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If March comes in like a lion, January feels more like a bear after hibernation… or maybe the crusty, mildly confused groundhog, blinking into the light and wondering what year it is.

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After the inevitably intense “end-of-year slide to the finish line,” many of us arrive here a little slower, a little creakier, and quietly eager to smooth out the internal — and sometimes external — lumps and bumps that keep us from feeling that “new year, new you” buoyancy in our step.

Maybe by the time this reaches you Reader, you’ve already found your groove. Or maybe not. Either way, January has a particular texture — like slowly adjusting a filter from grainy to glowing — and we’re all somewhere along that curve.

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If you’re feeling stiff, foggy, or just not quite inhabiting yourself yet, you’re not behind. You’re thawing.

And that thaw is exactly what this season is good for.

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This month has been shaped around experiences that support that gentle re-entry into your body — not as a project to fix, but as a place to return to.

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One of the most powerful ways to do that is through shared movement.

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Moving with other people — especially in ways that are rhythmic, expressive, and non-linear — does something very different to the nervous system than solitary workouts. Music carries your timing. The group carries your momentum. And your body gets to explore itself in three dimensions instead of repeating the same linear patterns over and over again.

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That’s why dance feels so good.

Not just because it’s exercise — but because it’s multi-planar, social, sensory, and expressive all at once.

That multi-planar piece is especially potent.

When your spine moves through asymmetrical, unusual, gently challenging positions, it interrupts the places where things tend to get “stuck” — in your hips, ribs, back, and often in your sense of ease. It invites circulation into spaces that quietly shrink when life gets busy, stressful, or repetitive.

It also shifts perspective.

When your body experiences unfamiliar orientations, your brain updates its sense of what’s possible. You don’t just feel more mobile — you often feel more spacious, more curious, more available.

Which is one of the reasons art can be so nourishing, too.

And that brings me to some very good news…

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✨ Iluminado has been extended.

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Because of the response, the Monterey Museum of Art has kept Iluminado fully active — in its complete, immersive form — for the first three weeks of January.

Even better: this will be your very last opportunity to experience Iluminado after sundown — which is, hands down, the most magical way to see it.

I’m hosting a special after-hours experience inside the installation:

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​After Dark — A Moving Evening at Iluminado​

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This is an invitation to expand your body and your consciousness at the same time — immersing yourself in the artwork, interacting with the space, your body, and the people around you.

It’s energizing. It’s connective. It’s physically, creatively, and spiritually activating.

You’ll move, explore, sense, and play inside the installation itself — reclaiming mobility, creativity, and strength in a way that feels alive, relational, and deeply human.

This event is open exclusively to my mailing list, it is the final after-dark experience before the exhibit closes, and space is intentionally limited. Once it fills, that’s it.

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Even if signing up for a dance experience isn’t on your January 2026 bingo card, you’re warmly invited to come simply be inside the art:

You can visit Iluminado during this private event between 5:00 and 6:00 PM for the regular price of MMA admission — no movement participation required.

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Think of it less as a class and more as an experience that reminds you what it feels like to be inside something bigger, brighter, and more alive than your usual routines.

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And for your small, at-home dose of movement this week:

Your mini-workout is a short floor sequence called “Side Effects.”

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It’s designed to gently wake up your hips, ribs, and spine — de-sticking the places that tend to glue themselves together and re-introducing a sense of fluid support through your center.

It came out of a class focused on rewriting the story your body tells you — building harmony from the core and letting that coherence ripple outward.

You can do it slowly. You can do it playfully. You can do it once, or let it become a little ritual. There’s no right way — just a way back in.

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And if you’re not in Monterey, consider this your invitation anyway:

Find some art to experience.
Find some friends to move with.
Find ways — small or large — to invite a little more warmth and brightness into your body and your life.

January doesn’t have to be a sprint.

It can be a thaw.

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With love, movement, and light,

Domini Anne

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