia on a land line, and we connected in lots of ways; she an author and dancing minister, me an author and dancing social worker, both unappreciated by the educational institutions that employed us. We couldn’t arrange to meet in person as I was returning home to Texas, but we decided to become “pen pals,”–communicating several times a month through letter writing until we finally met in person that spring at the Sacred Dance Guild Conference where Cynthia, as the president, had invited me to present.
It’s only in looking back that we can appreciate the impact of such a meeting, the spontaneity and synchronicity of what Cynthia calls, “signatures of soul.” Like the many arms of an Octopus, our connections began to spread out way beyond us. I met Phil, the cofounder of InterPlay and with my husband Rich and other early adopters of InterPlay from around the country, we became a community of “recovering serious grownups” dedicated to “spreading the gospel” of finding ease through artful practices of play that became our spiritual disciplines. We traveled widely, inviting, and sending one another to places where InterPlay was spreading; Fort Worth TX, Northern California, Seattle, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Austin TX (and the women’s prison), Atlanta and Australia, the Fringe Festival in Scotland, and the Sarah Heinz House Boys and Girls Club in Pittsburgh PA.
As a dancer I was experienced in embodying qualities, feelings. and ideas, but it was in our personal connections that Cynthia taught me the most about the power of embodiment. As life kept giving me challenges and scenarios I did not prefer, Cynthia modeled for me what “walking your talk” really looks like. When my son was diagnosed with AIDS she told me, “Find a way to say yes to it,” and perplexed as I was, she guided me to that state of mind. As I accompanied my 42-year-old daughter on her journey with breast cancer, Cynthia accompanied me, calling us often, at just the moments when bad news had overpowered the good. Cynthia sent flowers on the first Mother’s Day after Corinne died, and she hired my one remaining son for a work project related to a workshop we were producing, knowing that would offer him an opportunity to take part in a special way.
I became part of Cynthia’s life and family when, after my son died, and I was still working for the men who had purchased our clinic, Cynthia offered me a space in their basement bedroom for a few months so I could give myself a much-needed sabbatical. I brought my Pilates reformer equipment and gave sessions to Cynthia and local Interplayers, wrote grants for Body Wisdom, and followed Cynthia around, offering noticings on her teaching, while ten-year-old Katie and I bonded over my taking her for horseback riding lessons. I witnessed Cynthia’s dance of grief when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and years later, saw the joy-filled video of she and her mother dancing together shortly before her mother died. When I was dealing with a serious relationship rupture in my family, Cynthia pulled me into a caring mother’s groups she was a member of as she dealt with addiction issues in her family.
Now her work has gone to a new level and her book, The Art of Ensoulment: A Playbook on How to Create from Body and Soul is due out this January. I’ve been honored to take part in some of the classes that she taught while developing it. Like an older sister who wants to tell everyone about the wisdom and accomplishments of her younger sibling, I eager to to let you know that the magic is continuing. You can join in by taking a FREE Art of Ensoulment workshop on Wisdom, Sensitivity, and the Prime Directive
Friday Dec 30th 12 to 1:30 eastern, 9-10:30 pacific or
Monday Jan. 9th 5 pm to 6:30 pm eastern, 2-3:30 pacific.
Here’s a link to an overview of the course –
If that feels like a fit, you can register for the 4 one hour and ½ sessions held once a month January 11, Feb 8, Mar. 8, April 12, and even sign up for additional monthly coaching sessions to help you apply the material to the life you’re leading now. (I’m honored to be one of those coaches.) Here’s the registration form https://forms.gle/BWRmpZX1hS8SGVcP6
And here’s the link to pre-order the book. .https://gofund.me/704b89fb
We appreciate your help in getting this book into the hands of those who need it.
