:: ecstatic dance ::

discovering my dance . . .

i discovered dance (the wild, raw, soul-embodied dance) in 2015, when i was going through a personal crisis.
my entire life felt like it had just blown up (the ultimate “tower” tarot embodiment).
the rug was pulled out from underneath me, the ceiling was shattered (along with the walls, the floor, and all of my coping mechanisms). it was a freefall into the abyss, dodging debris, hanging on for dear life (👋 dark night of the soul)

by synchronicity i happened upon the discovery of gabrielle roth’s work and was instantly magnetized toward the raw power of her message (her book “maps to ecstasy” went on to change my life -- highly recommend).
it was late at night and i was devouring information about these newfound teachings on the web, when i discovered that she had created a dance movement (both physical & cultural) that was still being used by communities all over the world.
a quick google search revealed that one such conscious dance community dance was gathering the next morning in a neighboring town (special shout out to the san francisco bay area for providing seemingly unlimited access to spirit-led practices like this at a time when i needed them most).

i decided that, despite my absolute beginner’s mind, my utter lack of dance experience, and my general terror of walking alone into a room filled with a hundred strangers and moving myself silly, i was going to wake up and go to this dance.
i did, and my life was literally never the same again.

that first dance freed me in a way i had never experienced in my life. by some magic, i dropped straight in, and quickly realized it wasn’t about knowing “what to do” or how to move… it was about naked, unbridled self-expression -- setting yourself wild + free in a room with a hundred strangers doing the exact same thing, in their own honest and empowered way (the collective energy is huge, holy, transformative).
i danced my heart out, my hair loose, my spirit free for 3 straight hours. i left it all on the dance floor, danced myself clean, and emerged a changed human. i had just discovered an enormous power source in my life -- one that would continue serving me for years to come.

“forget your troubles and dance! forget your sorrows and dance! forget your weakness and dance!” { bob marley }
(i would replace “forget” with “feel,” but both can work wonders)

now i’m fiercely passionate about sharing the power of authentic channeled movement with others.
it’s easy! it’s the fastest, cleanest, most joyful and empowering way i know to cut to the truth of yourself, and all it requires is that you surrender your body to the rhythm.

my intention is to find a location to host regular community dance experiences -- to wake up, get down, come alive together.
in the meantime, i’d be so 〰️〰️ moved 〰️〰️ to guide you through your own experience of conscious, soul-embodied, ecstatic dance.

++ for more information and to dance with me, you can email me here ++

you could also lock yourself in a bedroom, put in some headphones, turn on some good music, and dance yourself free right here, right now. the wisdom of the dance is in your cells, in your bones. it’s your birthright, and you can claim it anytime you choose. <3

about conscious dance . . .

movement (especially dance) has been used since the dawn of humanity as a powerful form of metaphor, medium and medicine.

metaphor :: it evokes our innermost experience (thoughts, fears, emotions, inspirations) and transforms us into a container of their raw embodied truth -- a personification of our inner experience on the outside.
with conscious dance, we carve a path through our inner wilderness to liberate ourselves from the bondage of subconscious, self-limiting patterns. we learn to dance our own dance from the inside out, rather than the outside in.

medium :: the body is the intermediary between inner and outer :: spiritual and material :: thoughts and things
dance (and all movement) is communicative -- we let the body do the talking, we surrender to its intuitive movement and the soul remembers its dance.
dance is art medium and psychic medium, both -- channeling insight, embodied wisdom and personal power from the realm of the ecstatic, the sacred, the beyond.

medicine :: “there is a dance only you can do, that exists only in you, here and now, always changing, always true. are you willing to listen with fascination? if you are, it will deliver you unto the self you have always dreamed you could be. this is a promise.” { gabrielle roth }
healing is homecoming / symptoms are guides, gurus and guardians. they call us home to our most authentic selves / boil our imbalances up to the surface to be seen, felt, integrated, healed.
healing is the movement + transformation of stagnant, unhealthy patterns, energy, cells.
dance has the power to catalyze that movement + transformation -- to offer presence and healing to our highest, deepest, truest selves.

“to sweat is to pray, to make an offering of your innermost self.
sweat is holy water, prayer beads, pearls of liquid that release your past.
the more you dance... the more you sweat, the more you pray.
the more you pray, the closer you are to ecstasy”
- gabrielle roth

“we have come to be danced
not the pretty dance
not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance
but the claw our way back into the belly
of the sacred, sensual animal dance
the unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance
the holding the precious moment in the palms
of our hands and our feet dance

we have come to be danced
not the jiffy booby, shake your booty for him dance,
but the wring the sadness from our skin dance
the blow the chip off our shoulder dance
the slap the apology from our posture dance

we have come to be danced
not the monkey see, monkey do dance
one, two dance like you
one two three, dance like me dance
but the grave robber, tomb stalker
tearing scabs and scars open dance
the rub the rhythm raw against our souls dance.

we have come to be danced
not the nice invisible, self-conscious shuffle
but the matted hair flying, voodoo mama
shaman shakin’ ancient bones dance
the strip us from our casings, return our wings
sharpen our claws and tongues dance
the shed dead cells and slip into
the luminous skin of love dance

we have come to be danced
not the hold our breath and wallow in the shallow end of the dance floor dance,
but the meeting of the trinity; the body, breath and beat dance
the shout hallelujah from the top of our thighs dance
the mother may i?
yes, you may take 10 giant leaps dance
the olly olly oxen free free free dance
the everyone can come to our heaven dance

we have come to be danced
where the kingdoms collide
in the cathedral of flesh
to burn back into the light,
to unravel, to play, to fly, to pray
to root in skin sanctuary
we have come to be danced
we have come”

{ jewel mathieson }