“The body is a three dimensional map of your life.” You might have heard this somewhat cryptic statement from your yoga teacher, reiki healer or other professionals, who work with the mind-body connection on a daily basis.
By this we mean that our past experiences are not just stored in our brain as memories, they are also stored in our bodies, as energy. Many people who work through “problem areas” in their bodies with the help of yoga, massage and different methods of energy healing, often experience that somewhere in this process, mental blockages are also released.
Why do we practice Ecstatic Awakening Dance? Ecstatic Awakening Dance (EAD is a very powerful method which helps us to:
- Get out of our thinking mind, and release the spell of the ego.
- Release stuck emotional energy.
- Release emotional traumas (without having to relive them) by allowing memories to surface and be forgiven is a space of love and acceptance.
- Explore supressed aspects of our selves, of our own personalities.
Because of how effective EAD has proven to be as a therapeutic tool, it has been used in therapy sessions for many years in for example drug rehab clinics around the UK as well as in the High Security Unit of Holloway Prison in London.
How? We move with our eyes closed, and we use movement, music and breath (the Breath of Fire breathing exercise). The class consists of a warm-up, shake and free movement, and at the end we always ground ourselves with the help of stillness and the Heaven And Earth meditation exercise.
What will happen to me? Many people find that this way of moving our bodies is an excellent way to reach a meditative state. If you struggle to focus in a sitting meditation, this kind of moving meditation can be a great alternative. It is very common to feel energies moving through our bodies, to experience many different emotions or even to have dream-like inner visions. But don’t worry, your body and mind will never release any more than you can manage to process in one session, though you may find that over the course of several sessions your experiences become more profound.
What if I go really crazy? During the course of a session you are actively encouraged to move whichever way your body wants to move, and to express with your body whatever feelings come up for you. This is not a choreographed dance, and no one cares if your movements look “ugly” or “crazy”. Everyone apart from the teacher will have their eyes shut and be absorbed in their own process, so you can truly move like no one’s watching – because nobody is!