About the Ecstatic Trance Dance™ Method
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The Ecstatic Trance Dance™ is an Energy Experience designed to:
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• Release stress and energize the body;
• Free you from emotional baggage by moving stuck energy;
• Transcend the chatter of small mind and bring you into the Presence of Now;
• Awaken your heart to self-acceptance and self-love;
• Connect you to the Divine Oneness of your true nature and All That Is.
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There are 3 or 5 stages, depending on whether you are practicing
the meditation alone or in a group environment:
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This is the BODY WARM-UP (approx. 15-20 minutes) - a gentle awakening of the body parts using breath, awareness, movement and music. We start at the soles of the feet and work our way to the crown of the head.
Every part of the body tells a story and in this warm-up we allow fluid movements and rhythmical breath to move stuck energy and to prepare us physically and mentally for the next phase of the class.
Please Note: If you are doing this method alone, then there is no need for this stage, but if you are teaching a class then this is a vital preparation.
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This is the SHAKE (15 minutes) – this is perhaps the most important stage as it ignites the life-force for the transformative process to begin. Here we allow the body to shake and tremble all over.
With eyes closed and breath deep and relaxed, the shake is based on Osho’s Kundalini Meditation.
It also has its roots in an ancient form of Chi Kung that uses shaking to open blocked energy-meridians. It's purpose is to shake off stress and tension and to awaken our life-force which is often “sleepy”. The effect is refreshing, energizing and balancing.
It is also a preparation on physical, emotional and mental levels for the deeper let-go of the next stage.
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This is known as the BREATH OF FIRE DANCE or simply the ENERGY DANCE (approx. 45 mins) – this is the main part of the method and is done with the eyes closed. In this phase, we are ready to go deeper and to surrender to the dance.
We ignite the letting-go process with a simple Breathing technique called the Breath of Fire. This section can also be done with a simple Circular Breathing technique. Both of these breathing techniques oxygenate the body and brain so that we are fully energized, switch off the rational “everyday” thinking mind and facilitate a “whole-brain” activity which means we access deeper levels of being through the dance. The repetitive rhythms of the breath and the music also enhance synchronized brain activity so that we experience expanded consciousness states.
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| What this means: |
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• Stuck physical energy and emotions can surface easily to be safely released;
• Relief from everyday worries and the general chatter of the mind;
• Clarity of thinking from a higher perspective;
• Internal visions, insights and inspirations that can help us
move forwards in our lives;
• A sense of self-empowerment;
• A sense of calm, peace, joy and bliss;
• A warm open-hearted state in which you feel connected and whole.
• A connection with the Divine/Spirit, a sense of Oneness and Wonder;
• An experience of ecstasy and liberation. |
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The more you can
let go and surrender
to the dance, the more the ego will get out
of the way and the dance will dance through you.
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This is the complete STOP! - when the music stops, so does the dance and you simply drop to the ground in silence and stillness to allow the integration of energies and a deep relaxation.
This is an absolutely vital stage!
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This is the HEAVEN & EARTH MEDITATION - now we complete the process with a simple guided visualization to ground ourselves and come back to our everyday lives in a place of peace, clarity and self-love.
Please Note: This stage is only necessary if you are teaching a class.
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| Other things to know about the Ecstatic Trance Dance™ Method: |
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| MEDITATION: |
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This method is an ACTIVE MEDITATION – this means that throughout the stages, the emphasis is on “awareness” or “developing the witness”. Ultimately, this is a meditation method using movement, music and breath to go beyond “small mind” or ego. When participated in regularly, the EcstaticTrance Dance™ is a powerful tool for personal transformation. Active Meditations were originally created by the spiritual master Osho who believed that the Western mind was more able to meditate when the body-mind system was cleared of stuck energy and emotions. If you really want the benefits of meditation without having to sit for hours in stillness, this is the method for you!
“You are not the doer, you are the watcher. That’s the whole secret of meditation. What you watch is irrelevant. The quality of observation, the quality of being alert and aware – that’s what meditation is. The important thing is that you are watchful ... And slowly, slowly, as the watcher becomes more solid, stable, unwavering, a transformation happens. The things that you were watching disappear. For the first time, the watcher becomes watched ... You have come home.” Osho, “Meditation: the First and Last Freedom”
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| NATARAJ: |
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Ecstatic Trance Dance™ is in essence a Nataraj – this is a Dancing Meditation in which you give yourself totally to the dance, you keep on dancing until meditation happens. Nataraj is the original Dance of Shiva who destroys all forms and returns them to formlessness. This is the same as saying that when you totally surrender to the dance and keep on moving until you move beyond ego-self, then you have entered the liberated state of spacious freedom and “no-mind”. The Sufis used a form of Nataraj called a “whirling dance” as a form of meditation in which the self was transcended in order to reconnect with a state of ecstatic oneness. Nataraj is also an Active Meditation developed by Osho, a dance without form that takes you deep into let-go and meditation.
“You go on dancing and dancing and dancing and a moment comes of such ecstasy, of such extreme movement of energy, that in that movement the rock-like ego cannot exist. It becomes a whirlwind. The rock disappears and there is only dance. The movement is there but the mover is no more there . . . meditation has happened.”
Osho, “Sufis: The People of the Path”
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| MUSIC: |
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Music for the class can be either recorded or live. Either way, the nature of the music reflects the class in that it’s purpose is to facilitate a state of “let-go”. Recorded music is chosen for its fluidity and rhythm whilst live music is always played by musicians skilled in the art of “let-go”.
“Music can bring you into the moment, it’s an energetic experience for both the dancers and musicians.”
Kavi Jezzie Hockaday, musician of “awakened consciousness” and workshop facilitator
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