Douche Bag and Other Idiocies

After I dance I feel as though my energy system has been douched.  I think that’s a good word. Douche.  It’s a cleaning out, a refreshing.  I have never understood the insult of calling someone a “douche bag.”  Why not “shower cap” or “hot water bottle?”  These are harmless and useful objects.  I get that the douche bag has an intimate function, but who knows what other people actually do with their shower caps and hot water bottles?  We don’t know.  That insult is just nonsensical to me.  So are the terms meant as insults, “ass-wipe,” “that’s so gay” and “N-word lover.”

The last makes me think of one of my very favorite books, To Kill a Mockingbird.”  Scout asks Atticus, “Atticus, are you a N word-lover?” And he says, “I most certainly am!  I do my best to love everyone.”  And he goes on to explain that “insults” such as “snot-nose” are meaningless.  (After all, every nose has snot, yes?) And that insults like these only show the idiocy (idiot being a true insult, one that actually makes sense) of the people who deliver them.

Okay. I digress.  I feel as if I have douched my feelings on this subject and I feel refreshed.

I started this discussion by thinking of how dance sort of clears me out – I feel like I have let go of my worries.  Not always, though.  Sometimes I just can’t let go of a nagging doubt or fear.  But I invariably feel better after dancing.  

In my classes now, I have gone back to basics. I have come full circle and I am teaching the way I did when I first started.  I once again do a relaxation and meditation after every class.  I don’t know why I got away from it, but now I’m back to it.

Dance is truly my church, and I can think about my truth much better after I’ve expressed myself in movement.  I am a believer in the idea that the body is an expression of the spirit and holds knowledge that we might not be aware of if we didn’t take the time to listen to it.

So whether you’re dancing in class or whether you just take any moment during the day to listen with your heart to what your body is telling you, trust the message.  

And don’t buy into the idea that you've been hurt just because someone flings a nonsensical insult at you.  If someone calls you a douche bag, to me, it just means you are refreshing.

Photo by MaryEllen Hendricks