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Ecstasy Of Movement
Zen Dancing
The first thing you hear is the music. The sound of North African drumming mixed with electronica and tunes from the Middle East transfixes you, tempting you to sway to the beat as you relax and listen. You move next to other dancers in a beautiful candle-lit sanctuary. Near the facilitator, you notice eco-alters with flowers strewn about. You close your eyes and begin the journey. For the rest of this session of Zen Dancing, you will shed your inhibitions and your rigid body movements. You will sweat, meditate, relax and restore your flow of prana or life force.

Incorporating elements of ecstatic dance, meditation and yoga, Zen Dancing works to dispose of all that the body no longer needs. Each session begins with an invocation in which the intention is stated and the group chants together, using various breathing, qigong and yoga exercises. Next, the dancers do some guided movements, helping to cement the unity of the participants and to create a shared dance vocabulary. This soon gives way to freestyle movement, using music and poetry in original ways. Usually, the ecstasy portion develops dramatically as dancers sweat and groove rigorously, allowing their bodies to compose new ways to respond to the moment.

Finally, the dancers slow down and shift from frenzied dance to meditation in a portion called Body Prayer Sound Garden. During this time, the musicians enter the dance space. They approach individual dancers and trace their movements using drums, flutes, Tibetan gongs, cymbals, chimes and seeds. Savasana, a lying down meditation, relaxes the dancers after the session, shifting the focus from energy to restfulness.

Using the languages of yoga and devotional dance, Zen Dancing can help participants undergo a similar shift in energy. Through movement, you can release withheld tension and sadness, which lead to rigidity. During the multi-sensory experience of Zen Dancing, you will have an opportunity to respond to the impulse to move and break free of repression. Ecstatic dance can be one path to increased trust in your body and stronger confidence in your internal self.

For more information visit Zendancing.com