Where there are no rules that bound
Where the music leads and you follow
Where there is end and no beginning
All is in the flow as you sense you are the
flow..
Ecstatic dancing indeed!

I remember participating in an Ecstatic Dance session in Zurich last year.

It was my first live session although I have been attending many such events online.

As a Ballroom and social dance teacher I have always got into the dance floor with a partner. So I first went in with an intention to experience first hand what it felt like to dance independently with others.

There were people of all ages walking in to register. I soon was surrounded by strangers who were finding a space for themselves to settle. Some started warming up some meditating, and I decided to follow suit.

I found people around me from all ages & walks of life, some seemed lithe and athletic like professional dancers, a few pregnant women, a few elderly people.

Each were on their own as if by practice, no one was really about conversation. For late comers it was about finding a space for many were already in their own warming up practices.

I could see all kinds of poses, some moving around a bit, flaying their arms and legs, some very restless some breathing consciously, some meditating, some sitting doing nothing but aware. A lady next to me managed to smile a bit when we look at each other, but mostly all were in their own world.

Soon the facilitator arrived and the she began a few warm up practices as the music flowed. The movements that she initiated were somewhat picked up by the crowd but interpreted in their own way. The tempo changed and the movements changed. The energy was palpable. What was interesting was there was no structure to the seeming madness and all were expressing from their own state of being. The mind body and spirit has a way of expressing in the flow if we only choose to allow it.

Our body is intelligent and capable. If we only understand that our body can heal itself much through instinctual expression as it helps regenerate itself. The somatic expressions are deeply authentic as no two people will move alike even though they hear the same music. For their emotions have different interpretations.

I was first a little cautious about my own movements especially conscious about the space I was occupying as the room was truly was full of people. Initially my experience in dancing spot dances like Jive or Salsa came to use so that I am aware of the dancers around me. And then after a while I realised I was unknowingly began using my skills of Waltz and Tango etc to move through the floor. I was dancing all the way from one end of the room to the other. I was in my own zen state of flow… like the others around me into their own unique moves…

I witnessed a few people in a trance like state, some truly rhythmic moving together without effort, and a few others doing weird gyrations as if the body is desperately releasing emotions. Suffice to say the experience was a soulful and intriguing one.

What is beautiful is that it is a safe space to move your own way…

No one leading no one following as a practice.

A non judgemental inclusive space…bringing people together to express themselves without fear, inhibitions and complete acceptance.

In mutual respect for one another as and how are.

The way a body moves to music is pure fascination. We are so uniquely ordained. Respect to the creator and creativity. 🙏

©Savvy Raj