http://www.next-culture.net/dancing-way-wholeness/
“Life is movement. The more life there is, the more flexibility there is. The more fluid you are, the more you are alive.” (Arnaud Desjardins)
Close your eyes and
feel your breath. What do you notice? Sense your feet on the ground.
What are
you aware of? Check in with the vertical line of your spine. How is your skull
situated on top of your vertebrae? How is your pelvis carrying the weight of
your torso? What are you sensing through the pores of your skin? How does it
feel to be inside your body right now?
We live our lives
in and through our bodies. Alexander Lowen describes the body as
our basic reality. We are in a constant and unavoidable relationship with the
experience of embodiment. The body does not lie and our tissues reflect with
unfiltered honesty the state of how we are. Our bones, muscles and organs carry
our dreams, wounds and memories within the substance we are made out of. Our
bodies provide us with a wealth of sensory information, a constant stream of
feedback on how it feels to be where we are, do what we do and be who we
are.
Structures of body
originally evolved in response to the demands of the environment. Lisbeth
Marcher suggests that many of our bodily patterns are leftovers from childhood,
imprinted in the system as functional adaptations. Surviving in a particular
context has consequences that come with a cost of compromise.
We carry chronic
tension and contraction so locked up in the body that it can no longer be felt.
When areas of holding become habitual and automatic enough it no longer takes
any conscious effort to keep them in place. The muscles involved in the pattern
are so focused on their task of defending that they are no longer available for
sensory experiences. Where we lose sensation we lose vital aspects of our
experience and presence of being.
Movement is a
powerful catalyst for change and transformation. Mary Starks Whitehouse thinks of movement as
the great law of life. The living organism that it is, everything in the
universe is always moving. It’s impossible to move the body without moving the
whole being of the person. The movement of bones, muscles and nerves activates
life experience and animates personal history. One body is the microcosm of the
universal body. When I dance, the whole universe dances.
Letting the body move
according to an inner impulse gives it the opportunity to reflect, research and
release in a container of mindful attention. The body already knows how to shake
off stagnation, make new choices and create new resources. You don’t have to
push, force or try to make anything happen – just allow movement to unfold from
within. Close your eyes in the beginning. Stay still until you feel the urge to
move. Start slowly and see what happens.
I am often eager to
begin and hungry to dance, yielding into the beat of the music inside my body. I
go with this initial craving for action until I find a way to pause and drop
everything that I am doing. I go quiet and look for a deeper initiative, seeking
a more conscious and connected expression.
I begin again, this time with more
breath and patience. I allow the formless to reveal itself through the form with
no hurry and no expectation. I let the flow of feeling and frequency move my
body as it will. I am often surprised by the gestures, emotions and images that
come up. I am often moved by the bridges of connection and the relevance they
have to the unfolding events of my life.
Dancing opens the gate
to a wealth of symbolic materials that show up to animate the shape of the body
in motion. Not impeding upon the body’s spontaneous impulse to move utilizes the
creativity of the moment to attend to the vital themes that emerge on their own.
Dancing is inherently medicinal in a directly accessible, tangible and practical
way. Dancing cleans the house of the body and reorganizes the furniture of the
soul in the interest of good feng shui for the whole property. Dancing has a
healing effect even when therapy is not the primary reason for moving our feet
and shaking our hips.
The body already
knows the way to wholeness. The universe is in a process of constant change and
dancing helps us align with this current of life-forwarding motion. As Ron
Kurtz points out, the body is
intelligent beyond measure and its natural inclination is towards health,
wellbeing and actualization of potential.
Provide a safe container for creative
motion and have faith in your body’s ability to dance its way to freedom and
integrity. Trust your body to have its say, have its way, stand up for its needs
and resolve what gets in the way. Form inevitably follows feeling and the shape
of your body yields to the shape of your soul. See you on the dance
floor.
“Dance first. Think later. It’s the natural
order.” (Samuel
Beckett)
References:
Kurtz, R. (1990).
Body-centered psychotherapy: The Hakomi method : the integrated use of
mindfulness, nonviolence, and the body. Mendocino, CA:
LifeRhythm.
Lowen, A. (1995). Joy:
The surrender to the body and to life. New York: Arkana.
Macnaughton, I. (2004).
Body, breath & consciousness: A somatics anthology : a collection of
articles on family systems, self-psychology, the bodynamics model of somatic
developmental psychology, shock trauma, and breathwork. Berkeley, Calif: North
Atlantic Books.
Whitehouse, M. S.,
Adler, J., Chodorow, J., & Pallaro, P. (1999). Authentic movement. London:
Philadelphia.
Posted by Anna
Seva
