This weekend I’m heading to the Stardust Slow Balboa Weekend, a full immersion into slow balboa with classes, social dances, and even a competition.

“What is Slow Balboa?” you might ask.

Excellent question. I’ve been asking it too.

The funny thing is that everyone I ask has a slightly different answer. Here is what I do know: it is a partner dance, it is related to swing, and I am going to spend the entire weekend discovering what it feels like from the inside out.

We talk a lot about beginner’s mind, the idea of approaching a new skill with curiosity and wonder. It makes sense that we focus on the mind. If you are anything like me, it is your thoughts that get loud when you are learning something new. My inner critic is particularly enthusiastic. It loves those moments when I stumble or fall short and is quick to offer commentary I never asked for.

On good days, I can wrangle those thoughts by sheer force of will and redirect myself back to learning. But recently I have realized something important. As much as my thinking matters, it is my heart that fuels me.

A beginner’s heart, full of joy, eagerness, excitement, and possibility, gives us the energy to learn, to seek, and to keep going. It quiets the inner critic far better than logic ever could.

So this weekend I will be leaning into my own beginner’s heart as I explore Slow Balboa, openly, eagerly, a little awkwardly, and with the same curiosity I bring to the barn.

If you are learning something new, whether in a lesson, a clinic, or a quiet moment of practice on your own, I hope you find your beginner’s heart too. It is a wonderful companion on the journey. ~Paul

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