The staccato rhythm has the characteristics of expressiveness, focus, clearing one’s path forward, a frame, a structure, making choices... like a river cutting its channel through the rock and landscape; or like a blossom opening up further and showing its colours, to draw insects to it to pollinate it.

I (Nancy), really appreciate the structure that staccato offers me - not a dry hard structure, but a structure coming from the soft aliveness of my body, supported by the earth as I move. Really showing clear movements can feel quite vulnerable for me and, at the same time, that soft vulnerability can bring me a feeling of soft warmth and an experience of having shown clearly what is important for me, I can then feel the connection with the other person, or with the world and let in what they are expressing - yes, the vulnerability gives me the safety… and the soft clarity gives me structure to fall back on in times of need.

I (Edo) can now see how my mother exemplified this energy for me. I am in it when I write or work with focus, when I say no to distractions, when I carry out my decisions, when I formulate a hypothesis during a piece of research and continue to logically reason further about it.

You can find a more detailed account in Gabrielle’s book 'Maps to Ecstasy', and in chapter 5 of her book 'Sweat Your Prayers'.