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The Dance of Conscious Relationship
The best relationships are those where partners meet as equals and are actively present and aware of who is leading and who is following.
Conscious relationships, whether they be platonic or romantic, are a dance.
To dance well with a partner, there must be a shared understanding of leadership and followership such that in each moment of a harmonious dance, someone leads, and someone follows.
If both dancers lead, there is resistance.
If both dancers follow, there is confusion.
While traditional gender roles may or may not be useful in this context, I do believe polarity and acknowledging the masculine and feminine, the moving and surrendering, aspects in all of us is important.
For the dance of conscious, or intentional, relationship to be mutually meaningful and nourishing, it requires that both partners bring a shared level of presence and awareness to the dynamic.
Unlike traditional partner dancing, where one dancer, usually the man, leads the entire dance and the his partner follows, the dance of conscious relationship not only allows but requires much more space and fluidity.
