Ride The Wave

Question:  how can we transform and heal through dance? How can we move in a way that feels nourishing rather than depleting (like you might feel after taking certain dance/exercise classes)?

Try this: put on a piece of music that has real soul in it. It doesn’t have to be fast. In fact it might work better if it isn’t because when there’s a strong beat there’s a pull to motor it out in a big way which depletes energy stores.

Listen with your ears and with your body. Feel and sense into the music first and only then begin to respond to it with movement but in a way that is more internal. The movement might be so small that it would not be noticeable from the outside at first.

If movement were analogous to different expressions of water, this level of experience could resemble the gentle rippling of water when a pebble is being thrown into a quiet pond. After you let yourself hang out in this low amplitude of expression for quite a while, where you’re feeling nurtured and held by the movement and the music, some other levels of expression might emerge naturally and spontaneously but never through strain and effort. The ripple might turn into a small brook, a steam, rolling rivers or even crushing ocean waves.

The movement will become a true expression of spirit which is what dance is really meant to be and is in many cultures. The music is really key here because when it has soul it can support the effort of connecting to spirit and to your life force. You can use any music that touches you in a deep way and reaches your gut, heart and soul

This is a practice that can help match movement to any energy level so if you’re feeling run down you can always use it as a way to cultivate life force. When you meet yourself where you are energetically, surprising things can happen and you may discover you have new levels of energy.