A Year for Dance: The Sacred Art: Rediscovering the Joy of Movement as Spiritual Practice
This year I’ll be sharing a practice each week from my book Dance: The Sacred Art: Discovering the Joy of Movement as Spiritual Practice published by Skylight Paths. You may want to get a copy from InterPlay or Amazon if your are interested in playing along.
I will also lead a live hour long monday online session to share the practice and do it with you. The first two are free to try out. Jan 12 and 19. A global community is signed up for Monday Jan 12th from US, Germany, India, and Australia.
Link here to learn how to participate. You only need to commit a month at a time starting February 9.
Dance: The Sacred Art is dedicated to Ruth St. Denis, mystic, pioneer, sacred dancer. Reading her story awakened my call. I am indebted to many dancers, most of whom who are quite invisible. Yet on the path of loving body and soul they KNOW, like Thomas Merton who said,
For the world and time are the dance of (Love) in emptiness. The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyze them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness, absurdity and despair. But it doesn’t matter much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance which is always there…. Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance.
Dance is your birthright. I begin the book debunking four myths and providing four encouragements.
Myths: Its Too Embarrassing to Dance, There is No Connection Between Dance and Spirituality, The Body is Pandora’s Box and not to be Trusted, Dancing Isn’t Important
Encouragements: Anyone Who Wants Can Dance, There is No Right Way to Dance, Dance Can Change Your Life and Lastly- Take Encouragement from practice One: Breathe, Bow and Bless the Dancer with a One Hand Dance.
With or without music, invite the dance of one hand. For ten seconds each:
One-Hand Dance
With or without music, invite the dance of one hand. For ten seconds each:
- Move your hand in smooth ways.
- Move your hand smooth and fast.
- Move it in jerky ways.
- Move it jerky and slow.
- Let your hand make a shape.
- Make other shapes.
- Make contact with your skin.
- Feel free to let go of making meaning.
- Enjoy any sensations, thoughts, textures, dynamics, and nuance as you move any way you like.
- When you come to an ending, take a deep breath. What do you notice?
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Twelfth-century mystic Meister Eckhardt said, “The soul loves the body.” When you honor your soul’s deep intimacy with your physicality, you create space for Great Love to reside in you.
If you are willing to grab hold of the divine hand that is constantly extending itself to you and step onto the easygoing, forgiving floor that supports the dance of life, you may come to ask, as many do, “Why did I wait so long?”
If you would like to participate for free Jan 12 or 19th in the online practice just email me at cynthia@interplay.org.
You may want to subscribe at cynthiawinton-henry.com to get the blog posts or like Mystic Tech on Facebook Click the link to get notifications in your email. The practices will show up there too.
Bows to your own dancing way.