YOKED

Licking the corners of my mouth, I retrieve the creamy remnants of a chocolate éclair. It is everything that the North End promises in authentic, overstuffed Italian pastries. With the taste of heaven still on my lips, and a sip of tea soon to follow, it occurs to me that Café Vittoria might be something of a training ground for spiritual formation. I know what you’re thinking. Here she goes turning secular decadence into religious blasphemy again . But hear me out. One of the most popular expressions at divinity school is the term spiritual agility . It is used to describe the ability of the minister to attend to different people and circumstances with considerable flexibility. A spiritually agile individual will not only read the pulse of a room, but remains nimble enough to respond appropriately. And as a virtuoso of the soul, who seeks to bring out the best notes in others, she is constantly retuning her own instrument in search of the divine pitch. In short,

The Dance Complex is an establishment in Cambridge, operating for decades with six floors of dance studios and the most eclectic variety of classes you could possibly imagine. They have everything from break dancing to salsa to organic ballet, which must entail hemp leotards, right? And with a cheap drop-in, pay as you go option, it’s the perfect excuse to experiment with one of the many dancing hybridizations they offer. So experiment I did—with a course in tribal belly dancing. The Harvard Gazette recently published an article on staying sane, in which Laura Kubzansky, HSPH associate professor of society, human development, and health, wrote, “Everyone needs to find a way be in the moment, to find a restorative state that allows them to put down their burdens.” Dance is one of those exceptional activities that transfixes my mind long enough to forget itself. Sometimes I am completely suspended by the challenge of learning a new move, captivated by a new pattern of subtl