Pam White has a series of horse paintings she calls “Spirit Horses.”  To me they capture the dharma of the improvisation life.  Each stroke, each shape feels like it came directly from the painter’s body, from listening to what the horses demand.

Initially this might seem like a strange contradiction.  What does the seeming chaos of improvisation have to do with dharma’s “divinely instituted natural order of things.” (Wikipedia)

When I am improvising, whether it is in the kitchen making lasagna or in the field with the Mustang Nelson, or in the dance studio following my body’s voice, I am attuning to an order that comes from the heart, the body and the moment.  The improvisation life is one where we are fluid, flexible, adaptable.  I cannot live an improvisational life if I start the day with the lists – the dust of mundane details that can settle over every creative impulse in a moment.  Begin on the yoga mat, the meditation cushion, in the field with a dog, a horse, a lover.  Let yourself be moved.