welcome back to another fantastic edition
of be well together. We are going to inspire you today.
We are going to put a spring in your step today
because we have the incomparable Alonzo King
world renowned choreographer,
and also the son of civil rights activists later,
King and Valencia King Nelson like this is such a big deal.
This is a really big deal,
for those of you who are not familiar with Alonzo's work.
He completed his formal training in New York city,
where he also performed with the dance theater of Harlem,
amongst other dance companies.
And he founded lines ballet
which is incredible because he clearly
founded this at like two years old.
for the arts choreographic fellowship
and the Kennedy Senator, uh, master of choreography.
His choreography is basically in the repertoire
of more notable dance companies
than we could possibly have time to list.
he is going to share with us
and the importance of being really, really centered
when you're being bombarded with responsibilities
that are just coming at you with hyper at hyper speeds,
which is like our whole existence right now.
So this is going to be a really great conversation.
I'm also really thrilled that
Lola of course, is our global events chair for both for us.
And she's going to be helping us out with
the question and answer at the end.
So to get us to get really
feeling the Alonzo spirit,
we're going to start with a video
so we can really take this all in and uh,
and then he's going to speak to us.
Thank you so much for being with us this morning Alonzo
Thank you, Jody, and thank you
for your beautiful and fun introduction.
So tell us, tell us about you, tell us about you.
Tell us what you're thinking about these days.
created just this wide open vacuum
but also fertile with opportunity
because we have the ability
and visualize what is and what isn't working.
Willy nilly going along with the flow
this is a pivotal moment.
And I want some self-examination
What do I want to bring to it?
How do I see the, how do I visualize the
ending in terms of expansion or growth
So it brings up the serious primordial questions
um, stymied human beings since the beginning
of time. Who am I, why am I here?
Because you have the presence of
And that brings a vibrancy
I'm going to examine myself
are introspecting right now.
Do I have a trace of that in me?
Let me get educated in certain ways.
Let me read this and read that.
it should continue with everyone
Is there the things that I dislike
something positive to this world.
we think that our thoughts
are these kind of little individual things
that are separate from other people,
universally connected and we plug into them
And so if our thoughts are negative,
we're adding to the bonfire,
we're adding to the Malaysia.
this period to actually examine your thoughts,
thoughts that when you're super busy,
opportunity to examine them
because you're in the rush.
You're taking care of your kids. You have deadlines,
you have projects. And so you're in the constant war.
when you have the time to say no,
That may be subconscious.
you're able to see enemies
and you want to build up the internal friends
and diminish the enemies.
and that war is reflected
has to be, has to be abated.
It has to be neutralized.
It has to be healed. It has to be stopped.
as I was saying earlier, anythings, that you look,
what is unnecessary here?
What is blocking the light?
How can I make this clearer?
And so, as we're working on
of our own lives, because that is the greatest art,
the art of living there has to be extraction
in all building and making, you know,
that's what we humans do. We're makers and builders
is with art. And I'd like to think of art as knowledge
And so that idea earlier about expansion
Okay. You just kind of blew my mind there for a minute.
I'm like trying to process that idea
And so when I'm thinking about
That were, that were going through,
it would be another way to look at it
it's gotten so complex with
one crisis upon another one
with that space and that time,
It, it feels like all of that space has been filled with
And you know, when I think of going to fight a battle
and I think of my individual
I feel like I'm running out of steam.
And I'm curious how you kind of think about that
you know, when you're creating this beautiful art
and when there is, you know,
a tremendous amount of physical endurance that is needed,
and there is a much deeper
you know, to realize that potential,
this, these waves are impacting you and how
how you coach and teach and mentor people to like,
be able to go the distance. And we don't know how long
this is going to be going on.
Or what new my come along after.
Or what, new or what how it's going to get even more
complicated from where we sit today.
We can't go back to normal.
And we particularly business as normal
the way we treat animals, what we're doing to the planet,
the way we treat human beings
addressing what you just brought up Jodi,
there is a place where you are exhausted
and there is also another place where you can be refueled.
