Maria d'Alegria

Joy is a birthright

Photographer unknown to me … Maria d’Alegria on the right side

One of my yoga classes is regularly attended by Maria Simões. A young Portuguese woman. She is fluent in Spanish and English and who knows more languages. As soon as she walks into the studio and takes a seat on her mat, I see her turning inwards. 

One day, she wanted to ask me something. Whether I would like to give a qi gong workshop to the clowns gathering in Castelo de Vide for the 2nd International Clowns Festival. I looked at her and in my mind no thought could find a lead to this request. Qi Gong? Clowns? I had never had such a request before. I got a brief sketch.

Maria has been a professional clown since 2003. Before that, she was in theatre as an actor, director, teacher, musician, writer, prankster, creator. In her clowning, she is able to combine all her talents, always creating a new Utopia and planting trees with children from villages in desolate regions in Peru. With her red nose on. 

During the festival, many clowns from all over the world gather. To collectively lighten the lives of people in hospitals (patients, doctors and nurses), in old folks' homes and on the streets. They are one-on-one. Little make-up, little fuss. 

I reported to the small church in Castelo de Vide last night at six o'clock. The nerve centre of the festival. With Maria, I walked through the darkness of the winter evening to the location of the workshop. To the top of the town. To the castle. The ancient defensive structure that is now a tourist attraction. Except last night.

It was foggy, dark and cold and the streets deserted. I surrendered to the moment and left all the questions in my head for what they were. I illuminated our path with my most precious possession. A small top-quality torch given to me by my youngest son, for Portugal. We climbed further. Maria had a key to the military museum. There we went inside. A museum without light or heating. In the vaulted hall, a small theatre lamp was lit that gave as much light as a Himalayan salt lamp. Through the window, I could see the lights of the town in the depths.

We saw each other's shadows. I had no idea how to approach this and I know I don't have to.

My finest hour!

Knowing nothing and just be.

Eyes closed and feel your feet. That's how I started. I waited. Felt my breath. After over an hour, we had trained, warmed up, let the energy flow, breathed and sung the OHM sound. As beautiful as it was in this vaulted room, I had never experienced it before. It was truly impressive. And then feeling a deep connection with people whose faces you could not see. 

Done.

We walked out of the castle. With the torch. Over the bumpy, slippery stones steeply downhill. There in front of the entrance to the church in the light of the street lamp we saw each other for the first time. We laughed.