Unconventional prayers

 

My mother loves dance, and as a result my childhood was spent with a lot of music, freestyling to tunes that we happened to hear on the go and dance classes. And I loved every moment of it! The discipline and practice required to get the whole choreography looking as effortless and graceful as possible taught me patience and strength. And the sweat and pain that needs to be put in to learn even the simplest of steps really shines through when complex dance routines are performed. 

Dance is the one thing I am sure that I love and will love doing forever. It is my way of letting out emotion, energy and is a way of working on myself that I truly enjoy. I am a Bharatanatyam dancer - and since this dance form comes from the south of India, the art form is interwoven with ancient culture and has it's roots in Hinduism. I learnt dance from quite a few teachers (of various religions) and most of my performances have been devotional (both about Christianity and Hinduism).

I saw dance as a way of telling a story - acting out a story with graceful movements and expressions all the while challenging yourself to make it look beautiful. I never thought about how it looked very "non-Christian". In fact since most of  my dances were for Christian devotional songs, I always associated dance with prayer. It is my way of showing God my love for him - in a public and unrestricted way. And that I am trying my level best to improve and increase my talents He gave me (like in the parable of the Talents). 

I have quite often been discouraged in my journey with Bharatanatyam - directly and indirectly. I have been told that:

• It is an art form that is extremely boring.
• It is an art form that is rooted in Hinduism and hence should not be practiced. 
• Dance on the whole focuses on "me" and hence is bad.
• Dance is a waste of time and energy.

I recently performed in a college fest for Christmas and was quite out rightly told that our dance was one of the least important programs of the day because of the "type" of dance. The dance team was heartbroken and I myself was very let down. I prayed that night and feel like over the course of the next few days, God really took care of me and showed me that my prayer was valid too. I feel like this was a lesson God wanted me to learn.

Unconventional prayers are all around us - some pray standing, others pray while lying down, some pray aloud and feel closest to God by expressing themselves fully while others feel closest to God in silence and quiet. But any and all forms of prayer are valid so long as it's done with God at the center - it doesn't matter how you pray. All that matters is your intention and your reason for prayer. And one must never assume that another is not praying just because they don't follow the same method as themselves.