Because if you are a giver,
you have to also go to the well to replenish yourself.
we, we talk about it at the center,
the place where you're really centered,
and it's a place that's close in the spine.
if you're in (coughs) a marrin...
what do they call it? A ferris not a ferris
A merry go round, I forget what the name is,
But if you're in the very center,
you're solid, you're fixed.
If you're on the periphery and it speeds up very fast,
So it's that centering place.
how we identify ourselves.
That's a really big deal because what you
have been fooled into thinking
How do you think about your identity?
I think of my identity as consciousness
I mean, knocked out unconscious asleep,
a drool hanging from their mouth,
that (clears throat) when they wake up,
of whether they slept well or not.
that witness is always present.
And that is closer to what we are
the normal identities of race, sex, age, location,
those layers have to be peeled off
when we present the question to ourselves,
And it comes back to consciousness.
We are a triumvirate of body, mind and soul.
has to be kept healthy with foods
that have electricity in them with foods that are living.
are innovating to the body.
There are foods that poison the body
The mind also needs expansion, it needs to be exercise.
It needs to plumb it into a depth that's behind,
that's larger than the ego mind.
the disease of the soul is when there's
of anything (clears throat)
And that soul awareness is when there is a quietness
where you are not disturbed,
it's like going to sleep,
So you're cutting off your sense, telephones of sight,
And you go into a quiet place
when you're able to receive
where there is expansion,
where you can make decisions quicker,
because you're not clumsily in the way.
is really closer to what we really are.
And how much time would you say that, you know,
in all of the things that you do and you manage,
how much, like, what percentage of your time would you say
that you spend in that place,
Is this like a meditation practice in the morning?
Is this like a place that you, you know try
to just bring yourself back to all the time
the rities of ancient India
and how we through those psych physiological
And there is, there, there is,
let me put even more plainly.
Most human beings well not most all of us.
and find some kind of joy
and that eat it right there
makes us make all our choices
that either this is going to,
diminish or prevent suffering.
And this is going to bring me joy.
We all have that in common.
um,a concentration and a willpower
But once you have those things, once those things
are in your hands, they're in your possession,
because they don't satisfy.
Something is always missing.
chasing the chariot in front of you,
there's something internal
that is much more satisfying because
it's closer to what we are.
the interior world or a world that is beyond the census,
that they have to be Lewis and Clark about it.
They have to go on the expedition.
They have to determine is this true or not,
but not to passively just dismiss it.
No, we all are on (coughs)
you are souls. You have an ego nature,(clears troat)
and you have a soul nature. We were souls playing roles,
and those roles have been interchanging for incarnations.
When people are in trouble, when there's tragedy,
when there's storm, what do people they want to get home.
If home is to take care of the kids is home.
Peace, because my kids are in trouble.
I have no peace. And so the real internal home ,
When you, when there is, um,
let's say something happens,
You are looking to the person
who is not wrapped up in emotion and, and is in utility
they can't do anything. They're not helpful.
It is the person who has stepped away for a moment so that
and they can do what is required
to remedy the situation to the best of their ability.
That's what we want to be in life.
We want to be able to help.
We want to be able to help our, our fellow beings.
We want to be able to love our fellow beings.
you dropped yourself identity,
and you are feeling for someone else.
And right at that moment, you're expanded. You're expansive.
The moment you see someone suffering and you identify,
which is what happened with George Floyd,
your expansion opens right away.
And the other part of it is,
It's hurting you so you want it to stop.
what we were saying earlier,
this thing of identification, it has to come from,
it has to travel from me to we to oneness.
That's the evolutional, that's the evolutional chart
You know, first it's all ego, me, me,
what I want, what I want.
And then with expansion, it's the family, others.
And often the family can be us four
And so that's still too tight.
And then with more expansion,
in is oneness where I identify with the mountain, the ocean,
the animals, the spring, the,
It is oneness that no one is a stranger
it's in possibility for anyone to an alien
that, that magmanity magnanimity
take it even deeper, Jody,
I would say that our inner life
we can be in the external,
we can go into all kinds of activity,(clears throat)
but if we're thrown off the internal
and there is no peace, then there's madness.
