So Quite A Lot Of People Expressed Interest In A Guide To Lion Dance! And Since The Lunar New Year Is

so quite a lot of people expressed interest in a guide to lion dance! and since the lunar new year is coming up in a couple weeks, which means everyone’s exposure to lions is probably going to increase, i figured i’d go ahead and make it! right click + open in new tab to fullview, etc etc, i hope it’s helpful, although if you only take one thing away from this powerpoint, it’s this: lions are not dragons

disclaimer: i learned fut san style at an american university, and the senior members of the troupe were almost all from hong kong and taiwan, so most of my knowledge is drawn from what they taught me. lion dance varies widely depending on the style and the country of origin, and many schools do things differently! this is just an attempt to establish a baseline and give you a really basic intro to one of my favorite art forms. :)

show, don’t tell:

anticipation - bouncing legs - darting eyes - breathing deeply - useless / mindless tasks - eyes on the clock - checking and re-checking

frustration - grumbling - heavy footsteps - hot flush - narrowed eyes - pointing fingers - pacing / stomping

sadness - eyes filling up with tears - blinking quickly - hiccuped breaths - face turned away - red / burning cheeks - short sentences with gulps

happiness - smiling / cheeks hurting - animated - chest hurts from laughing - rapid movements - eye contact - quick speaking

boredom - complaining - sighing - grumbling - pacing - leg bouncing - picking at nails

fear - quick heartbeat - shaking / clammy hands - pinching self - tuck away - closing eyes - clenched hands

disappointment - no eye contact - hard swallow - clenched hands - tears, occasionally - mhm-hmm

tiredness - spacing out - eyes closing - nodding head absently - long sighs - no eye contact - grim smile

confidence - prolonged eye contact - appreciates instead of apologizing - active listening - shoulders back - micro reactions

Something quick for the royalAU because my computer is being fixed and I have to use the iPad in the mean time. 

physical intimacy prompts

holding hands during a stressful situation

smiling in-between kisses

touching foreheads

cheek kisses

slow dancing

intertwining fingers

comparing hand sizes

resting your head on your partner's lap

piggy back rides

standing on your tip toes to reach your partner's lips

kissing your partner's wounds

forehead kisses

falling asleep on your partner's shoulder

bridal carries

spooning

rolling over in bed, switching positions during a kiss

embracing your partner

intertwining fingers when making love

pulling away from a kiss, deeply looking into each other's eyes, appreciating being here with each other before diving back in

nudging into the crook of your partner's neck

being carried/tucked into bed, after having fallen asleep on the couch waiting for your partner to come home

saying ''i love you'' in-between kisses

nose boops

back rubs

tracing fingers down your partner's chest

hand on chest during a casual conversation

bumping into each other

hugs that last longer than they should

showering together

hands around the waist

straddling your partner's thighs

helping your partner undress

playing with your partner's hair

falling asleep to your partner's heartbeat

resting a hand on your partner's back

squeezing each other's hands

sitting in your partner's lap

cupping your partner's face

tickling

linking arms with each other

exploring each other's lips

caressing your partner's face

brushing your lips together, lingering for a moment

jumping into your partner's arms

wrapping legs around your partner

tucking a strand of hair behind your partner's ear

pulling your partner into your lap

hugging from behind

lifting your partner off the ground

holding hands across the table

holding hands under the table

bear hugs

caressing your partner's hand

laying a hand on your partner's thigh

literally sharing a sweater

slapping your partner's butt

tummy kisses

feeling each other's pulse

glancing at each other's lips

falling asleep while cuddling on the couch

climbing back into bed, onto your partner's body to wake them up

*THAT* scene from pride & prejudice but make it royalAU

This was for kookmin week over on twitter. Day 3′s theme was Royalty so I had to pull out our shield and shelter boys ❤️

How Narrative Therapy Can Help Us Take Ownership of Our Stories

Veronica Esposito on Finding the Connections in Human Experiences

by Veronica Esposito

As a mental health counselor working toward licensure, it’s my job to learn to understand the experiences of other people. I am supposed to account for their long and complicated histories, their family connections and webs of interpersonal relationships, the fears that hold them back and the aspirations that drive them forward. This is no small task: Marilynne Robinson once speculated that the human mind is the most complex object we know of, its magnificence and range of interconnection dwarfing even that of entire galaxies made of billions of stars.

How then to assimilate a galaxy’s-worth of human experience? Fortunately, counselors are given many different tools to help them, and one of the most potent is stories. To borrow from Joan Didion’s The White Album, “we tell ourselves stories in order to live. We live entirely . . . by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images, by the ‘ideas’ with which we have learned to freeze the shifting phantasmagoria which is our actual experience.” This is true, and it aligns with a kind of counseling known as Narrative Therapy.

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