THE FIRST PIROUETTE
(La premiere danse)
The Story Behind the Art.
In her youth, the reflection showed smooth skin, flowing raven hair, and bright, sparkling blue eyes full of promise and dreams, brimming with the light of a bold future.
Years later, as she sat at the same mirror, that once-tight skin was now loose, folding into wrinkles, lying in deep pools around her. Beauty, in that moment, felt skin-deep.
The mirror asked her, “What does your mind tell you when you look into me? Does it say you are still beautiful, bold, and worthy—or that you are fading, dissolving, and aging?”
She remembered, just in time, that she controlled her mind’s voice. The choice was hers; the thoughts were hers, no matter her age. The golden cage was always there, waiting for her to step inside and become a prisoner of her own thoughts. Only she could choose which thoughts to observe without attaching herself to them.
As she looked at her body—once youthful, now slowly changing before her eyes—she wondered what it would feel. like to be a free soul, free from all the cages of the mind, free from the mirrors that reflect only flesh and time, free to let life unfold naturally.She longed to return to her essence, to flow into
the oneness of everything. To finally be free, to perform her first pirouette in the boundless universe, as pure energy. Round and round she would spin, free from her mind and body, dancing freely, present only in her soul.
She was no longer confined to a single point in the universe. She was everywhere—part of the wind that brushed the trees, part of the sunlight that broke across the sky, a prismatic colour in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass, part of the trillion grains of sand that double-humped camels ambled across, part of the invisible force that connected all things.
Her first pirouette was the beginning of something infinite. It was her becoming. As she twirled in this new form, she realised something profound.Freedom wasn’t about escaping the cage. It wasn’t about breaking free from the body or silencing the mind. True freedom was understanding that both the cage
and the body were always temporary, part of the same beautiful, fleeting dance.
With each pirouette, she felt herself release more of what had once weighed her down: the insecurities,
the doubts, the need for validation. They melted away, insignificant now in the face of the infinite. She was seeing her full potential, connecting to her intuition, trusting herself. She danced, not for anyone or anything, but for the joy of simply existing. Round and round she spun; her soul fully present, fully alive, fully free.
Her soul, now unbound, didn’t seek to flee the world but to embrace it—to twirl with it in harmony, to be part of every moment, every breath, without resistance. She was a ripple in the vast ocean of the universe, and her dance, in her mind, was eternal.
In the distance, faintly, she heard a sound. A single chime — soft, persistent, like the ringing of a church bell. The sound pulled her back, closer to something she had long forgotten.
Back in her bedroom, on her yoga mat, her eyes opened with shining desire and potential. Saint Mary’s Bells still rang from the end of her road, the familiar noise made her smile. The cage was gone, her mind was free of the thoughts of despair, aging and passivity. She stood on her toes, clicked her fingers in the beat to a tune in her head and the childlike joy made her twirl freely round.
She felt such pure, unfiltered joy—both from the movement itself and the realisation that letting go made her feel lightness. She had surrendered to the natural flow of the universe and felt free to trust that things would unfold as they were meant to.
“What’s meant for you won’t pass by you”
her mind whispered.
THE STORY WITHIN THE STORY
I loved writing this story. We can all feel disconnected from life at times, as if we are trapped in a cage—whether it's a dead-end job we need to pay the bills, a relationship that has turned sour or violent, or undergoing long-term treatment to cure an illness. It can feel like a cage, and the feeling of liberation from this is truly amazing.
This story delves into our inner selves and the sanctuary and healing energy we can find within our own minds if we allow our true selves to flourish. All the answers lie within.
The land of LOCC represents her exploration of her inner self. She realised she wasn't in a physical cage; it was a feeling of her own making. She could make the change, break free, and explore new possibilities at any point. In her one precious life, she didn’t realise she had the power, but one day, she just did.
When you dig into your intuition and your inner world, this is where the magic happens. It allows you to see the real magic in the world. The brightness of the trees and wild nature, walking into the sun feeling like going home, and planting your feet in the grass all ground you and make you feel connected and part of something whole.
All the answers to our happiness can't be found in the external world; they are within. When the silence happens, the space to think begins. In our dreams, our visualisation, our writing, our journaling.
Love,
Julia, Teddy, Coco and Wilf
(our Footsize 2 x cat and dog)