In this 3-part class at Yavapai Community College we practiced first grounding our lower bodies, finding the motion of our own two feet, and the continual fluidity of the river of motion that resides in each of us. Then, we connected to our hearts and the motion of our own heartbeat, we played with being balanced and off balance in our dance, and we danced our fierceness, letting it shift into tenderness. Finally, we let go, let go of our mind enough to let the body speak and release. We ended each class in a group of 4-5, sharing our dance experiences with each other, and then coming into one final closing circle together.
Ecstatic dance is an ancient movement practice that has been
revered as a way to meditate, evoke visionary experience, and connect with
spirit and nature. It is a
powerful tool for healing the body, mind, and heart. Ecstatic dance helps restore the vital flow of energy in
the body and recover lost parts of the soul in the process. By moving our bodies we are
able to connect the physical body-mind-heart and move the soul. We access spirit as the body-mind-heart
connected, moving, and in action. We are
each a moving meditation and our dance is a reminder of the medicine we hold in
our hearts, minds and bodies. When we
dance, we connect to this power and the medicine moves and is moved
by us!
We start our dance by grounding, feeling the Earth
supporting us beneath our feet. We feel
how we support the Earth and ourselves.
We feel our own breath and natural rhythms. We trust our own two feet to guide us in our
dance.
Our moving meditation is a wave, up and down the body,
carrying vibrations and motion from the Earth, feet, ankles, calves, knees,
thighs and hips to our very finger tips, in and out. We feel the connections we have to ourselves,
to others, to community and to the universe.
One of my teachers, Vinn Marti calls each of these a dance…Dance
Intimate, Dance Communion, Dance Community, and Dance Infinite.
As the beat of the music increases and we feel the energy
rise from the ground up, we start to feel and articulate our dance. The shapes our body takes in anger, fear,
sadness, joy, and exhaustion. How does
our body respond, how do we feel, what do we see, and what do we think? These are our patterns. We put these patterns in motion, repeating
them so that we can clearly feel them.
These are the patterns that protect us and also keep us from becoming
more. We find our core, our center, the
essence of who we are and what our purpose is, despite the distractions and
perceptions. The movement is the
medicine. Our ancestors, our lineage,
our roots are our guides.
As the beat of the music peaks we shake our entire body,
releasing the legs, arms and head. We
let go of our bodies to release and withdraw patterns that no longer serve us. We
make room for more subtle and yet distinct rhythms…new patterns. And, as we let our old patterns dissolve, we
become like a river dissolving into the ocean.
We become more than any one rhythm, pattern, wave or energy. The music slows, and we relax into the mystery,
awake and connected.
Our dance becomes a source of personal discovery, wonder and
healing. As we practice over time, we fill our own bodies more
fully, feel our emotions more fluidly, and think with more clarity. We practice being ourselves and are inspired
to live our life with more joy and grace.
In the United States, most of us live a pretty stationary life with a very active mind. In places such as Botswana, Africa where the Bushmen practice ecstatic dance, the body gets to be active and surprisingly, the mind settles down. Ecstatic dance is one of the best ways I've experienced to increase energy in the body and at the same time, focus the mind and open the heart! By allowing the body to move in a self-directed way we re-discover our inherent wild wisdom.
The Ecstatic Dance introduction starts with a 20-30 minute warm-up. This allows for participants to arrive on the dance floor and start to warm up the body. After the warm up music their is a guided meditation and then a brief break for coming together and sharing intentions for the class. Then, their is a facilitated ecstatic wave (usually about 40-50 minutes of continuous music). The class
ends in a group circle where experiences may be voiced, questions asked, or a
single word shared.
There is absolutely no dance experience necessary, just a willingness to move and be moved.
