"Where Meditation Meets Movement"
What is Conscious Dance?
Conscious Dance is meditation in movement. By bringing our awareness to the breath, the body, the music; the mind begins to let go and the body relaxes. In this listening place the body expresses natural, authentic movement. Moving in this way can be a sweet release from all of life’s structures and stipulations, a delicious surrender from the mind into the body, from worries, into play.
Allowing and following our natural movement releases tension and holding, breathing deeply we inspire ourselves and drop further into the body (embodiment). This “coming home” to ourselves develops intuition and supports our natural health in every way.
Who Can Dance?
Everyone can dance if they want to. Dance has run through every culture from the beginning of time. It in your genes, in your DNA, just waiting to be unleashed.
In conscious dance there are no steps, no “special moves”, no expectations or requirements. You are invited to simply bring yourself into the dance space and allow what arises within to move you.
Is it for Me?
Conscious Dance is for you if you:
Always wanted to dance but don’t know where to start.
Want to learn how to dance in a safe, non-judgemental environment.
Wish to develop a closer relationship with yourself.
Want to feel more at home in your body.
Feel stuck, stressed or low in spirits.
Want to feel embodied and whole.
Want to meditate but find sitting meditation difficult.
Love meditating and wish to try it in movement.
A Safe, Non-Judgemental and Inclusive Dance Space.
We don’t need to be fit, thin or energetic to dance; we can move our hands and fingers, our feet or our toes, enjoying the subtle as well as the big dances.
Over the years I’ve danced with wild extravagant, ecstatic dancers and with subtle tiny economic dancers, with chair dancers, floor dancers, dancers on sticks, dancers in wheelchairs, it’s such a delight to find our common humanity, however we are and whatever our circumstances.
For myself I have danced the dance of youth, menopause, illness; I’ve danced through a bad back and a sore hip; danced the dance of sadness and the dance of anger; all of which has made me feel more whole and has helped me move forwards in my life.
All Life is A Dance.
We can dance with our breath, through the quietude. We can dance with the sounds of nature, or the humming fridge or our favourite music. If we think about it, all of life is one big dance from beginning to end; we might shimmy around the kitchen as we cook, take a sidestep from a challenging situation or quick step through some delicious news….
Sometimes it feels like there is no movement in the body. The body feels dormant or inert. These points of pause are so vital to the dance. At these times we can rest back into the silence and wait for the impulse to move us to the next. It may begin with a deep breath, or with the wriggle of a toe or the toss of the head.
Letting Go of the EGO.
Dance can help us let go; we can let go of what we no longer serves us; we can release our worries, headaches, stresses and fears, dancing them through to find more space, more relaxation and sometimes deep peace.
When we dance, we can let go of the stories or the role plays we inhabit, shedding our everyday roles as mother, sister, brother, accountant, cook, P.A etc… surrendering to the bigger part of us, giving space to our ancient wise selves.
Releasing Chaos to discover Creativity.
We are all a part of the great melting pot of life. This chaos or “creativity in the making” might show up in the dance to be danced with, released, moulded into action, or next steps forwards.
E-motion; Energy in Motion.
Dance is uplifting for the heart and allows emotions to flow. Let’s consider emotion as e-motion, “energy in motion”. Once our emotions flow; tears and yelps and joy and sadness…. whatever shows up for us in the moment, we create space and flow for natural healing to take place, we unstick ourselves and return ourselves to the great mystery of life.
The dark; our Shadow Selves.
Our ego tries to lock us up in the light only. Being good, acceptable, perfect, kind, compassionate, loving… this is how we like to know ourselves, love ourselves, feel accepted. However, there is always another truth at play and our wild, demonic, angry, raging, hurt, ugly parts of ourselves are all present behind the scenes; we all have them. Sometimes in the dance as we surrender, we meet these shadowy places, these darker spaces in ourselves that are longing for acknowledgement, for a voice, for our love and acceptance…. as we dance with them, emotion can flow, as these lost parts of us, re-found and accepted, bring us to a deeper reality.
All of Us Welcome.
Our sacred bodies are all welcome in the dance. In our differences, our different shapes, size, colours, sexual preferences, gender preferences… our collective beauty making up the whole, the community, the tribe. Though the dance we accept and love our differences a little more, enjoy the diversity in our collective beauty and feel our belonging in the “one tribe”.
Awareness and Presence.
In conscious practice we develop awareness, becoming more present in the NOW. We open our senses, listening, feeling, sensing, responding, allowing, contracting, expanding.
As the dance frees up the analytical mind, we move out of our head and into the body, where inspiration can find us; we may dream our next steps in life or for a project, we might find the answers to our unanswered questions, we may feel, know or see new ways forwards for ourselves and our families.
Intent and Dedication.
We can dedicate the energy from our dance to anything that rocks our heart. It might be world peace, a friend in need of support, our loved ones, our children, our communities, a personal project or anything else that you might like to benefit from your dance. As we dance, we can dream our best dreams and dance our dreams into being.