Okay I could listen to you for days on end.
You are such a joy. Thank you so much.
Lola I want to make sure that we get a chance
to bring your voice into this conversation and any questions
that you are our audience may have.
Yeah, absolutely. Jody, I was just about to say,
I could listen to you all day as well.
I mean, you have such great wisdom and great insights.
I learned a lot from what you were talking about,
like how it's, you know, this is truly a time
for self reflection. And I particularly, um, hung out what,
one thing that you said, and you said,
what you identify, what you become, you know,
so that is, that is so true. And I just want to say,
thank you on behalf of both for us,
our black ERG at Salesforce for being a part of this.
And of course having me be a part of this conversation
with you, we honor you, we respect you
and just celebrate your legacy.
You're amazing. You're a trailblazer.
Um, I had a couple of questions,
but I think we're only gonna have time for one.
No so I wanted to, I mean, you mentioned a couple of this,
a couple of things already, actually like, you know,
just say you mentioned staying calm in the face of crisis.
I mean, we've all gone through tremendous crisis recently,
especially, you know, what, everything that happened with
COVID and all the racial tension
that's happened in this country.
So I think we'd love to learn from you how you've stayed,
managed to really stay calm. I think you've answered some
of it, but, you know, for, for, for us, our listening, um,
for everyone that's active in the conversation,
like what kind of advice would you give us in terms of how
to like, navigate those conversations, where emotions are
flared and there is a lot of tension, um, how do you
navigate that and, and manage to stay calm in?
The second question is, you know,
coming from a civil rights family, how have you managed to
infuse, um, the lessons that you've learned into your work
and also how you're approaching the current situation?
if we are in conversation with people
a lot of emotion, we have to listen
if we think of the national body,
I mean, we should think of the world body,
but if we think of the national body, it has had,
it has wounds that we've ignored,
You know, every thing that what was done( clears trout)
to the native American and
was enormous in terms of damage
( clears trout) to not go to the doctor
Hey, there's some bleeding here. And this wound is so deep
and it's, and we've ignored it for so long.
And so in our world family,(clears trout)
because we're so busy before we have to
take time to say, you know what,
we're moving into a higher age and this antiquated(coughs)
the velocity is changing. We're moving into a higher age.
one day all physical problems
Science is going there. It's inevitable.
The major ones will be psychological.
And thinking of that progression,
I go back to the first point that outer space
is not the final frontier. It is inner space.
And so if I can get to the place where I see
that this person is my relative,
regardless of how they look
and regardless of how they behave.
And so love is the answer,
not sentimental hallmark card love
but the real the love of millions of mothers,
the love of billions of mothers, that kind
that's the only thing that can heal
We have, we have laws galore and we will have more.
And of course they can, you know, with litigation,
we work with the laws, but it's hearts that have to change.
And so we go back again to do I have a,
of poison do I have in myself
if I recognize it in someone else
and saw the mirror of my mind is there a trace
of that in me? And if there is, I need to eradicate it.
And that is helping the world. There's one less scoundrel.
And the power of, of, of, of, of, um, evicting
Is, is quite, is quite profound.
Oh, Alonzo, I thank you for being here.
I really, you're just a, a tremendous human being
and we are all better for this time with you.
And I do hope you will join us again soon.
Thank you for having me and we're all tremendous.
And that's what people have to realize.
Yes You know what, that's it, everyone,
This is it. This is how we're all here together.
This is what this journey is all about.
And people who haven't realized that they are tremendous.
They don't know themselves yet,
but you, we are all tremendous.
Uh, this is so great. Oh my God.
Maybe I should just skip out of my next meeting.
So just hanging out with you.
All right, listen, thank you so much
for being with us. Alonzo, thank you to our audience
for taking time to hear this important conversation.
I hope you are as moved and inspired as Lola and I are
