"Dance like nobody is watching", amongst a crowd of others or in the midst of laundry, dishes, even deadlines, and see what happens!
Music or no music, you can feel the vibration within you rise and release thoughts and tensions, bringing you into the moment, a place of no thought, a place where you get out of your mind, into your body and into now, an expansive blissful place.
Conscious Dance, what is it? What does it feel like? Conscious Dance is not structured, therefore it activates and builds your natural organic energy etheric body. Relaxation heals. This type of movement is for anyone, regardless of any dance skill or body type. It is soulful art in motion. For many, it is a spiritual practice, because it places them completely into the moment, connected to a higher conscious state, intuition is activated and lets them be present within the body, as they have a safe out of body experience. The term, conscious dance, was created in the last decade, although the practice is ancient.
Individuals experience a taste of conscious dance when a favorite tune comes on the radio and you find yourself ecstatic, moving to the beat, and memories. Take that several steps further to ten, thirty, sixty even ninety minutes by yourself or see if you can join a group dancers in your area.
BEGIN ON YOUR OWN • Shoes off anywhere: living room rug, lawn, garden, office or class • Deep breath, opening your eyes, arms, hands and lungs • Stretch yours fingers open as your hands drop beside you’ • Surrender the day • Head drops back • Open your chest, yawn, bringing your hands over your head and reach • Unlock each shoulder, lengthening your spine. • Eyes closed • Collapse from your hips, hanging like a rag doll at your hips. • Sway and bend at your knees • Exhale • Breath in (hanging there), exhale again • bend your knees closer into your chest. • Wait as your spine realigns and adjusts, releasing tension. DANCE • Go to the floor or a chair • Move, stretch and release your weight into the ground • Trust your movement and let it lead you • Notice yourself drift into a state of meditation • Trust and Let go
GROUP DANCES Classes, or gatherings, take on a “flow”, alot like a Yoga class that starts from floor up and back down again. What is different is the dance brings you into to a transformative, often called, Shamanic state, then an incredible celebration of community and self, then back down again to relax. This flow activates an intuitive story the body wants to tell, by opening up the etheric body, vs the mind, and releasing stagnate energy.
Dancers enter individually, greet one another with a warm glance or as time goes on, heartfelt hugs. As you enter the dance floor, a crystal chandelier glows from above, softly illuminating faces and bodies radiant and beaded with sweat. Fabrics fill the room with color, textures and lightness. Taking a deep breath, folks sway or swirl on the comfortable wood floor, stretching and waking up, to begin the dance.
Feet are donned in rhinestone leather dance thongs, duck tape, or in battered comfortable shoes. Enraptured in a rhythm that takes dancers out of their mind and into the moment, they find themselves effortlessly moving to music, alone, together or in a group. Bodies twirl and eyes meet, sometimes for a brief moment, other times for more. Sometimes the moment is like a magnet, where men and women find themselves flowing together as one, connecting with the vibe of an unknown force that moves and shapes them like soft clay. Each silhouette becomes a slide show of beautiful images, statues in motion.
Some of the most common known conscious dance classes nationwide, include: 5Rhythms®, by Gabriel Roth; Ecstatic Dance, Max Fathom; Contact Improvisation, Steve Paxton; JourneyDanceTM, Toni Bergin; Dance Kinetics, YogaDance and Soul Motion, Dan Levin name a few. One dancer and Kundalini Yoga teacher expressed it this way, “It is my journey into a blissful mystery!”.
In contrast, well known “Traditional Dance” classes, include: Modern, Jazz, Ballet, Hip Hop and Creative Dance. They are similar to “Conscious Dance”, in that they all illuminate the soul through movement. Traditional dance is different, in that it is structured with choreography.
Gymnasiums, church sanctuaries, yoga and traditional studios become a temples, places to connect, disconnect and share a moving meditation. No conversation is heard on the dance floor. There is only music, silence among dancers and the expression of body language grounded in unconsciousness that becomes conscious. This community, is a tribe, bound together in rhythm and movement to create wellbeing.
“The fastest way to still the mind is to move the body.”, Gabriel Roth, 5Rythms®.This practice illuminates the soul, art in motion. It is a way to let go of heaviness, mentally and physically and gives you a glimpse into your inner most parts of yourself, your core qualities of calm connection, your Spirit. A place of acceptance and oneness.
I look forward to sharing the dance floor with you!
© 2021 Lisa Holcomb
This exercise by Lisa Holcomb appears in Deb Snyder's book, Ignite CALM, Bliss at Work
Learn more about Lisa on her website www.wanderthewhites.com